Zone 6 Boundary Extension to Brighton

[tricky_dicky]

Hi there

I am travelling to Brighton from Hersham this Saturday, and was hoping for some guidance as to the cost of a Z6 Boundary Extension to Brighton with Annual Gold Card - returning on the same day.

Obviously I am covered already from Hersham to Z6 on the Brighton line (Coulsdon South I believe!), so want to make sure I am not paying more than I need to

I assume this is not a ticket that can be purchased in advance and that i need to get this on the day?

Any help appreciated

 

[benk1342]

It sounds like you already have a Hersham - London Zones 1-6 annual Gold Card, is that right? What you need is a Boundary Zone 6 - Brighton ticket. An Off-Peak Day Return with Gold Card discount is £11.70. There is no advantage to buying this in advance, but you may do so.

 

[soil]

What ticket do you hold?

Is it a Hersham-London + z1-6 annual season?

If it is then you can simply buy a Coulsdon South - Brighton return, and this is then valid.

The prices are here:

http://brfares.com/#fares?orig=CDS&dest=BTN&rlc=NGC

If not, and you only have a day travelcard, you need to buy BZ6-BTN

http://brfares.com/#fares?orig=0072&dest=BTN&rlc=NGC

Same price but no online purchase

Provided your route passes through ECR it should, you can also buy ECR-BTN


http://brfares.com/#fares?orig=ECR&dest=BTN&rlc=NGC

If you take the FCC route, fares are lower, but obviously not valid on the through train from CLJ (albeit that you can board the Brighton train at CLJ, but you'd have to get off at ECR and wait for an FCC train!).

ECR-BTN either Any Permitted or FCC Only is the best option IMO, because while all three are valid, the ECR-BTN ticket should cover any route you might want to take and is most obviously valid to any guard checking your tickets while being priced the same as CDS-BTN and unlike BZ6-BTN being purchaseable online

 

[tricky_dicky]

Yes I do have a Hersham - London Zones 1-6 Annual Season Ticket - is there any advantage to buying a Coulsdon South To Brighton return, instead of a boundary extension Z6 - Brighton? Or are these effectively the same ticket??

£11.70 is for the extension ticket, which appears can be bought anytime upto (and on) the day of travel

Thanks

 

[benk1342]

Thanks for this, yes I do have a Hersham - Z1-6 Gold Card. So it's £11.70 whenever I choose to purchase the ticket? Brilliant, just what I needed to know

But Soil is correct that if you go via East Croydon and get a First Capital Connect train to Brighton the fares are lower: £8.90 for an Off-Peak Day Return or £6.60 for a Super Off-Peak Day return (valid weekends only).

 

[soil]

Yes I do have a Hersham - London Zones 1-6 Annual Season Ticket - is there any advantage to buying a Coulsdon South To Brighton return, instead of a boundary extension Z6 - Brighton? Or are these effectively the same ticket??

£11.70 is for the extension ticket, which appears can be bought anytime upto (and on) the day of travel

Thanks

The advantage of Coulsdon South -Brighton (I'd just buy East Croydon - Brighton as it's the same price and the train stops there, so less chance of an argument), is that you can buy it online and collect at Hersham station TVM. And potentially cashback too. For the BZ6 ticket you will need to wait in a queue at a station ticket window somewhere.

http://www.quidco.com/southern-railway/

If you want to leave East Croydon before 9:30, you would need an Anytime Day Return fare, which is £14.45.

However on FCC (routeing Hersham-CLJ-ECR-BTN) the fares are £8.90 after 9:30 and £10.25 before. You might find the FCC trains are better timed for your connection to Brighton. Or not. It's only £3-£4 difference, so not huge.

 

[tricky_dicky]

Thanks for that. The only issue with the FCC option, is that I am meeting some others on the train at Clapham - so I will just swallow the extra cost this time, plus the Southern train will be quicker.

Cheers

 

[benk1342]

s there any advantage to buying a Coulsdon South To Brighton return, instead of a boundary extension Z6 - Brighton? Or are these effectively the same ticket??

The Coulsden South - Brighton ticket is the same price as the Boundary Zone 6 - Brighton ticket. The advantage of the Coulsden South ticket is that you can buy it online; Boundary Zone tickets can only be purchased at ticket offices (presumably so they can verify that you have the requisite Travelcard to cover the zones). As part of your journey is on a season ticket the train would not have to stop at Coulsden South.

 

[tricky_dicky]

I actually have a voucher for £6 that i will be using for this journey anyway, so the cost to me will only be about a fiver on the day - plus I have some time to kill at Clapham with the connection timings - so will opt for getting it at the office on the day I think

thanks for the advice - much appreciated

 

[MikeWh]

The Coulsden South - Brighton ticket is the same price as the Boundary Zone 6 - Brighton ticket. The advantage of the Coulsden South ticket is that you can buy it online; Boundary Zone tickets can only be purchased at ticket offices (presumably so they can verify that you have the requisite Travelcard to cover the zones). As part of your journey is on a season ticket the train would not have to stop at Coulsden South.

The huge disadvantage of the Coulsdon South ticket is that not all trains actually pass through Coulsdon South. In fact, if it doesn't call anywhere between Purley and Horley it is unlikely to pass through Coulsdon South. Tickets from Purley cost the same and avoid any possibility of a routeing issue.

 

[soil]

The huge disadvantage of the Coulsdon South ticket is that not all trains actually pass through Coulsdon South. In fact, if it doesn't call anywhere between Purley and Horley it is unlikely to pass through Coulsdon South. Tickets from Purley cost the same and avoid any possibility of a routeing issue.

East Croydon is clearly the best option, although I would note that the maps are rather misleading - the London map implies trains might not pass through Purley.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger_services/maps/London_Rail_Tube_map.pdf

While the National Rail Map implies that they pass through Purley and Coulsdon South

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/passenger_services/maps/nationalrailnetworkmapZoom.pdf

 

[MKD]

Depending on what you want to do in Brighton and you are prepared to use Southern Trains only - you might want to consider a Southern All Network Downlander @ £12.50/person which is valid at any time on a Saturday and will give you the right to use various buses around Brighton ie 12/13/14/28/29 - eg out East along the coast to Saltdean, Newhaven, Seven Sisters Country Park, Beachy Head, Eastbourne - if you were going o spend £11+ on train ticket anyway, the extra £1 for the buses could be worth it...

Can buy online up to midnight on Thursday for Saturday usage (it's self-print).
http://www.southernrailwaytickets.com/ticketing_promotion.php?iTicketPromotionId=6

For the future if there's a group of you travelling in Southern's area and you are able to plan ahead 7-14 days then Southern's Daysave c/be very cost effective eg for a group of 4 @ £24 (+P&P possibly)
http://www.southernrailwaytickets.com/main.php?page_id=189

MKD

 

[yorkie]

The huge disadvantage of the Coulsdon South ticket is that not all trains actually pass through Coulsdon South. In fact, if it doesn't call anywhere between Purley and Horley it is unlikely to pass through Coulsdon South. Tickets from Purley cost the same and avoid any possibility of a routeing issue.

Agreed, it is best to get the Purley ticket.

 

[island]

The advantage of Coulsdon South -Brighton (I'd just buy East Croydon - Brighton as it's the same price and the train stops there, so less chance of an argument), is that you can buy it online and collect at Hersham station TVM. And potentially cashback too. For the BZ6 ticket you will need to wait in a queue at a station ticket window somewhere.

I believe Southern TVMs sell boundary zone tickets these days.