Boundary Zones and all that

[medwards]

Hi all,

Currently on a night out in West London.
I have a super off peak day travelcard routed thamselink only. Three Bridges-Zones 1-6. This is for March 1st

Basically all I am asking is what time is this valid until. And can I get on a southern service and just buy a boundary zone 6- three Bridges and it be valid

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Mar 2025 ==

And if I can buy just a boundary zone ticket. On the railforums ticket website what should I buy. Is there a specific thing or is it just colousdon south (I think) or somewhere

 

[Watershed]

Hi all,

Currently on a night out in West London.
I have a super off peak day travelcard routed thamselink only. Three Bridges-Zones 1-6. This is for March 1st

Basically all I am asking is what time is this valid until. And can I get on a southern service and just buy a boundary zone 6- three Bridges and it be valid

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Mar 2025 ==

And if I can buy just a boundary zone ticket. On the railforums ticket website what should I buy. Is there a specific thing or is it just colousdon south (I think) or somewhere

I realise it's now too late - but for future reference, Day Returns or Travelcard are valid until 04:29 on the following morning. That means the train you take has to be scheduled to arrive by 04:29 (if there are delays, your ticket is still valid).

For the night of 1 March, going into 2 March, the last valid train to Three Bridges (TBD) would therefore have been the 02:32 Thameslink service from St Pancras (STP), also calling at Blackfriars (BFR) at 02:40.

If you wanted a later train, you could have taken the 03:32/03:40 from STP/BFR as far as Horley (scheduled arrival 04:25) and then bought a separate single to TBD to cover the portion of the journey that's after 04:29.

The widely held view on the forum is that tickets routed "Thameslink only" are legally speaking valid on all GTR brands, i.e. Southern and Gatwick Express as well as Thameslink, therefore you would not have needed an extension ticket if you decided to take a Southern-branded service.

If you wanted to buy such a ticket anyway, it would indeed ideally be from Boundary Zone 6 as you say - as the Travelcard is undeniably valid on all* National Rail services within Zones 1-6. You can directly specify Boundary Zone 6 on some websites, such as Avanti and c2c. On the forum's ticket site you specify the journey you're making, and then add that you hold a Travelcard in the advanced settings popup.

*The usual Heathrow Express/HS1 caveats apply, before a pedant tries to chime in...

 

[Fenchurch SP]

The widely held view on the forum is that tickets routed "Thameslink only" are legally speaking valid on all GTR brands, i.e. Southern and Gatwick Express as well as Thameslink, therefore you would not have needed an extension ticket if you decided to take a Southern-branded service.

Would they have the option of excessing the ticket to Any Permitted if challenged or would a Penalty Fare be charged (rightly or wrongly) if they travelled on a Southern service?

 

[yorkie]

Would they have the option of excessing the ticket to Any Permitted if challenged or would a Penalty Fare be charged (rightly or wrongly) if they travelled on a Southern service?

Generally speaking, GTR accept tickets which the company deems to be for the "wrong brand"; I would be very keen to hear from someone who was issued with a Penalty Fare, however I know of people who regularly get the "wrong brand" and yet their tickets are always accepted.