Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
 No recent travel & transport from BBC stories as at 12:15 03 May 2025
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]		 today - Walk to Pilning
10/05/25 - BRTA Westbury
10/05/25 - Model Railway Show, Calne
13/05/25 - Melksham TUG / AGM

On this day
3rd May (2018)
~ Just one working lower quadrant distant signal left (link)
Train RunningCancelled
12:00 Greenford to West Ealing
12:15 West Ealing to Greenford
12:30 Greenford to West Ealing
12:45 West Ealing to Greenford
13:00 Greenford to West Ealing
13:07 Reading to Basingstoke
13:53 Basingstoke to Reading
14:37 Reading to Basingstoke
15:01 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads
15:24 Basingstoke to Reading
16:04 Bristol Temple Meads to Bristol Parkway
16:07 Reading to Basingstoke
16:48 Bristol Parkway to Bristol Temple Meads
16:53 Basingstoke to Reading
17:37 Reading to Basingstoke
18:23 Basingstoke to Reading
19:05 Reading to Basingstoke
19:55 Basingstoke to Reading
20:37 Reading to Basingstoke
21:23 Basingstoke to Reading
22:05 Reading to Basingstoke
22:15 Bristol Temple Meads to Westbury
22:55 Basingstoke to Reading
Short Run
12:13 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
13:10 Weston-Super-Mare to Severn Beach
14:41 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
•
PollsOpen and recent polls
Open to 08/05 09:07 Steam Excursion - or diesel excursion with a featured steam section?
Open to 07/05 09:27 Should train, bus and coach operators be required to accept cash
•
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
•
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
•
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
•
Train companiesSelect from:
GWR
SWR
XC
Chiltern
TfL
TfW
WMR
Southern
• Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple Meads • Bath Spa • Chippenham • Swindon • Didcot Parkway • Reading • London Paddington • Melksham
Exeter St Davids • Taunton • Westbury • Trowbridge • Bristol Parkway • Cardiff Central • Oxford • Cheltenham Spa • Birmingham New Street
May 03, 2025, 12:23:28 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[205] Subtle train time changes
[97] A very easy riddle
[92] In memory of the Weymouth Harbour Tramway on the anniversary o...
[59] Service reduction - Coombe Junction
[17] Steam excursion - except there's much more diesel than steam!
[16] Taplow-Hassocks
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Great Western Coffee Shop > All across the Great Western territory > Fare's Fair > London Zones
Pages: [1]
« previous next »
  Print  
Author Topic: London Zones  (Read 8703 times)
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 43974



View Profile WWW Email
« on: May 24, 2014, 13:32:47 »
Here's one that has me stumped ... an enquiry from a local contact who mistakenly thinks I know everything about train fares.

Booking online with FGW▸ (First Great Western) ... from Melksham to London and then onto underground stations ... pulldown menu offers lots of ticket zones.   Now - even assuming you know what these zones are - I can only get a price for Zones 1-6, otherwise I'm told that there are "no fares have been found for your selected service".  My contact had a final destination in zone 2 ...

My contact tells me he gave up and has bought an advance Chippenham to London (Paddington) ticket from theTrainLine and is having it posted to him, just like he's done in past years  Undecided

Too late for this booking ... but why are all those zones offered?   They don't seem to work from Chippenham either, by the way.
Logged
Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member
Network SouthEast
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 492



View Profile
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2014, 13:44:44 »
I think it might be an error on the website.

I'll explain. If coming in from outside London then off-peak a Zone 1-6 is always cheaper than any other combination of Zones.

You can't get a Melksham Zones 1-2 Travelcard, because you have to travel through zones 6-3 first to get to Zones 1-2!

As for why the short Zones are offered... for journeys just within them in London they can work out cheaper - especially in the peaks. Your contact buying a ticket to London if travelling off-peak is now going to pay more if they buy a Travelcard inside London. A Zone 1-2 Travelcard is ^9 (no off-peak fare), yet an Off-peak Zone 1-6 travelcard is ^8.90.
Logged
ChrisB
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 13351


View Profile Email
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2014, 17:58:25 »
You can often obtain a ticket to U1, a single trip in zone on the Underground. Most often these are peak tickets
Logged
JayMac
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 19310



View Profile
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2014, 18:27:31 »
From Melksham you can get fares to: ZONE U1* LONDN, ZONE U12* LONDN, ZONE U123* LONDN,
ZONE U1234*LONDN, ZONE U1245 LONDN, and ZONE U1256 LONDN, across all walk-up single/return ticket types. There are also Advance Purchase fares available to/from these 'destinations'.

(The asterisks are there to prevent additional numbers being added on the ticket)

Each of these allows a journey (to and from, in the case of a return) on the Underground between the relevant London Terminal and a station in the highest numbered zone.

Tickets to and/or from these Underground 'destinations' are available to and/or from nearly every station in Great Britain that is outside the London Zones. Across a range of Anytime, Off Peak, Super Off Peak (single and return) and Advance ticket types. They are not limited to Anytime (Peak) tickets.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2014, 20:45:23 by bignosemac » Logged
"Good news for regular users of Euston Station in London! One day they will die. Then they won't have to go to Euston Station ever again." - David Mitchell
Network SouthEast
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 492



View Profile
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2014, 19:15:58 »
Chris and BNM, if you look at Grahame's screenshot and have a go on the FGW▸ (First Great Western) website you'll note he was searching for Travelcards.

Plane signal/return Underground trips appear on the FGW as just "Zone U12* London (Not Travelcard)" etc, and these are available on the FGW website.
Logged
JayMac
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 19310



View Profile
« Reply #5 on: May 24, 2014, 19:52:55 »
Grahame's contact had a final destination in Zone 2, so a point to point ticket may have been more appropriate than a Travelcard. Also, if this was a single journey, then an Outboundary Travelcard, being a Day Return product only, may not have offered best value.

Plus, ATOS booking engines (ie FGW▸ (First Great Western)'s) will only offer the Outboundary Travelcard option 'London Zones 1-6' as a valid destination if both the 'Return' radio button are selected and the 'Outward' and 'Return' date are the same.

Quite why they still have other Outboundary Travelcard options such as 'London Zones 1-2' is beyond me. These options are no longer sold. An Outboundary Travelcard is now only available for Zones 1-6.
Logged
"Good news for regular users of Euston Station in London! One day they will die. Then they won't have to go to Euston Station ever again." - David Mitchell
Chris from Nailsea
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 19589



View Profile Email
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2014, 20:30:23 »
It's Mornington Crescent, in all but name.  Shocked Roll Eyes Grin
Logged
William Huskisson MP▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) was the first person to be killed by a train while crossing the tracks, in 1830.  Many more have died in the same way since then.  Don't take a chance: Stop, Look, Listen.

"Level crossings are safe, unless they are used in an unsafe manner."  Discuss.
Southern Stag
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 984


View Profile
« Reply #7 on: May 25, 2014, 22:16:25 »
Quote from: bignosemac on May 24, 2014, 19:52:55
Quite why they still have other Outboundary Travelcard options such as 'London Zones 1-2' is beyond me. These options are no longer sold. An Outboundary Travelcard is now only available for Zones 1-6.
I'm not quite sure why so many Zonal combinations are shown when many of them don't even have available fares. You could normally buy a season ticket to London Zones 5-6 for example though, but such fares don't seem to be available from Melksham. Only a Zones 1-6 season fare is available.
Logged
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
« previous next »
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules via admin@railcustomer.info. Full legal statement (here).

Jump to top of page • Jump to Forum Home Page