Gatwick-Stansted

[stu44]

I am planning to travel soon on a Saturday from Gatwick Airport to Central London then am flying out from Stansted later in the day.

I am thinking that I could save some cash by buying a First Connect travelcard from Gatwick to London Bridge for use in London if such things are still available (price?), go out to Tottenham Hale, get a train to Stansted Mountfichet and change to Stansted Airport. I reckon I could do the last bit for £10.90 + £3.10.

Does this sound right? Any other practical alternatives would be welcome.

Many thanks.

 

[soil]

Three Bridges - London Z1-6 FCC Only Super Off-peak Travelcard is £10.

Fine to start short from Gatwick.

 

[maniacmartin]

A Boundary Zone 6 to Stansted Airport Std Anytime S is only £14.40, so for 40p than (10.90+3.10) more you'd be able to get the fast train to Stansted

 

[soil]

The appropriate/best/cheapest ticket to Stansted when holding an existing Travelcard is not entirely straightforward.

Firstly the stations 'Stansted Airport' and 'Stansted Mountfichet' are grouped, which means you can double back between them as part of a journey to a station associated with 'Stansted Group', which stations just beyond Stansted will be when travelling from London.

In particular, the following journey is permitted on a London-Elsenham (Essex) ticket:

London-Stansted Airport
Stansted Airport-Stansted Mountfichet
Stansted Mountfichet-Elsenham (Essex)

because there is no doubling back, except within the station group Stansted, which is allowed.

So that ticket is valid on the direct Stansted Express to stop short at Stansted Airport, as most notably is Audley End, which has XC service direct from Stansted Airport

You hold a travelcard so typically you'd buy a ticket from the edge of the boundaries, however there is additional complication here, which is that the edge of the boundary on this journey is at Enfield Lock (or beyond it), which is associated with Stansted Group, so from Enfield Lock to Stansted you are not a permitted route to Elsenham since the only permitted route is the direct or shortest route (or 3 miles beyond it), since there clearly could be no mapped route from Stansted Group (Enfield Lock) to Stansted Group (Elsenham (Essex))

However according to the following discussion
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=68320

you don't consider Enfield Lock, but rather you consider the two tickets together, so the BZ ticket is valid since the origin, Tottenham Hale (you could travel from Liverpool Street if more convenient), is in a different routeing group, and in fact you can probably consider routes from LST to SSD even starting at TOM with a BZ6 ticket.

So you buy BZ6-Elsenham (Essex) at TOM or LST station and just use the Stansted Express direct to Stansted Airport. No change required.

Cost £10 for an anytime single

If you didn't want to queue up and buy your slightly dubious ticket, you could just buy TOM-Elsenham online, but this costs £12.20 for a super-offpeak single. Valid from LST and TOM also.

Total cost is £20 with the BZ6 ticket, or £13.20 with a Network Railcard or similar.

 

[maniacmartin]

Very informative, soil

 

[embers25]

Another option is Gatwick-Cambridge route +Southern&NXEA for £22 single or £14.50 with a Network Card and you could break your journey in London and it is valid via Stansted Airport for the same reasons the Elsenham ticket is. With this ticket you would have to use Southern to London though not FCC.

 

[Tav77]

That's if you can get a boundary zone 6 ticket. I was refused one when I asked for one at a Greater Anglia station

 

[embers25]

Southern ticket machines actually sell boundary zone tickets now along with tickets from any other station so all tickets of any of these options could be bought from the machine (although having thought about it I'm not sure about the FCC travelcard as certainly the Three Bridges machine didn't used to sell it as obviously it revenue extracts from Southern!!)

 

[stu44]

Thanks everyone.

If I am understanding correctly, it would seem that I need to go to Three Bridges (£2.10) to buy the FCC £10 card and this can get me around London and to Liverpool Street or Tottenam Hale. I then get to Stansted Airport with the £10 BZ6-Elsenham ticket which presumes it is legitimate to break the Elsenham journey at Stansted Airport. Is it?

Or I can buy a £14.40 BZ6-Stansted Airport ticket which presumes it will be legitimate to use the FCC Travelcard + boundary ticket to the satisfaction of the ticket inspector. Is it?

With the Gatwick-Cambridge option, I still need to get a Travelcard at the Gatwick end to get to and about London so presumably that rules out the £22 ticket. I cannot find such a ticket on the National Journey Planner.

I'm also not clear where the £22 single from Gatwick is to and whether it permits a break of journey if it is not a ticket to Stansted Airport?

I greatly appreciate all the help given.

 

[jopsuk]

+Southern&NXEA .

This is now +Southern&AGA of course

 

[stu44]

Thanks everyone.



If I am understanding correctly, it would seem that I need to go to Three Bridges (£2.10) to buy the FCC £10 card and this can get me around London and to Liverpool Street or Tottenam Hale. I then get to Stansted Airport with the £10 BZ6-Elsenham ticket which presumes it is legitimate to break the Elsenham journey at Stansted Airport. Is it?



Or I can buy a £14.40 BZ6-Stansted Airport ticket which presumes it will be legitimate to use the FCC Travelcard + boundary ticket to the satisfaction of the ticket inspector. Is it?



With the Gatwick-Cambridge option, I still need to get a Travelcard at the Gatwick end to get to and about London so presumably that rules out the £22 ticket. I cannot find such a ticket on the National Journey Planner.



I'm also not clear where the £22 single from Gatwick is to and whether it permits a break of journey if it is not a ticket to Stansted Airport?



I greatly appreciate all the help given.

Be good to know views on break of journey rules with BZ tickets and legitimacy of FCC Travelcard with BZ on Stansted Express.

Many thanks.

 

[yorkie]

I then get to Stansted Airport with the £10 BZ6-Elsenham ticket which presumes it is legitimate to break the Elsenham journey at Stansted Airport. Is it?

Break of journey should always be permitted on Day tickets.

Break of journey is permitted unless it is "made clear" in notices & publications that it isn't.

Or I can buy a £14.40 BZ6-Stansted Airport ticket which presumes it will be legitimate to use the FCC Travelcard + boundary ticket to the satisfaction of the ticket inspector. Is it?

A Boundary Zone 6 ticket is valid when combined with a Travelcard that includes Zone 6, yes.

With the Gatwick-Cambridge option, I still need to get a Travelcard at the Gatwick end to get to and about London so presumably that rules out the £22 ticket. I cannot find such a ticket on the National Journey Planner.

The £22. ticket from Gatwick to Cambridge is point to point, not a Travelcard. It is valid on trains operated by Southern and Greater Anglia only. Not valid on FCC. You would get one cross-London transfer (though that could, in fact, be made on FCC!)

I'm also not clear where the £22 single from Gatwick is to and whether it permits a break of journey if it is not a ticket to Stansted Airport?

Break of journey is fine.

Be good to know views on break of journey rules with BZ tickets and legitimacy of FCC Travelcard with BZ on Stansted Express.

The train does not need to call at the Zone 6 boundary when combining a Day Travelcard and a Boundary Zone 6 ticket, so you are fine to use the express.

 

[button_boxer]

Be good to know views on break of journey rules with BZ tickets and legitimacy of FCC Travelcard with BZ on Stansted Express.

The FCC only restriction applies only to the part of the journey outside the zones. Within the zones a travelcard is a travelcard, and valid on all operators in the zones that the travelcard covers - you could, if you wished, get FCC to East Croydon and change there onto a Southern service to Victoria, for example.

 

[soil]

Thanks everyone.



If I am understanding correctly, it would seem that I need to go to Three Bridges (£2.10) to buy the FCC £10 card

No, you can buy the Three Bridges - London FCC-only travelcard online and collect it at a Gatwick Airport ticket machine.

It is 100% valid from Gatwick, since Gatwick is closer to London than Three Bridges, the only restriction being that you must use FCC between Gatwick Airport and East Croydon. (No restrictions e.g. between BZ6 and Stansted, since your ticket there is not FCC Only)

You could also buy it from Gatwick Airport ticket office, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend this - they might not want to sell it to you.

 

[stu44]

Many thanks again. I've tried to buy the £10 Travelcard online from FCC but cannot find any way to do so. Off-peak tickets yes, but no online option to buy a Travelcard. Be good to learn what I am doing wrong !!?

Can BZ6 tickets be booked online?

 

[bb21]

Go to http://tickets.southernrailway.com/sn/en/JourneyPlanning/MixingDeck, enter From: 5491, To: 0035.

It should come up.

Boundary Zones tickets cannot be booked online.

 

[stu44]

It did. Many thanks.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I was waved through by ticketing staff but just to note that the FCC only Travelcard was NOT accepted by the machines when exiting at Victoria rail station having come in from Gatwick !!

 

[MikeWh]

It did. Many thanks.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I was waved through by ticketing staff but just to note that the FCC only Travelcard was NOT accepted by the machines when exiting at Victoria rail station having come in from Gatwick !!

The gates are almost certainly set up to reject any FCC only tickets rather than just ones to London terminals. As long as the staff let you through there is no problem really.