7 day Travelcard Query from Bognor Regis

[CKiltie]

Hello all.

I have a query which I hope somebody here can help me with.

Soon I am going be at my parents. Nearsest station is Bognor Regis and during the week will be travelling and going to Brighton,Guildford Surrey, Crawley and also staying with friends in South London, so will be out and about quite abit. Basically I want to get a season ticket which will allow me to do the following.

1. Allow me to go via Havant and Guildford then onto London if needbe,

2. Allow me to go along the coast to Brighton and Hove then upto London.

3. Allows me to go around all the zones in London

Anyway after reading up on these forums and looking at previous threads it seems theres a few rules and exceptions that can occur.

After doing abit of research it seems theres a way if I do the following and this is where I need help if my research is correct or incorrect or if theres anything else useful I could do.


1. I propose to buy a weekly ticket from Bognor to Barnham because I do not think I can from Bognor, change at Banrham then go via Havant upto London.

2. Buy a weekly seson with travelcard from Chichester to London including zones 1 to 6. This would then allow me to go via Havant and also allow me to go along the coast linking me with Barnham so then that links me with Bognor which my season from Bognor to Barnham would allow me to do. I see there are two ticket types, one that is Southern Trains only and another that I guess must be Any route permitted. I also notice that the fares for both these tickets is the same all the way to Havant so I guess Chichester and Havant must be in the same fare zone. Southern Trains only fare was £109 and the other was £117.

3. After looking on the Southern Railway website for prices and then looking up the info on Season Ticket Travelcards it says in their info box that the ticket is only valid for One return journey to a zone 6 boundary station then unlimited travel in London whereas on the National Rail website it says that a 7 day travelcard season is valid for unlimited travel between the starting station and the zone boundary, then unlimited travel within London.

Its all abit confusing, Who is right?

Have Southern just pasted the info from a One Day travelcard onto that ticket info box as from reading up on One Day Travelcards they seemed to be just valid for one return journey then unlimited travel in zones 1-6.

Thanks for any help in advance.

Craig

 

[yorkie]

Seasons are valid for unlimited journeys, including starting/finishing at any intermediate station, during the validity of the season ticket, along all routes that are permitted in the Routeing Guide.

I will take a look and edit this post accordingly.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I do not think I can from Bognor, change at Banrham then go via Havant upto London.

For Bognor to London, the appropriate Routeing Point (RP) is Ford Group. London Group is a RP.

Ford Group to London Group is valid on these maps:
LB
LB+SC
LP
SC

So, you are correct, you can't go via Havant on any of these maps.

This is unsurprising as Havant is an associated RP for Bognor, but for travel to London is not an appropriate RP, because the fare from Havant to London is higher than from Bognor to London.

Your suggested combination may well be the cheapest however I suggest waiting for someone who is based nearer that area to reply, as someone may have a better suggestion.

 

[CKiltie]

Thanks for the reply so far and for taking the time to look for me.

 

[island]

Seasons are valid for unlimited journeys, including starting/finishing at any intermediate station, during the validity of the season ticket, along all routes that are permitted in the Routeing Guide.

Not on Southern, apparently! :roll:

 

[Malderon]

I'm certainly not a routing expert but I am local!

A Chichester to London may be your best bet. I was travelling up to Waterloo recently (from Chichester) and I changed at Clapham Junction rather than at Havant purely because I have a season ticket valid to East Croydon (therefore I could just buy Croydon Stations - London Terminals) but Chichester - London should be valid via Havant as when I specified Waterloo the route planner almost always tried to send me via Havant. With that in mind your any permitted season ticket should be valid.

Also a Chichester to London season ticket is also valid via Brighton (and even Lewis) and therefore can be used for travel between Barnham and Chichester. As well as of course the primary route for London from Chichester being Arun Valley which would get you to Crawley.

As you rightly say the Havant to London ticket (I believe its described as "Route Barnham" which would be the equivalent of Southern only) is the same price as Chichester - London. I should really get Havant - Tattenham Corner for my season ticket due to this but the annoyance of barriers at Chichester makes it not worthwhile.

I havent really said anything worthwhile but nevermind! I think your second option should work fine for your needs. I'm a bit suprised at what Yorkie was saying though. Isnt Chichester also Ford Group? So if it works from Chichester I'm surprised it doesnt work from Bognor.

 

[paul1609]

I think that you are correct in your assumptions.
Today nobody would normally want to travel from Chichester to London via Havant the reason why these fares exist is that they were protected at a time when the direct Southcentral service to Chichester was an hourly via Hove service. The Arun Valley services were also hourly to Bognor Regis and called at all stations south of Horsham.
For stations Warblington to Chichester it was often quicker to change at Havant.
For Barnham and Bognor Regis it was always quicker to take the direct service to London rather than changing at Havant and this was reflected in the permitted routes.
Nowadays with 2 trains an hour from Chichester fast from Barnham to Horsham the Southern Service has had nearly 20 mins cut off its journeytime, at the same time the SWT Pompey services have been slowed by over 15 mins so it no longer makes sense to travel via Havant unless you want to travel to a few Surburban SWT stations.

 

[OwlMan]

I'm certainly not a routing expert but I am local!

A Chichester to London may be your best bet. I was travelling up to Waterloo recently (from Chichester) and I changed at Clapham Junction rather than at Havant purely because I have a season ticket valid to East Croydon (therefore I could just buy Croydon Stations - London Terminals) but Chichester - London should be valid via Havant as when I specified Waterloo the route planner almost always tried to send me via Havant. With that in mind your any permitted season ticket should be valid.

Also a Chichester to London season ticket is also valid via Brighton (and even Lewis) and therefore can be used for travel between Barnham and Chichester. As well as of course the primary route for London from Chichester being Arun Valley which would get you to Crawley.

As you rightly say the Havant to London ticket (I believe its described as "Route Barnham" which would be the equivalent of Southern only) is the same price as Chichester - London. I should really get Havant - Tattenham Corner for my season ticket due to this but the annoyance of barriers at Chichester makes it not worthwhile.

I havent really said anything worthwhile but nevermind! I think your second option should work fine for your needs. I'm a bit suprised at what Yorkie was saying though. Isnt Chichester also Ford Group? So if it works from Chichester I'm surprised it doesnt work from Bognor.

Bognor & Chichester are both associated to Ford & Havant routeing groups.
For travel to London Bognor - London via Havant fails the fare check rule; however Chichester to London via Havant passes the farecheck.

Peter

 

[bangor-toad]

Hi there,
Depending on how much of your travel in wholly within the Southern Network you might want to get a "7 Day Daysave" ticket. It costs £80 and it allows unlimited travel on all Southern trains (inc peak services).

Of course, this won't cover the Havant - Guildford bits you mention nor the travel within London. However, for trips to Guildford you could get to Dorking on Southern, walk between the two stations, and then get a cheap Dorking - Guildford ticket... As for within London then perhaps a day travelcard for just the days you need?

Hope this gives you another option to consider...
Jason

 

[CKiltie]

Thanks for all the advice.
Very useful.

Craig