Biggleswade mystery

[Shimbleshanks]

I and a friend travelled from south London to Biggleswade on a weekday last week. We both have Over-60 Oystercards and I have a Senior Railcard. He doesn't.
I bought a return ticket from Finsbury Park to Biggleswade on Trainsplit for £16.90 with Senior Railcard discount. He bought a ticket at the booking office from boundary of London Travelcard zone 6 to Biggleswad return for round about £17 - scarcely more than my discounted fare. What ticket did he get and could I have got a ticket with my Senior railcard for about £10? Is there really such a difference between the Boundary Zone 6 fare and Finsbury Park?

 

[Watershed]

When using your 60+ Oyster card to travel somewhere beyond the London Zones, you only need a ticket from the last station in Zones 1-6, or a ticket from Boundary Zone 6.

You don't need to buy a ticket from the last station you stop at - condition 14.3 of the National Ral Conditions of Travel allows you to take a train that runs non-stop through your splitting station if one or your tickets, or both, is zonal. The same goes for season tickets, rangers & rovers and other similar tickets with unlimited travel.

And yes, the fare from Boundary Zone 6 is quite a lot cheaper than from Finsbury Park. It's £11.55 with a Railcard vs £16.90.

 

[Vexed]

I bought a return ticket from Finsbury Park to Biggleswade on Trainsplit for £16.90 with Senior Railcard discount.

If you go to Advanced Options in TrainSplit and scroll down to Existing Travelcard Held you can add your 60+ Oyster Card, then TrainSplit will sell you the cheaper Boundary Zone 6 fare your friend got from a ticket office.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

That's interesting - I knew there would be a difference but never thought it would be so much. I'll check the advanced options in Trainsplit next time I travel out of area...

 

[jfollows]

You can also buy tickets explicitly from Boundary Zone 6 from Avanti’s web site.