More Boundary Zone Questions

[Mark_re]

Hi all,

I have a Z1-3 travelcard season (on Oyster), so I like to make use of Boundary Zone tickets. I have had a couple of issues recently.

I tried to buy an offpeak day rtn from BZ3-Oxford. While they sold me the ticket no problem at Paddington, I was told it wasnt valid on the usual evening peak services from Paddington. Is that true? I asked for the restriction code, but the seller refused to tell me.

And this morning, Banbury refused to sell a Banbury-BZ3 single, saying that they don't sell singles to boundary zones. Is that right?

Thanks,

Mark

 

[island]

Boundary Zone 3 to Oxford has restriction W1, valid any train from 0930. The usual HST restrictions don't apply.

There is no issue selling Banbury to Boundary Zone 3 as of September 2011, providing you are travelling via High Wycombe. (Were you?) Unfortunately, despite the passage of substantial time, a number of clerks have not realised that this changed, and insist that boundary zone tickets can only be sold with Boundary Zone X as the origin. I suggest you write in to the station operator (Chiltern) and request clarification and a date by which staff will receive refresher training, and a refund (if applicable) of the price difference (£11.10!!)

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Not sure if it has changed recently or not (not needed to check for a while), but there was a list of trains for which all Off-Peak Day (or possibly Off-Peak) tickets were not valid, regardless of restriction code.

 

[LexyBoy]

If there's trouble purchasing, generally one can simply substitute a BZ ticket with one to/from an appropriate Zone X station (provided the Travelcard is a season). The Chiltern line is unfortunately bereft of stations in Zones 2 or 3.

There is no issue selling Banbury to Boundary Zone 3 as of September 2011, providing you are travelling via High Wycombe. (Were you?)

If OP wishes to travel via Reading to Paddington, then a Banbury-Ealing Broadway Not Via London ticket could be used - this is cheaper (£22.90) for Off Peak travel, but the SDS (£31.50) is dearer.

Not sure if it has changed recently or not (not needed to check for a while), but there was a list of trains for which all Off-Peak Day (or possibly Off-Peak) tickets were not valid, regardless of restriction code.

I'm pretty sure this was changed a couple of years ago and the situation on the GW brought into line with everywhere else. Edit: discussed here - as you might expect it seems a bit messed up with the restrictions added to relevant tickets but The Manual and journey planners still using the trumps list.

 

[maniacmartin]

I asked for the restriction code, but the seller refused to tell me

Great customer service there :cry: Given that the clerk told you the wrong time conditions (according to previous posters), its all the more important that they told you the restriction code when asked. I would be making a complaint if it were me.

 

[island]

Not sure if it has changed recently or not (not needed to check for a while), but there was a list of trains for which all Off-Peak Day (or possibly Off-Peak) tickets were not valid, regardless of restriction code.

As far as I know, the list of trains (mostly HSTs off Paddington in the evening peak) now appears in a lot of restriction codes, such as 4B. It would seem to follow that if the particular restriction code in question does not have the list, the ticket in question is valid.