reading to Seaford - equivalent to the old Saver return

[alcockell]

Hi folks,

Historically, I always bought Saver Returns when going down to my grandparents in Seaford... my usual route was

Reading - Gatwick, change
Gatwick - Brighton, change
Brighton - Seaford.

Coming back, I'd go

Seaford - Lewes
Lewes - Gatwick
Gatwick- reading.

I'd typically travel according to Saver Return rules which would mean a late morning or early afternoon (say 1100-1400 depart), same on return.

Owing to how confusing everything is now... what would be my best ticket option, and how much would it cost me now? Haven't travelled for about 3 years...

 

[sonic2009]

Saver Return has now been renamed Off Peak Return

Do you hold any railcards?

A Off Peak return Reading to Seaford Sussex will set you back £40.00 for ROUTE NOT VIA LONDON (Ticket carries restriction 5K valid at or after 0930 in the morning,does not allow). & £44.50 for ROUTE ANY PERMITTED ( Ticket carries restriction 5B valid at or after 0930 in the morning, returning in the evening via London you are barred from using fast HST services London - Reading).

 

[alcockell]

Saver Return has now been renamed Off Peak Return

Do you hold any railcards?

Nope - my days of travelling with a Young Person's Railcard have long gone.

 

[LexyBoy]

The best resource for checking journeys is National Rail Enquiries - enter your journey times and it'll suggest routes (hover over the number of changes, or click "details", to view changing points). NRE will show prices but does not sell tickets - but there's no
reason to buy in advance for such a journey anyway.

As sonic says, you can use trains after 0930 on either the Not via London or Any Permitted tickets, although there are restrictions on return travel from Paddington (i.e. you can't use fast trains in the evening peak - these are shown on the display at Paddington as not being valid with Off Peak tickets). There's are also Off Peak Day Returns available (used to be Cheap Day Returns) which cost £32/£37 depending on route.

Nope - my days of travelling with a Young Person's Railcard have long gone.

You could use a Network Railcard, which gives you 1/3 off the fare. You'd recoup the cost of the Railcard (£28) after two journeys on this trip.

 

[alcockell]

Saver Return has now been renamed Off Peak Return

Do you hold any railcards?

A Off Peak return Reading to Seaford Sussex will set you back £40.00 for ROUTE NOT VIA LONDON (Ticket carries restriction 5K valid at or after 0930 in the morning,does not allow). & £44.50 for ROUTE ANY PERMITTED ( Ticket carries restriction 5B valid at or after 0930 in the morning, returning in the evening via London you are barred from using fast HST services London - Reading).

WHAT?! Why are they barring ANY PERMITTED from HSTs now?
Surely if I'm travelling back via Paddington I should be able to get on ANY BLOODY TRAIN with a Saver/Offpeak/what-bloody-ever outside rush-hour. Especially if after 7pm...

At least that's what it used to be...

 

[yorkie]

WHAT?! Why are they barring ANY PERMITTED from HSTs now?
Surely if I'm travelling back via Paddington I should be able to get on ANY BLOODY TRAIN with a Saver/Offpeak/what-bloody-ever outside rush-hour. Especially if after 7pm...

At least that's what it used to be...

Well the only HSTs at or after 7pm you are barred from are the 1900, 1903 and 1915 (as detailed in the list provided in the link above) however there are some HSTs running services that are not barred, such as the trains that run non-stop Paddington to Maidenhead/Twyford (discussed in this thread).

If it's non-stop to Reading between 1600 & 1915 inclusive it's barred. If it also calls at Slough only it may also be barred. If it calls at other intermediate stations then it's valid. But the easiest thing to do is look at the list of barred trains and just avoid those. Any other train is OK.

It may sound complicated but it's far better than we have on the East Coast where we cannot get ANY train out of KGX for a long period on certain Off Peak tickets.

 

[LexyBoy]

WHAT?! Why are they barring ANY PERMITTED from HSTs now?
Surely if I'm travelling back via Paddington I should be able to get on ANY BLOODY TRAIN with a Saver/Offpeak/what-bloody-ever outside rush-hour. Especially if after 7pm...

At least that's what it used to be...

It's been this way for ages I think, since BR days IIRC. Fast trains between 1600 and 1915 are barred with one or two exceptions, but stoppers are still permitted - better than on other routes where there's a blanket ban on all trains in the evening peak!

There are no time restrictions at all on weekends of course.

 

[alcockell]

I can understand about rush-hour - 1600-1915 - as those were the old BR terms. But everything seems to Byzantine now...

Are TOCs trying to get people to throw their hands up and buy Open tickets for everything?

 

[LexyBoy]

I can understand about rush-hour - 1600-1915 - as those were the old BR terms. But everything seems to Byzantine now...

What's so complex about these tickets? I agree that on some routes there is a baffling array of fares with different restrictions, but here it's pretty simple -Off Peak tickets are valid after 0930 outbound, and not valid in the evening peak from London.

Whether any particular train is valid can be checked very easily by putting your journey times into any online journey planner.

 

[alcockell]

What's so complex about these tickets? I agree that on some routes there is a baffling array of fares with different restrictions, but here it's pretty simple -Off Peak tickets are valid after 0930 outbound, and not valid in the evening peak from London.

Whether any particular train is valid can be checked very easily by putting your journey times into any online journey planner.

I was meaning generally - I know this is one of the easier ones.

 

[LexyBoy]

Ah sorry, I see. I think more people are driven to buying Anytime tickets over fear of being fined for being on the wrong train rather than simply being confused when the cheaper tickets are valid. Strangely the TOCs are not very pro-active in advertising that tickets being used at the wrong time or on an invalid route are simply subject to an excess to the correct fare rather than the much-publicised fines.