Topic ID 1586
From the Standard today, FCC to ban travel from London using cheap day return tickets between 4.30 and 7pm.
Reply ID 19464
Useful link: [url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/content/articles/2006/05/31/trains_change_rules_310506_feature.shtml"]No cheap ticket to ride[/url]
Reply ID 19465
Not quite the same thing but still worth knowing - Two weeks ago on a Saturday, my wife, two kids and I went into London from Hertford North. Now normally the kids travel for £1 off peak even with a one day travel card, but this particular day the man in the ticket office charged us full kids fare (£35 all in) and told us that the £1 fares had been scraped. We argued the point with him as only a week before we traveled with the discounted fare but he was adamant we were wrong (he said laughing) and no such thing existed anymore. On arriving home I checked the FCC website and sure enough the £1 fares still applied, we phoned FCC head office to complain and after much discussion they admitted we were right. Luckily we hung onto the tickets which we have now sent back in order to get a refund (still waiting). Anyway I thought I would post this little story for others who travel off-peak with kids, so be on your guard [}:)]
Reply ID 19468
Interestingly a few weeks ago the ticket office insisted, despite our protests, that instead of using a Family railcard for a travelcard we had to use the £1 for children plus adult travelcard option. We complained to FCC over being overcharged £1.20. They sent us two different responses, one ignoring the point completely and one apologising. We also got rail vouchers for £5. Good to get more compensation than we asked for, but even better would be better training of ticket selling staff.
Reply ID 19487
does this only effect people using moorgate/kings cross..can you get on at fins pk with a cheap ticket between 4:30 and 7:00
Reply ID 19504
No, they've made sure it applies to any train starting from Moorgate and Kings Cross, so you can't get on at Finsbury Park. As someone who goes to Finsbury Park at 9.30 each morning and heads back at 4.30 each afternoon, I'm a tad upset about this... A massive fare hike for me. I know there's overcrowding in the morning but it's more spread out in the afternoon/evening. Came back on the 18.12 yesterday (fast to Palmers Green) and even that didn't seem too bad. I'm quite sure they just want to eliminate the reasonably priced off-peak ticket.
Reply ID 19506
quote:Evening trains really are a lot less busy than the morning ones, the evening rush hour, as they note is a lot more spread out and I only ever have a problem getting a seat at Moorgate if I get on a train departing within a couple of minutes, else, I could wait 12 minutes and get a seat. Seems a great way to increase turnover and decrease rail travel, for the prices they are now asking a drive to london, CC, and parking for a family of 4 is cheaper!
Originally posted by IainC
I know there's overcrowding in the morning but it's more spread out in the afternoon/evening. Came back on the 18.12 yesterday (fast to Palmers Green) and even that didn't seem too bad. I'm quite sure they just want to eliminate the reasonably priced off-peak ticket.
Reply ID 19528
The forerunner to a thinning of the evening services perhaps.
Reply ID 19530
Hmm, the only decent thing WAGN did to the line, running Moorgate until 10pm.
Reply ID 19533
I always thought that 1 every 10 mins in the evening was out of character with the rest of the way the line is run.
Reply ID 19535
To drop those while saying the line is overcrowded would be a fantastic own goal. I can see the press release now... "We can only run 12 trains an hour in and out of Moorgate so to reduce overcrowding we have stopped cheap day returns using these in the evening, the added benefit of this is that we can now change this schedule to a 15 minute service, the reduction in trains will increase the reliability of the service by providing spare capacity in the service and enable us to have spare rolling stock to improve reliability in the event of rolling stock breakdowns.
Reply ID 19537
My thought exactly.
Reply ID 19569
But if I read the map and leaflet correctly one day travelcards and CDRs are only banned for journeys starting from Finsbury park and points south to those ending north of Crews Hill and specifically can still be used for journeys within London and for travel north of the London boundary (Crews Hill) from all stations from Harringey northwards. Thus you cannot be stopped from boarding any train in that period if you are travelling on a travelcard to a station in London. So you get on intending to travel to Crews Hill (if the train stops there or Gordon Hill (if it does not), you get off there and reboard through another door, so your journey is then legal as you have made a journey within London and a jouney from north of Finsbury park to Hertford. Break of journey is allowed on travelcards and CDRs so I cannot see how this practically can work.
Reply ID 20352
According to The Times today, the use of CDRs between 4.30 & 7pm for Hertford North is set to be allowed again: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2248275,00.html
Reply ID 20389
Yes, this is confirmed in Elaine Holt's web meet the "customers" that has just finished and is currently on the FCC website at http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/pages/contact-us/meet-the-directors/questions-and-answers/default.aspx