Tickets to London include zones 1 and 2

[erk]

On Monday (7 Aug) I ordered on-line five pairs of advance tickets between London (Terminals) and Manchester (Stations). I collected them today, from a Northern TVM at Manchester Piccadilly. They are in the new format (one coupon for both ticket and reservation).

All the tickets to London, and three of the tickets from London, have the station shown as "London Undergrnd Zones 1-2". Why have I been given this extra validity? Can I expect the tickets to work the underground barriers?

 

[Romilly]

A ticket to London Underground Zones 1 to 2 gets you to your chosen London Terminal and then covers a single journey on London Underground from that terminal to an LU station of your choice in either zone 1 or zone 2. A ticket the other way round covers a single journey from a zone 1 or 2 LU station to your chosen London terminal and then on national rail to your destination.

On some ticket-selling sites, these tickets appear to be nothing more than differently priced tickets to/from London Terminals until you hover over them or see the full booking details.

 

[SickyNicky]

It's worth noting that sometimes these tickets are the same price as the ticket to London Terminals, so some web sites will sell you one of these to give you the extra tube validity (even if you don't use it, your plans might change).

In some rare cases, the "U Zone" ticket is actually cheaper than the London ticket, so clearly we'll always sell these in preference.

 

[erk]

Thanks for the information, which has helped me understand what's going on.

The price I paid (£16.50 with senior railcard) is indeed a fare to/from zones 1-2. It also appears that (at least for one train) that fare is lower than the cheapest Advance to London Terminals. So it seems that the web site (Virgin West Coast) has silently rebooked me to a more favourable destination.

That's welcome and rather impressive, though I'm surprised there's no mention anywhere that it's been done - the confirmation emails and my journey history all refer to London Euston.

The mixing deck type sites don't do this and it takes diligent searching to find the cheapest fare (in this particular case) on them.

I know - why don't we ask the railway to introduce simple fares?

 

[Hadders]

I know - why don't we ask the railway to introduce simple fares?

What do you suggest? If fares are simplified it will result in price increases.

 

[csilke]

All the tickets to London, and three of the tickets from London, have the station shown as "London Undergrnd Zones 1-2".

If the underground fares are cheaper why aren't all five of the from London fares the underground fare?

 

[edwin_m]

I've ordered Advances from Nottingham to Stratford selecting "outward" and "return" off the same screen. Both are via St Pancras but the outward is to "Underground Zones 1-2" and the return is from "Stratford (London)". Both have the "iron cross".

As a bit of variety and to avoid the Central Line, are either or both of these valid on the main line between Liverpool Street and Stratford?

 

[Paul Kelly]

As a bit of variety and to avoid the Central Line, are either or both of these valid on the main line between Liverpool Street and Stratford?

Yes, Liverpool Street to Stratford is an interavailable route and since Stratford is now dual-zoned in Zones 2+3, a Zones 1-2 ticket is valid to travel on mainline National Rail services to/from Liverpool Street.

As for getting a U-zone fare on the outward journey and a fare from the named station on the return, it probably indicates an inconsistency in the pricing between different levels of advance tiers - it could be that when cheap tiers are available the fare to Stratford is cheaper, but when all that is available are more expensive tiers, the fare to Zone U12 is cheaper. And they're both equally valid.

 

[erk]

What do you suggest? If fares are simplified it will result in price increases.

I don't go in for these emoji thingies, but if I did, I would have used one with a tongue in cheek.

If the underground fares are cheaper why aren't all five of the from London fares the underground fare?

The fares weren't all the same, so I think for some of them London Terminals (printed as London Euston) was the cheapest available at the time.