Reading-London Z1-6 season ticket queries

[whole diary]

[THEALB10N]

Hi all,

I’m new to the forum but have lurked for a while. I registered as I have a few questions regarding my new commute from Reading to London:

As you all know I’m sure, Reading-London is rather busy and rather expensive. My old commute was only to Slough so I never had an issue with getting a seat, but have more of an issue nowadays. Is it possible to reserve seats on Reading-London services if I have a season ticket?
Paying all the money that I am, I’m keen to make use of my ticket for other journeys as much as possible. I’m a bit lost as to what routes I could use my ticket on apart from the main-line. For example I know it’s valid on the Reading-Waterloo SWT^▸ (South West Trains) trains, but could I get a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) train to say Wokingham? If so, how far along this line can I use it? (Crowthorne? Guildford? Redhill?  ) How about alternative routes to Waterloo e.g. via Basingstoke? Could I get off at Basingstoke?
I have also heard that it is now allowed to split a season ticket (although the Reading ticket staff said I cannot do this without the train stopping). I have a “Slough trading estate discount card” which gives me 10% off any ticket to Slough. I’m tempted to split the ticket to Slough to save the money but I don’t want the hassle of being challenged every time my ticket is checked on a train to or from London. Can anyone clear this up?
Thanks for your help, it is much appreciated!

[grahame]

I have also heard that it is now allowed to split a season ticket (although the Reading ticket staff said I cannot do this without the train stopping). I have a “Slough trading estate discount card” which gives me 10% off any ticket to Slough. I’m tempted to split the ticket to Slough to save the money but I don’t want the hassle of being challenged every time my ticket is checked on a train to or from London. Can anyone clear this up?

Hi, and welcome to the forum. I'll leave others more knowledgeable and me to pick off most of the routing questions.

Split tickets are valid (under current conditions which came into play on 1st October last year) if one (or both) of them are season tickets:

14.1 Unless shown below, you may use a combination of two or more Tickets to make a journey provided that the train services you use call at the station(s) where you change from one Ticket to another.

14.2 If you are using a Season Ticket, daily Zonal Ticket, or another area based Ticket such as a concessionary pass, ranger or rover in conjunction with another Ticket and the last station at which one Ticket is valid and the first station that the other Ticket is valid are the same, then the train does not need to call at that station for your combination to be valid.

That is a change as under previous conditions, you were only allowed to split at a station the train passed without stopping if ONE but not both were seasons.

It's my understanding that this relaxation wasn't part of the intent of the rewrite of the rules, and I'm certainly aware of staff who aren't aware of it.  But I have checked with fares experts at Transport Focus and they confirm my reading. Do not be surprised if the working and therefore the effect of it changes at a future update of the conditions.

[JayMac]

The permitted routes to London Terminals you may use with a Reading-London Z1-6 Season Ticket are:

Reading - Paddington via Slough
Reading - Waterloo via Twickenham or Hounslow
Reading - Victoria via Twickenham or Hounslow, changing at Clapham Junction.
Reading - Charing Cross via Twickenham or Hounslow changing at Waterloo for Waterloo East.

On each of those routes you are free, once you reach a station in the Travelcard Zones, to change for destinations within Zones 1-6.

That Season Ticket does not permit travel via Basingstoke, nor beyond Wokingham onto the North Downs Line toward Redhill.

[John R]

There are some curious anomalies, such as an all routes Basingstoke to Padd'n season with a TC^‡(resolve) is  the same price (£5116) as one from Reading to Padd'n.  So as well as between Reading and Paddn, you would be entitled to use that to travel anywhere between Reading, Basingstoke, and any valid route from Basingstoke to London.

Check the season ticket calculator on National Rail for more information, and it may be worth getting a clear explanation of which are valid routes from Basingstoke to London from the ticket office before you purchase it (suggest you don't do that at 7.30 on a Monday morning!)

Good luck!

 

[John R]

Also, the Slough Trading Estate Discount is only valid on outward journeys to Slough and return journeys home (it explicitly says you can't use it for an outward journey from Slough to Padd'n.).  So I'd suggest this over-rides the normal rules regarding split ticketing of season tickets which permit you to use a service which doesn't call at the split. Using the card in this way when you no longer work at the Trading Estate would seem at the very least against the spirit of the card, and I wouldn't be surprised if it caused you problems, even if you managed to argue the case that what you were doing was valid (which I doubt). It could also jeopardise the entire arrangement with the Trading Estate if GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) felt that people were abusing the facility, and I'm sure you wouldn't want that. So I wouldn't recommend that approach.

[JayMac]

There are some curious anomalies, such as an all routes Basingstoke to Padd'n season with a TC^‡(resolve) is  the same price (£5116) as one from Reading to Padd'n.  So as well as between Reading and Paddn, you would be entitled to use that to travel anywhere between Reading, Basingstoke, and any valid route from Basingstoke to London.

I'd forgotten about the Basingstoke - London Zones 1-6 Season matching that from Reading. In addition to the permitted routes to London I posted earlier, you can also go:

Reading - Waterloo/Victoria/Charing Cross via Basingstoke, Woking and Clapham Junction.

A greater variety of destinations for the same price. 

[ChrisB]

The OP^▸ (Original Poster / topic starter) doesn't mention a Travelcard, just a season from RDG^‡(resolve)/London. Not sure whether that makes any difference to the advice offered?

Yes, you can reserve one seat in & out a day on specific service(s)...there is an email address available that I forget...hopefully another member's memory may be better than mine.

[JayMac]

The OP^▸ (Original Poster / topic starter) doesn't mention a Travelcard, just a season from RDG^‡(resolve)/London. Not sure whether that makes any difference to the advice offered?

Thread title.

[ChrisB]

Ah, yes.

[THEALB10N]

Hi All,

I forgot I posted this and just came across it in my bookmarks.

It all sounds about what I expected so thanks for everyone's input. The Basingstoke - London ticket is interesting but I've already purchased my first couple of RDG^‡(resolve)-Z1-6 tickets so I wouldn't now want to lose the 5% renewal discount.

I think the split at Slough sounds like too much hassle if I was to be challenged every time I travelled, and yes, despite the crazy ticket price, I would feel a bit guilty using the discount card like that. Although after Wednesday's and Thursday's trouble at PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) perhaps I wouldn't feel so bad!

The one positive I've found is that by extending my monthly tickets to always end on a Friday, and always end before a take any long holidays, I reckon over the course of 12 months my monthly tickets will work out on par with an annual ticket. I wasn't aware you could buy a 1month and x day ticket before so it's definitely something to consider.

If anyone knows what the e-mail to book a seat on trains is I would be very grateful.

All the best,