I’ve just noticed that the price of one of my regular tickets, a super off peak day travel card from Lewes to London with a Network Card has increased in price, but at the weekend only. Is this normal? It’s the first time I’ve seen a differential price between weekday and weekend on a flexible ticket. For reference weekdays is £22.15 and weekends is £24.30.
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GTR Super Off Peak ticket more expensive at weekends?
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drueberflug
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It's not that the same ticket costs the same, Southern have two different restriction codes for their Super Off-Peak fares, with one only being valid on the weekends and the other only being valid on weekdays.
The weekend and weekday tickets may have the same name, but they are ccompletely different tickets behind the scenes (ticket types WTC for weekend, and AM3 for weekday).
Your Super Off-Peak Day Travelcard used to be one ticket for weekend and weekday use before March 2025, but Southern (likely as a result of the DfT wanting them to spend less of taxpayers' money in subsidy -- so much for simplification) decided that was too cheap for travel on a weekend, and introduced new weekday-only and weekend-only versions of the Travelcards for use from 2 March 2025.
This affected a large number of stations in the south.
For your journeys, you could save £1.85 (or £5.70 if you don't mind using Thameslink from Haywards Heath into London) if you instead buy:
You'd also gain the ability to travel from Lewes to Brighton and then to London (or the same in reverse) with this combination of tickets, provided the train stops at Burgess Hill (where you'd switch between the tickets in this case).
Your Super Off-Peak Day Travelcard used to be one ticket for weekend and weekday use before March 2025, but Southern (likely as a result of the DfT wanting them to spend less of taxpayers' money in subsidy -- so much for simplification) decided that was too cheap for travel on a weekend, and introduced new weekday-only and weekend-only versions of the Travelcards for use from 2 March 2025.
This affected a large number of stations in the south.
For your journeys, you could save £1.85 (or £5.70 if you don't mind using Thameslink from Haywards Heath into London) if you instead buy:
- a £4.85 Off-Peak Day Return from Lewes to Burgess Hill (this is valid to travel via Haywards Heath, passing through Wivelsfield twice), and
- a Day Travelcard from Burgess Hill (same price as from Haywards Heath) -- £13.75 for Thameslink only, or £17.60 for the "not Gatwick Express" ticket
You'd also gain the ability to travel from Lewes to Brighton and then to London (or the same in reverse) with this combination of tickets, provided the train stops at Burgess Hill (where you'd switch between the tickets in this case).
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We do come up with it.
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It does come up with it, but only suggests a schedule via Brighton giving an unattractive journey time compared to changing at Haywards Heath (as in your posted example). I can see following the earlier post that one can ignore this, but I wouldn't have realised otherwise.We do come up with it.
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To be fair, no split ticketing site is going to come up with an itinerary that splits at a station that is bypassed.
It's also rare that an itinerary is offered that includes a pointless double-back that extends the journey time.
If you specifically requested the double-back, I think we would find the split...
Is there an itinerary more attractive journey time calling at Burgess Hill than our site offers?
I can only get it to offer splitting at Haywards Heath, which does indeed save money, but not as much as splitting at Burgess Hill. If I force it to "pass, stop or change at" Burgess Hill, then it gives me the £18.60 option mentioned by MrJeeves, but then it only offers itineraries via Brighton. If I ask it to "pass, stop or change at" Cooksbridge, then it offers the £18.60 fare again, but only by doubling back between Wivelsfield and Burgess Hill.We do come up with it.
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The link in your message doesn't seem to work for me anymore, so I can't tell if you managed to find the magical £18.60 fare some better way.
The restriction code on the Travelcard part of the ticket is FB, for which the National Rail website doesn't mention anything about Thameslink. Hmm...
As an aside, TrainSplit automatically closes the ticket breakdown when you change tabs, which is immensely annoying when you're trying to check things like restriction codes in the same browser window!
I would use it on Southern-branded Govia Thameslink Railway services (and have many times before!), but not everyone is up for an argument with staff who might not believe the same as I do.
The limitation comes from the route of the ticket, which is "THAMESLINK ONLY", rather than the two-character restriction code.The restriction code on the Travelcard part of the ticket is FB, for which the National Rail website doesn't mention anything about Thameslink. Hmm...
Ah right, thanks for clarifying.
How does this apply to bank holidays? I have to buy a ticket for travel today (Good Friday) on this same journey: Lewes to London Victoria. When I looked a few days ago the Super Off Peak fare was £25.00. Today it is advertised on National Rail app as £28.40. How has this come about? Did they decide at the last minute to apply the WTC fare to the whole bank holiday Easter weekend? I feel like an idiot for not buying in advance but didn't realise they could do this with a regulated fare so thought I'd buy on the day!
Haywain
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No, the screenshot from BRFares in post #2 shows that the WTC fare is valid "Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays". No last minute decision, and it is normally the case that Bank Holidays are considered the same as weekends.
Bizarre. Just went to the ticket office and was charged £25.00! The weekday fare! Which was what the National Rail website was showing a few days ago. Now it is quoting me £28.40. Ridiculous!
Haywain
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Very strange. If I was going onto London today* I would want to be charged the (cheaper, from here) weekend fare.
* I am going into London on Monday, so it's relevant to me.
The weekend fare is more expensive: £28.40 for a day single from Lewes to London Victoria. I have been charged £25.00. I'm totally confused. But probably best keep quiet as I've paid the cheaper fare I originally wanted! It seems somebody has not inputted the codes correctly somewhere. Unless this is a deliberate GTR racket!
Haywain
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For you, yes. Other places have weekend fares that are cheaper.
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