Greater Anglia: LST Off Peak Restrictions

[STH]

Hi,

I seem to recall pre-lockdown that there was no evening peak period, and I would frequently travel on an off-peak or super off-peak ticket home from London (LST to KEL) around 5pm.

The GA website seems to say this isn’t the case, but the online ticket apps (inc their own) will sell me an off peak or super off peak ticket for travel home during “peak” hours:

Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak Train Times & Tickets

What are theySave by travelling outside busy commuter hoursFlexible travel timesDiscounts: Travel for less with Railcard, GroupSave and kids for £2.Super Off-Peak is cheaper than Off-Peak but has more restrictionsGood for same-day bookings, however, you could save more with an Advance

www.greateranglia.co.uk

Does anyone know the rules for this line/journey?

It doesn’t surprise me that GA would deliberately hide any loopholes on their site!

Thanks

 

[Hadders]

Welcome to the forum.

There is no such thing as a peak train, it's individual tickets that carry restrictions.

If you let us know the journey you're making we can advise.

 

[STH]

It’s Kelvedon to London Liverpool Street.

 

[Paul Kelly]

Which date are you searching for? The evening peak restriction from Liverpool Street is eased during school holidays but applies again from next Monday onwards.

 

[Watershed]

Hi,

I seem to recall pre-lockdown that there was no evening peak period, and I would frequently travel on an off-peak or super off-peak ticket home from London (LST to KEL) around 5pm.

The GA website seems to say this isn’t the case, but the online ticket apps (inc their own) will sell me an off peak or super off peak ticket for travel home during “peak” hours:

Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak Train Times & Tickets

What are theySave by travelling outside busy commuter hoursFlexible travel timesDiscounts: Travel for less with Railcard, GroupSave and kids for £2.Super Off-Peak is cheaper than Off-Peak but has more restrictionsGood for same-day bookings, however, you could save more with an Advance

www.greateranglia.co.uk

Does anyone know the rules for this line/journey?

It doesn’t surprise me that GA would deliberately hide any loopholes on their site!

Thanks

GA's website gives a reasonably accurate summary of the position, actually.

If you have an Off-Peak Day Return from Kelvedon to London Terminals (costing £33), this is valid to arrive into London from 10am onwards, and has no evening restrictions.

If you have an Off-Peak Return (i.e. where the return portion is valid for a month, costing £35.20), this is valid as above on arrival into London, but it does have evening restrictions. You can't use this ticket on trains scheduled to depart Liverpool Street between 16:30 and 18:34 (inclusive), except during Norfolk County Council school holidays.

Therefore whether there are evening restrictions depends on the kind of ticket you hold, as well as whether it is a school holiday.

Online retailers will automatically sell the appropriate ticket for your journey.

 

[plugwash]

Rail ticketing is a complex mess and it's easier politically/financially to pretend to simplify it than actually simplify it. Any true simplification will create losers, the government doesn't want to subsidise the railway more than they already do and any passengers hit with large fare hikes will protest vigerously.

So "cheap day returns" were renamed to "off peak day returns" and "saver returns" were renamed to "off peak returns", but despite having been renamed to have very similar names they often have totally different peak restrictions. Some "off peak returns" don't even have any peak restrictions at all (though this is less common than it was when the renaming first happened)!

 

[STH]

Thanks - that was the difference, I forgot day vs non-day.

I think the website is misleading though as the table implies that evening restrictions do apply.

 

[86246]

I'm sure I recall reading a few years back that day returns had their evening peak restrictions lifted due to them being valid on the Great Northern services to Cambridge. There are no day return tickets to London available north of Manningtree.

Not sure how much difference it makes but I notice in the link that the school holiday exceptions are now based on Norfolk school holidays instead of Suffolk.

 

[Watershed]

Thanks - that was the difference, I forgot day vs non-day.

I think the website is misleading though as the table implies that evening restrictions do apply.

I don't see any way it could be clearer given the circumstances:


It clearly states that there are no restrictions on Off-Peak Day tickets.

Of course, having two similarly named tickets with quite different validities is inherently liable to cause confusion.