Buying NR tickets from LUL stations with NR service

[pethadine82]

Is it possible to buy NR tickets from a LUL station that has NR service.
Eg

Harrow on the Hill is served by Chiltern Railways and the Met line.
Could I buy an off peak day return with YP railcard?

 

[causton]

Yes.

Any LUL ticket office (as far as I know) can sell tickets to National Rail destinations, with railcard discount as well. Sometimes you will pay more though, oddly, but it's usually the same price. The ticket will look like an LU one obviously, which can confuse some people (I confused RPIs on an FCC train from Moorgate with a LU ticket issued to Hatfield!)

The London Underground TVMs will also sell these tickets where there is an NR service at the station in every case as far as I know as well. Maybe even all Underground stations now. But HOH should do it

 

[RJ]

Is it possible to buy NR tickets from a LUL station that has NR service.
Eg

Harrow on the Hill is served by Chiltern Railways and the Met line.
Could I buy an off peak day return with YP railcard?

It is possible. However, the Ticket Vending Machines operated by London Underground only offer a restricted range of tickets to a limited set of destinations. The tickets can also be more expensive than what you need as you pay for Tube travel even if you might not be using it.

As for your question, the answer is maybe. It depends on where you intend on travelling to.

 

[pethadine82]

What I am looking for is an off peak day return with YP discount from Kings cross to Cambridge.
on oyster PAYG off peak return would be £1.90 *2 = £3.80

And the NR component is £14.65

 

[pitdiver]

Things may be different now but during the time I worked in the Booking Office at Euston we weren't allowed to sell Mainline tickets at all. At LUL station that had a mainline service we could only sell tickets to stations on that line plus a few other selected stations. But as I say things may now have changed.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

Yes.

Any LUL ticket office (as far as I know) can sell tickets to National Rail destinations, with railcard discount as well.

So I can pop into say oxford circus and buy a ticket to Chester printed on LU stock?

I do recall a similar thread some months ago

 

[RJ]

I vaguely recall reading something that suggested they won't sell point to point tickets priced at more than £100, can't remember exactly what it was now. Caused some problems with some Anytime Returns to Peterborough a few fares changes ago.

I think you can only buy tickets from those machines if there is an Underground fare available. Whilst most stations in the NSE area have a fare to/from Zone U123456, large stations outside of the area only tend to have a fare to Zone U1 or maybe Zone U12, so it's possible that stations in those zones might retail a larger range of fares.

 

[maniacmartin]

Ah RJ, that may explain why they sometimes cost more if buying from the LU counter at a LU/NR interchange station. Presumably because the ticket isn't to that specific station but to Zone U1 or whatever, so its a different ticket than what people would usually get from the NR counter.

 

[Be3G]

As discussed here, I've recently been able to buy a ticket issued from a boundary zone, for the same price as it would have been from a National Rail station, so it would seem that they can offer ‘genuine’ National Rail tickets with no surcharge for use of London Underground. Whether or not all LU ticket clerks know how to do that, however, is another matter entirely.

 

[pethadine82]

I tried and they could not offer the YP discount.

There seemed to be a lot of RPIs in action today on FCC, and overheard a conversation about a chap called Phil is supposed to be the best RPI on the network.
What makes him so great?

 

[transportphoto]

I've recently been able to buy a ticket issued from a boundary zone, for the same price as it would have been from a National Rail station, so it would seem that they can offer ‘genuine’ National Rail tickets with no surcharge for use of London Underground. Whether or not all LU ticket clerks know how to do that, however, is another matter entirely.

BZ Tickets are a different product in its entirety, in that you already hold a ticket for your LUL travel. The idea of LUL selling combined LUL/NR tickets is so someone could, for example, turn up at Piccadilly Circus and ask for a Single to Colchester. This would be retailed as one ticket, including both the LUL journey to Liverpool Street and onward to Colchester. However it is not intended that you turn up at Liverpool Street LUL asking for a ticket to Colchester, you'd hopefully be directed to Greater Anglia upstairs because any ticket LUL sell for that journey will also include Tube Travel.

If you hold a travelcard, they are able to issue BZ tickets at normal rates. There is a fares table issued to each Ticket Office with all of these fares logged, railcard discounts will then have to be worked out using a table in the back of that book. The fares are manually typed into the Ticket Issuing System.

TP

 

[richardderby]

where LUL is the sole supplier of tickets, they are designated as able to sell the full range of tickets for National Rail, generally only for journeys within the network southeast area (and selected other stations like birmingham Moor St from West Ruislip). these are stations such as Kentish Town, Highbury, Moorgate, West Ruislip, and north Met stations. They are printed on LU ticket stock, and all railcard discounts are available. At other stations, only through fares at full price are available to National Rail stations. Customers can buy railcard discount one day travelcards though.

 

[transportphoto]

At other stations, only through fares at full price are available to National Rail stations. Customers can buy railcard discount one day travelcards though.

At full price with No Railcard discounts? Are you sure about this?

 

[Be3G]

If you hold a travelcard, they are able to issue BZ tickets at normal rates. There is a fares table issued to each Ticket Office with all of these fares logged, railcard discounts will then have to be worked out using a table in the back of that book. The fares are manually typed into the Ticket Issuing System.

Thanks for the explanation there – that tallies exactly with my experience of the clerk having to refer to number tables from a ring binder (we were using a Network Railcard too).

 

[bicbasher]

Isn't there a Chiltern TVM at Harrow on the Hill?

 

[Metrailway]

So I can pop into say oxford circus and buy a ticket to Chester printed on LU stock?

I do recall a similar thread some months ago

Not to Chester. Usually you can only buy tickets to ex NSE area stations although I believe there are some exceptions.

 

[RJ]

Not to Chester. Usually you can only buy tickets to ex NSE area stations although I believe there are some exceptions.

How sure are you about that? I've most definitely seen Off Peak Singles and Returns to Chester offered from a London Underground ticket machine in Zone 1.

 

[richardderby]

definately not Chester, the furthest you can get a National Rail ticket on LU pink stock, would be to Birmingham snow hill from somewhere like South Ruislip. The LU ticket machines are only programmed with a limited number of stations, as mentioned, namely the EX Network Southeast stations. Stations where there are no National Rail office, but which are served by NR, have the most ticket options (eg West Brompton)

 

[bicbasher]

You still can't get a paper ticket from a LUL station to Forest Hill, despite being part of the TfL network since 2010.

 

[paul1609]

You still can't get a paper ticket from a LUL station to Forest Hill, despite being part of the TfL network since 2010.

Im surprised if thats the case. West Brompton has long been able to issue tickets to darkest sussex even with a HM Forces Railcard. Doesn't even get a close examination of the ticket on the Arun valley line which suggests that its quite common.

 

[Metrailway]

How sure are you about that? I've most definitely seen Off Peak Singles and Returns to Chester offered from a London Underground ticket machine in Zone 1.

I investigated this recently - I went to both Euston Sq and Marylebone. I was not able to buy a ticket to Chester from a LUL ticket machine at either station.

In the limited time I had, the furthest I could buy a ticket for a destination on the WCML was Northampton. I forgot to try Long Buckby, but a ticket to Rugby was not offered to me. The furthest on the Chiltern Main Line was Leamington Spa - no ticket offered to me when I tried Birmingham, Warwick, or Coventry.