On 10 May 2005 06:30:21 -0700, "Chris!" wrote:


Neillw001 wrote:
Chris! wrote:
Several weeks ago I was advised by NRE that one leg of a journey I
was
making should be made from Putney to Vauxhall on a train which
turned
out to be a circular one going from Putney via Kingston, Wimbledon
etc.
to Vauxhall. Obviously this is a bad choice because there are much
quicker trains going the other way around the circle.

My question is... if NRE say you can go from Putney to Vauxhall on
a
via Kingston, via Wimbledon etc. service does that make it a valid
route and could someone with a zone 1 and 2 travelcard make that
journey but abandon it at, say, Kingston?

Kingston is in Zone 6 so presumably you need a Zone 6 Travelcard to
make it valid. Putney is classed as being in both Zones 2 & 3 as far
as
I can remember, so any journey beyond there would not be valid on a
Zone 1 & 2 card.

Neill

Ok, so what about with a single ticket from Putney to Vauxhall?

My understanding of the rules is that, provided the ticket says on it
"Route: Any Permitted" (or has nothing in the "Route" section), and
your ticket type allows break of journey (most do), then you may
travel on a Putney-Kingston-Vauxhall train from Putney to Kingston and
leave the station at Kingston; however, if a Putney-Kingston ticket
(of the same type) is more expensive than your Putney-Vauxhall one,
you *must* return to Kingston station and complete your journey to
Vauxhall on a similar Putney-Kingston-Vauxhall train, else you'll be
breaching the Railway Bye-laws (which forbid you from using a cheaper
ticket to a more distant station to deliberately avoid paying the more
expensive fare to an intermediate station).

Of course, what the rules say and what is actually enforced are two
completely different things; if you try to squeeze savings out of the
system by legitimately exploiting technicalities such as these, you
may find your arguments rubbished by the ticket inspector and the
entire railway company, and be forced to back down and pay the penalty
fare under threat of court action (which would require a bottomless
pit of money to fight). Apparently it has happened in the past.