Something I Discovered

[ChrisEJ1993]

Ok, so I was buying a ticket recently at the station and the ticket clerk gave me what I thought was the wrong thing. For a start she gave me 3 tickets instead of the 1 I was expecting. But when I looked carefully, I found that what she had done was pure genious, and had saved me money!

So I live in Bexhill and start my journeys from there. Normally when I go to london I ask for an Off-Peak Day Travelcard which, with my railcard, is priced at £17.55, and will get me to London, around it all day, and back again.

But this time, she gave me a 'Super Off-Peak Return' to London Victoria, with the route displayed as "Not via Gatwick Express" on it, and then a Day Travelcard from London Victoria. The return was priced at £8.90, and the Travelcard at £5. So, as you can see, thats saved me some caash, and I will now be doing this every time!

One thing that does confuse me though. Its clear that, as says on the ticket, I am saving money by not travelling on the Gatwick Express services. But I didn't think a standard return from Bexhill to London Victoria would be valid on Gatwick Express services anyway?

 

[jon0844]

FCC does a Super Off-Peak Travelcard at weekends, which is open to further discounting with a rail card - but you can still only get them via a ticket office, not via a machine. It's around 20% cheaper than the normal Travelcard.

It's bloody annoying you can only get it via a real person as I'd generally want to use a machine to save time (and obviously when the ticket office is closed).

Anyway, it's nice when you do find a way of saving some money. Goodness knows, we need it. So, I've technically saved £4 on my annual ticket this year - but that's about one day of travel. I'm not breaking out the champagne just yet, as many unregulated fares on the network have still gone up.

 

[ChrisEJ1993]

FCC does a Super Off-Peak Travelcard at weekends, which is open to further discounting with a rail card - but you can still only get them via a ticket office, not via a machine. It's around 20% cheaper than the normal Travelcard.

It's bloody annoying you can only get it via a real person as I'd generally want to use a machine to save time (and obviously when the ticket office is closed).

Anyway, it's nice when you do find a way of saving some money. Goodness knows, we need it. So, I've technically saved £4 on my annual ticket this year - but that's about one day of travel. I'm not breaking out the champagne just yet, as many unregulated fares on the network have still gone up.

I haven't tried buying the super off peak part of the ticket from a machine, but since the first event I have bought one online!

 

[TsLeng]

With a 16-25 Railcard, it is usually cheaper to buy an off-peak day travelcard in london at 5 quid if you need to use national rail.

Otherwise, the discounted railcard daily cap on the oyster works quite well too!

 

[ChrisEJ1993]

I will be using my Oyster card from now on (When it arrives) because it means I don't have to queue up at Victoria, or buy it online first, I can just start my journey around London straight away. And it'll be even better now you can use it on National Rail, and it costs the same

 

[Surreytraveller]

One thing that does confuse me though. Its clear that, as says on the ticket, I am saving money by not travelling on the Gatwick Express services. But I didn't think a standard return from Bexhill to London Victoria would be valid on Gatwick Express services anyway?

If it is route 'Any Permitted', then yes it is valid on the Gatwick Express.

 

[ChrisEJ1993]

Really? I never knew that! I thought you needed a special 'Gatwick Express' ticket, which costed more!

 

[Surreytraveller]

Really? I never knew that! I thought you needed a special 'Gatwick Express' ticket, which costed more!

i might be wrong, but I believe the only ticket which is 'Gatwick Express only' is from Victoria to Gatwick. There is no such thing as an 'Any Permitted' ticket from London to Gatwick (apart from seasons) - they are all operator specific. For journeys beyond Gatwick, you get 'Any Permitted' or 'Not Gatwick Express'.

 

[ChrisEJ1993]

Cool, maybe I'll use this to my advantage and use Gatwick Express for my first 460 bash then!

 

[Edvid]

i might be wrong, but I believe the only ticket which is 'Gatwick Express only' is from Victoria to Gatwick. There is no such thing as an 'Any Permitted' ticket from London to Gatwick (apart from seasons

The GEx-only routeing was replaced by Any Permitted for all tickets once the extended GEx services were introduced.

 

[ChrisEJ1993]

Cool - Thanks for the info

 

[yorkie]

Really? I never knew that! I thought you needed a special 'Gatwick Express' ticket, which costed more!

Why? They're not exempt from the Routeing Guide and they have to accept inter-available tickets like anyone else. If Gatwick to Victoria is on a permitted route for your ticket and if there is nothing on the ticket to indicate it isn't valid on Gatwick Express (eg 'Not Gatwick Express' or 'FCC Only') then it is valid.

 

[paul1609]

Super Off Peak Tickets from all Southern Stations to London Victoria are route "Not Gatwick Express" Other tickets to London including travelcards are also Route "Not Gatwick Express" from Stations North of Christs Hospital/ Balcombe. Stations south of these points are "Any Permitted" so are valid on the Gatwick Express