Question about tickets changing from Thameslink to CrossRail

[PHWO]

Dear All,

I recently undertook a return journey from Harlington (Beds) and was aiming for Tottenham Court Road by changing at Farringdon. In my mind prior, I felt I was able to do this, however the ticket vending machine at Harlington didn't recognise either Tottenham Court Road or TCR as the short code.

In the end, I purchased tickets from Harlington to Farringdon (ultimately displayed on the ticket as London Thameslink) and exited the gateline there before friendly staff advised that I just needed to tap my bank card in and out to use CrossRail.

Was my inability to purchase a direct ticket down to the ticket vending machine, or CrossRail being TFL or something like that or have I just missed a step out somewhere in the process? In the end, got where I wanted to go without any hassle and tapped my card for the first time!

Note : whilst I consider myself fairly savvy on travel when down in London, I'm normally on a 1-6 travelcard and just roam around where I please for the day - this instance was a specific non-spotting trip, though 700150 did put in an appearance

Cheers,

Phil

 

[Benjwri]

Tottenham Court Road is only a destination from a very small amount of stations on the Elizabeth Line core (And mostly to allow staff to purchase tickets between them. The Elizabeth Line core (Between Paddington and Liverpool Street/Abbey Wood) is considered a tube line for ticketing purposes, and therefore when there isn't a fare you can use a ticket to the relevant London Zone.

Any journey planner worth their salt would be able to tell you this, however ticket machines are often more simple. In this case there isn't a fare for Harlington to Zone 1, so the best way to do it on one ticket would've been Harlington to London Underground Zones 1-2.

 

[Watershed]

When the Elizabeth line 'core' opened, TfL deliberately didn't create fares to/from the Elizabeth line core stations, because they wanted to maintain the fiction that the Elizabeth line transforms into an Underground line between Paddington and Abbey Wood/Stratford. They would instead like you to buy a ticket which is valid on the Underground, such as an Underground Zones ticket or a Travelcard, if you want to travel on the core.

Ticket machines throughout the country should have been updated to reflect the workaround needed to buy a ticket to a core station - but many have not, including (as you have experienced) TVMs at Thameslink stations with direct connections onto the Elizabeth line.

You can use contactless PAYG across London and as far north as Harlington nowadays, so that may have been a simpler way of paying if you didn't intend on stopping off along the way. However there is no obligation to use PAYG as you can still buy a paper ticket as described by @Benjwri