Stevenage to Blackfriars

[rdwarr]

I normally have a season ticket but have been off work this week and am only going in for a couple of days next week so I want to just get day returns.

BRFares shows an Anytime Day Return routed "Not Underground" for £22.30 with no restrictions. However, if I look on the GN site (actually Southern Railway) for this ticket it says "Not valid on any of the outward services).

Typical itenerary for me is:
0759 - SVG-KGX (Kings Cross)
0836 - STP-BFR (St Pancras)
1818 - BFR-STP
1843 - KGX-SVG

Is the £22.30 ticket available? If so, where can I buy it? Or is there something better?

 

[Tetchytyke]

If you choose "not underground" on the routeing sidebar (show me > show slower routes) then you can get the fare to show.

The reason why it isn't showing is because the 0759 arrives at Blackfriars at 0906 via Underground but 0908 via Thameslink (though both times are much later than you'll achieve in reality). It defaults to the faster journey, which is on the Underground. The ticket is valid on the 0759 SVG-KGX and 1843 return.

 

[rdwarr]

Thanks - I'll try that. Does seems a bit of a faff to get the correct ticket but I can see some sort of reasoning behind it.
The idea that KGX to BFR is faster by Underground is a bit odd though. It's 8-10min on Thameslink and trains are every four minutes in the peak.

 

[button_boxer]

Thanks - I'll try that. Does seems a bit of a faff to get the correct ticket but I can see some sort of reasoning behind it.
The idea that KGX to BFR is faster by Underground is a bit odd though. It's 8-10min on Thameslink and trains are every four minutes in the peak.

It looks like an artefact of the way the journey planner does interchange times - on the tube route the planner seems to treat the change from mainline to tube at Kings Cross as a single change within the same station, so subject just to the minimum interchange time at Kings Cross (15 minutes), but on the Thameslink route it considers Kings Cross and St Pancras as different stations so allows the minimum interchange time at Kings Cross (15 min) plus the minimum interchange time at St Pancras (another 15 min) plus an allowance for the time to walk between the two stations. Thus the tube route has the arrival at Kings Cross mainline at 0823 and the tube departure at 0838, but the Thameslink route doesn't have you leaving St Pancras low level until 0856.

Of course we know that the platform-to-platform walk from Kings Cross mainline to St Pancras Thameslink is practically the same as (possibly even quicker than) from Kings Cross mainline to KXSP Northern Line but the planner doesn't.
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If you choose "not underground" on the routeing sidebar (show me > show slower routes) then you can get the fare to show.

Or put in a via point of City Thameslink.

 

[Hadders]

I regularly Travel from Stevenage to Farringdon in the peak.

Points to ponder:

The service on the underground from Kings Cross St Pancras is more frequent (and more robust most of the time) than on Thameslink.

Using Thameslink on a through ticket is significantly cheaper - a 'not underground' ticket from Stevenage to Blackfriars is £22.30 compared to £29.30 for a travelcard allowing travel via the underground.

If your train arrives on platforms 0-8 and you are at the front of the train then it's quicker to get to the Underground platforms than the Thameslink ones, platforms 9-11 (or the rear of platform 8) then it's quicker to nip across the road to St Pancras.

 

[rdwarr]

I regularly Travel from Stevenage to Farringdon in the peak.

Just out of interest, which ticket do you buy?

 

[Hadders]

I normally have a travelcard as while my office base is near Farringdon I have to travel around London quite extensively.

TBH I'd go for the 'not underground' ticket given the saving if I was based near Farringdon all of the time.

It's also worth noting that although Blackfriars is a bit further than Farringdon it's actually not that far to walk, worth bearing in mind if price is your key driver.

Also note that the price of the 'not underground' ticket is the same as far south as Elephant & Castle so if you're considering a season ticket I'd buy it to there for the additional validity.