Buying National Rail tickets at Stratford London.

[ashworth]

Next week I am staying with friends in North London and want to do a few trips out by train. I'll only be a few minutes walk from Hampstead Heath Overground Station and so have decided to do a few trips out into Essex via Stratford. I'm going to use my Oyster Card to travel from Hampstead Heath to Stratford and then get Day Returns or even Off Peak Returns from Stratford to destinations like Colchester, Southend, Walton on the Naze etc.

A few years ago I once made the mistake of trying to purchase a Day Return to Southend Stations, as I wanted to call at Leigh on Sea on the return journey, from the large main ticket office in the concourse at Stratford. I hadn't realised that this was operated by London Transport and that they didn't sell the full range of National Rail tickets. Only after being sold a more expensive ticket to Southend Central via Barking did I find out that there was a small National Rail ticket office with only 2 windows hidden around a corner outside the main entrance. It was so annoying that the London Transport man, who was not able to sell me the ticket I required, couldn't have told me that there was another ticket office that could sell me the ticket. I won't go on about this as I have discussed it here before.

To save exiting the station and queuing at this small ticket office are there any ticket machines at Stratford that sell a full range of National Rail Day and Off Peak Day returns. If there are, where are they situated?

 

[FQTV]

If you have time, you could perhaps wander/DLR to Stratford International Station.

I've always found the staff very helpful, and the queue rarely runs more than three deep.

Support manned ticket offices!

 

[Paul Kelly]

Don't London Overground ticket vending machines sell tickets from other stations? So there should be no problem buying the ticket at Hampstead Heath. The London Underground ticket offices at Stratford are now closed, the one at the main entrance having very little visual evidence of it having ever been there, so much less scope for confusion there than there used to be.

 

[trivran]

If you have time, you could perhaps wander/DLR to Stratford International Station.

I've always found the staff very helpful, and the queue rarely runs more than three deep.

Support manned ticket offices!

I can second any support for Stratford International and their ticket office. They've always been very helpful and often quite interested in any 'odd' tickets I might want to purchase.

 

[causton]

Don't London Overground ticket vending machines sell tickets from other stations? So there should be no problem buying the ticket at Hampstead Heath. The London Underground ticket offices at Stratford are now closed, the one at the main entrance having very little visual evidence of it having ever been there, so much less scope for confusion there than there used to be.

Should be able to, yes!

When you are at Hampstead Heath, there should be a button at the bottom of the screen (when you choose Buy on the first screen, or whatever the option is that is not Oyster ) that says 'Tickets from another station'... or ask at the ticket office at Hampstead Heath or Stratford International, another good suggestion

 

[ashworth]

Should be able to, yes!

When you are at Hampstead Heath, there should be a button at the bottom of the screen (when you choose Buy on the first screen, or whatever the option is that is not Oyster ) that says 'Tickets from another station'... or ask at the ticket office at Hampstead Heath or Stratford International, another good suggestion

Thanks. Being only an occasional visitor to London I had forgotten that London Overground ticket offices sold all National Rail fares. I will get my ticket at Hampstead Heath preferably from the ticket office. Most days I will be leaving Hampstead Heath between 9.00 and 10.00am and so I will require an Off Peak Day Return from Stratford. However, if I decide one day to go later and use a Super Off Peak Return, would I still be able to purchase that at Hampstead Heath earlier in the morning, as long as I don't use it to depart from Stratford until after 12 Noon. If I had to use the machine would it sell me this?

 

[PermitToTravel]

I'm not sure if the machine would, but the ticket office would (might need persuading that you won't use it before time)

 

[Starmill]

Is there a reason you need to use Oyster from Hampstead Heath? There is a good chance it will be cheaper, particularly as you're avoiding London, but don't buy your ticket before you have at least checked the fare from Hampstead Heath to Colchester, Southend, Walton on the Naze etc.

 

[47513 Severn]

There is a Greater Anglia (possibly now branded as TFL Rail but it should sell what you need) ticket machine on platform eight and two more in the LU ticket office on the Westfield side of the station. There used to be one adjacent to the Jubilee Line platforms as well but I think that is now out of service.

 

[ashworth]

Is there a reason you need to use Oyster from Hampstead Heath? There is a good chance it will be cheaper, particularly as you're avoiding London, but don't buy your ticket before you have at least checked the fare from Hampstead Heath to Colchester, Southend, Walton on the Naze etc.

I'd already looked at this option but for most journeys a through ticket from Hampstead Heath is significantly more expensive which makes using Oyster for the journey which avoids London a much cheaper option. Also if I decide to do an afternoon trip there are no Super Off Peak Returns from Hampstead Heath.
Hampstead Heath to Chelmsford is double the price from Stratford!

As I'm going to be in London for a week I will probably get a 7 Day Travelcard for Zones 1 to 3 loaded onto my Oyster Card which will allow me to do other journeys around London whilst I'm there. At £38 that will allow me to travel around quite a wide area of London and include my journeys out to Stratford for less than £6 a day.

 

[AlterEgo]

Support manned ticket offices!

...except where they sell you an inappropriate ticket, like in the OP!

 

[MikeWh]

I'd already looked at this option but for most journeys a through ticket from Hampstead Heath is significantly more expensive which makes using Oyster for the journey which avoids London a much cheaper option. Also if I decide to do an afternoon trip there are no Super Off Peak Returns from Hampstead Heath.
Hampstead Heath to Chelmsford is double the price from Stratford!

As I'm going to be in London for a week I will probably get a 7 Day Travelcard for Zones 1 to 3 loaded onto my Oyster Card which will allow me to do other journeys around London whilst I'm there. At £38 that will allow me to travel around quite a wide area of London and include my journeys out to Stratford for less than £6 a day.

Don't forget that Stratford is now in zone 2/3 and you don't need 3 if travelling from zone 1. I guess it depends how many other trips into zone 3 you have planned. A weekly 1-2 is just £32.40.

 

[ashworth]

Don't forget that Stratford is now in zone 2/3 and you don't need 3 if travelling from zone 1. I guess it depends how many other trips into zone 3 you have planned. A weekly 1-2 is just £32.40.

Yes I am aware that Stratford is now in Zone 2/3. However, as it's less than £6 extra to also include Zone 3, I think I will get that as Zone 3 extends out to such a wide area and avoids me paying higher fares at peak times if I was to travel into Zone 3.

Thank you to everyone for your help and suggestions. It's great to be able to get this sort of information when visiting locations away from my home area.

 

[Starmill]

If you do get that, I would also consider getting a ticket from Boundary Zone 3. If its no more expensive it would offer you additional flexibility (e.g. to go to Liverpool Street on a train that doesn't call at Stratford).

 

[Wolfie]

Don't London Overground ticket vending machines sell tickets from other stations? So there should be no problem buying the ticket at Hampstead Heath. The London Underground ticket offices at Stratford are now closed, the one at the main entrance having very little visual evidence of it having ever been there, so much less scope for confusion there than there used to be.

They do but may not offer anything like the whole selection of tickets...

 

[Be3G]

I've been wondering recently about Stratford's NR ticket office provision too. What's happened about the (what used to be) Greater Anglia ticket office in the otherwise TfL-run Westfield concourse – has that survived the Underground ticket office closures? If so, is it still run by Greater Anglia or has it been transferred to TfL Rail?

 

[ashworth]

Just a quick update.
No problems getting my tickets at Hampstead Heath. Very friendly and helpful staff in the London Overground Ticket Office. On various days they sold me me Boundary Zone 3 to Chelmsford and Colchester Off Peak Day Returns without any problems. This made it much easier at Straford to be able to change trains without having to exit the station to buy another ticket. Also one day when I began my journey after 0930, I was able to easily buy a Boundary Zone 3 to Colchester Off Peak Day Return from the machine at Hampstead Heath. Thanks everyone for that advice. Not being used to London fares I would not have thought of a Boundary Zone ticket or that I didn't have to touch out/in when using a weekly travelcard with Oyster. The number of times in the past I have broken my journey to touch in and out and to buy another ticket to travel beyond the boundary.

Whilst visiting Essex I found the £8 Essex Saver bus ticket very useful for travelling around the county which is valid on all operators. It's just a shame that it's not more widely advertised by First Essex on their website but fortunately I already knew about it. First Essex obviously would rather sell you their own ticket at the same price but of course it's not valid on other operators.

 

[pne]

Whilst visiting Essex I found the £8 Essex Saver bus ticket very useful for travelling around the county which is valid on all operators. It's just a shame that it's not more widely advertised by First Essex on their website but fortunately I already knew about it. First Essex obviously would rather sell you their own ticket at the same price but of course it's not valid on other operators.

Similar in Cornwall, where £10 will get you either a day ticket valid only on First busses, or a Ride Cornwall which will let you take some other busses as well as trains (but valid only after 0930 or thereabouts).

 

[Bill Badger]

Similar in Cornwall, where £10 will get you either a day ticket valid only on First busses, or a Ride Cornwall which will let you take some other busses as well as trains (but valid only after 0930 or thereabouts).

Price have risen - it's now £12 for the First day ticket and £13 for the Ride Cornwall, which is still cheaper if you have a valid railcard.

 

[Sleepy]

Cornwall council need to update website, still showing both at £10 ??