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-   -   London St Pancras to Bedford (https://www.londonbanter.co.uk/london-transport/17722-london-st-pancras-bedford.html)

Bryan Morris December 31st 19 03:49 AM

London St Pancras to Bedford
 
I sometimes take a train (to my younger daughter) who lives in Bedford.

As you may know there are 2 services from St Pancras to Bedford. A slow
one run by Thameslink and a fast one run by EMR

I go to the booking office and ask for an off peak day return and for
£15.70 get handed a ticket that states "From London Thameslink to
Bedford Valid via any permitted route"

I invariably take the fast EMR train

Sunday night when I came back (by EMR) my ticket was refused by the gate
and an official used his card to open the gate for me - giving me a
filthy look as he did.

As I say I just ask for a return at the booking office - do I do
anything wrong travelling by EMR when the ticket says "from London
Thameslink"?
--
Bryan Morris

Robin9 December 31st 19 11:24 AM

Perhaps a ticket mentioning "Thameslink" is valid only on the
Thameslink service?

Roland Perry December 31st 19 01:35 PM

London St Pancras to Bedford
 
In message , at 11:24:37 on Tue, 31
Dec 2019, Robin9 remarked:

Perhaps a ticket mentioning "Thameslink" is valid only on the
Thameslink service?



We've been though that. The price is the same [at Bedford] for "London
Terminals", so the potential route-excess is zero.

And it's neither a "Thameslink only" nor a "Not EMR" ticket.

*However* as a bonus, on Thameslink services you can use the ticket as
far as LondonBridge/Elephant&Castle, not only to SPILL.
--
Roland Perry

Bryan Morris December 31st 19 03:00 PM

London St Pancras to Bedford
 
In message , Roland Perry
writes
In message , at 11:24:37 on Tue, 31
Dec 2019, Robin9 remarked:

Perhaps a ticket mentioning "Thameslink" is valid only on the
Thameslink service?



We've been though that. The price is the same [at Bedford] for "London
Terminals", so the potential route-excess is zero.

And it's neither a "Thameslink only" nor a "Not EMR" ticket.

*However* as a bonus, on Thameslink services you can use the ticket as
far as LondonBridge/Elephant&Castle, not only to SPILL.


Thanks that's how I viewed it so was surprised when the gate rejected my
ticket and told me to seek assistance and the attitude of the person who
opened the gate for me.

The booking office didn't ask me which train company I wanted they just
give me the tickets
--
Bryan Morris

Roland Perry December 31st 19 03:41 PM

London St Pancras to Bedford
 
In message , at 15:00:02 on Tue, 31 Dec
2019, Bryan Morris remarked:
In message , Roland Perry
writes
In message , at 11:24:37 on Tue,
31 Dec 2019, Robin9 remarked:

Perhaps a ticket mentioning "Thameslink" is valid only on the
Thameslink service?


We've been though that. The price is the same [at Bedford] for "London
Terminals", so the potential route-excess is zero.

And it's neither a "Thameslink only" nor a "Not EMR" ticket.

*However* as a bonus, on Thameslink services you can use the ticket as
far as LondonBridge/Elephant&Castle, not only to SPILL.


Thanks that's how I viewed it so was surprised when the gate rejected
my ticket and told me to seek assistance and the attitude of the person
who opened the gate for me.


Now that we know it's one of the weekend-only tickets, it's entirely
possible the gates won't accept them. But then you'd think the staff
would be used to letting people through manually.

The booking office didn't ask me which train company I wanted they just
give me the tickets


JOOI, which ticket office was it - the Thameslink vs EMR at St Pancras,
or somewhere else?
--
Roland Perry

Graeme Wall December 31st 19 04:27 PM

London St Pancras to Bedford
 
On 31/12/2019 15:41, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 15:00:02 on Tue, 31 Dec
2019, Bryan Morris remarked:
In message , Roland Perry
writes
In message , at 11:24:37 on Tue,
31 Dec 2019, Robin9 remarked:

Perhaps a ticket mentioning "Thameslink" is valid only on the
Thameslink service?

We've been though that. The price is the same [at Bedford] for
"London Terminals", so the potential route-excess is zero.

And it's neither a "Thameslink only" nor a "Not EMR" ticket.

*However* as a bonus, on Thameslink services you can use the ticket
as far as LondonBridge/Elephant&Castle, not only to SPILL.


Thanks that's how I viewed it so was surprised when the gate rejected
my ticket and told me to seek assistance and the attitude of the
person who opened the gate for me.


Now that we know it's one of the weekend-only tickets, it's entirely
possible the gates won't accept them. But then you'd think the staff
would be used to letting people through manually.


Maybe he was just fed up with the number of people requiring exit
assistance. Annoyed with whoever programmed the gates rather then the users.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read.


Roland Perry December 31st 19 05:02 PM

London St Pancras to Bedford
 
In message , at 16:27:13 on Tue, 31 Dec
2019, Graeme Wall remarked:
Perhaps a ticket mentioning "Thameslink" is valid only on the
Thameslink service?

We've been though that. The price is the same [at Bedford] for
"London Terminals", so the potential route-excess is zero.

And it's neither a "Thameslink only" nor a "Not EMR" ticket.

*However* as a bonus, on Thameslink services you can use the ticket
as far as LondonBridge/Elephant&Castle, not only to SPILL.

Thanks that's how I viewed it so was surprised when the gate
rejected my ticket and told me to seek assistance and the attitude
of the person who opened the gate for me.

Now that we know it's one of the weekend-only tickets, it's entirely
possible the gates won't accept them. But then you'd think the staff
would be used to letting people through manually.


Maybe he was just fed up with the number of people requiring exit
assistance.


The OP was requiring entry assistance.

Annoyed with whoever programmed the gates rather then the users.


--
Roland Perry

Graeme Wall December 31st 19 08:17 PM

London St Pancras to Bedford
 
On 31/12/2019 17:02, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 16:27:13 on Tue, 31 Dec
2019, Graeme Wall remarked:
Perhaps a ticket mentioning "Thameslink" is valid only on the
Thameslink service?

We've been though that. The price is the same [at Bedford] for
"London Terminals", so the potential route-excess is zero.

And it's neither a "Thameslink only" nor a "Not EMR" ticket.

*However* as a bonus, on Thameslink services you can use the ticket
as far as LondonBridge/Elephant&Castle, not only to SPILL.

Thanks that's how I viewed it so was surprised when the gate
rejectedÂ* my ticket and told me to seek assistance and the attitude
of theÂ* person who opened the gate for me.
Â*Now that we know it's one of the weekend-only tickets, it's entirely
possible the gates won't accept them. But then you'd think the staff
would be used to letting people through manually.


Maybe he was just fed up with the number of people requiring exit
assistance.


The OP was requiring entry assistance.


Whichever, the effect is the same.


Annoyed with whoever programmed the gates rather then the users.




--
Graeme Wall
This account not read.


Bryan Morris December 31st 19 08:36 PM

London St Pancras to Bedford
 
In message , Roland Perry
writes
In message , at 15:00:02 on Tue, 31 Dec
2019, Bryan Morris remarked:
In message , Roland Perry
writes
In message , at 11:24:37 on Tue,
31 Dec 2019, Robin9 remarked:

Perhaps a ticket mentioning "Thameslink" is valid only on the
Thameslink service?

We've been though that. The price is the same [at Bedford] for
"London Terminals", so the potential route-excess is zero.

And it's neither a "Thameslink only" nor a "Not EMR" ticket.

*However* as a bonus, on Thameslink services you can use the ticket
as far as LondonBridge/Elephant&Castle, not only to SPILL.


Thanks that's how I viewed it so was surprised when the gate rejected
my ticket and told me to seek assistance and the attitude of the
person who opened the gate for me.


Now that we know it's one of the weekend-only tickets, it's entirely
possible the gates won't accept them. But then you'd think the staff
would be used to letting people through manually.

The booking office didn't ask me which train company I wanted they
just give me the tickets


JOOI, which ticket office was it - the Thameslink vs EMR at St Pancras,
or somewhere else?


Aah Just noticed restrictions are weekends (which it was) only

It was the National Rail office at the station.
--
Bryan Morris

Bryan Morris December 31st 19 08:39 PM

London St Pancras to Bedford
 
In message , Roland Perry
writes
In message , at 16:27:13 on Tue, 31 Dec
2019, Graeme Wall remarked:
Perhaps a ticket mentioning "Thameslink" is valid only on the
Thameslink service?

We've been though that. The price is the same [at Bedford] for
"London Terminals", so the potential route-excess is zero.

And it's neither a "Thameslink only" nor a "Not EMR" ticket.

*However* as a bonus, on Thameslink services you can use the
ticket as far as LondonBridge/Elephant&Castle, not only to SPILL.

Thanks that's how I viewed it so was surprised when the gate
rejected my ticket and told me to seek assistance and the attitude
of the person who opened the gate for me.
Now that we know it's one of the weekend-only tickets, it's
entirely possible the gates won't accept them. But then you'd think
the staff would be used to letting people through manually.


Maybe he was just fed up with the number of people requiring exit
assistance.


The OP was requiring entry assistance.


Nope it was my return to St Pancras I needed assistance in getting out

Annoyed with whoever programmed the gates rather then the users.



--
Bryan Morris

Roland Perry January 1st 20 08:12 AM

London St Pancras to Bedford
 
In message , at 20:36:36 on Tue, 31 Dec
2019, Bryan Morris remarked:

The booking office didn't ask me which train company I wanted they
just give me the tickets


JOOI, which ticket office was it - the Thameslink vs EMR at St
Pancras, or somewhere else?


Aah Just noticed restrictions are weekends (which it was) only

It was the National Rail office at the station.


There are two at St Pancras, if that's the station in question.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry January 1st 20 08:19 AM

London St Pancras to Bedford
 
In message , at 20:39:00 on Tue, 31 Dec
2019, Bryan Morris remarked:

Now that we know it's one of the weekend-only tickets, it's
entirely possible the gates won't accept them. But then you'd think
the staff would be used to letting people through manually.

Maybe he was just fed up with the number of people requiring exit
assistance.


The OP was requiring entry assistance.


Nope it was my return to St Pancras I needed assistance in getting out


Thanks for the clarification (I'd jumped to the conclusion that "when I
came back" meant getting on the train at Bedford) which means you were
proffering a London Thameslink ticket at a London Terminals barrier, but
as discussed it's effectively just as valid.
--
Roland Perry

Bryan Morris January 1st 20 09:20 AM

London St Pancras to Bedford
 
In message , Roland Perry
writes
In message , at 20:36:36 on Tue, 31 Dec
2019, Bryan Morris remarked:

The booking office didn't ask me which train company I wanted they
just give me the tickets

JOOI, which ticket office was it - the Thameslink vs EMR at St
Pancras, or somewhere else?


Aah Just noticed restrictions are weekends (which it was) only

It was the National Rail office at the station.


There are two at St Pancras, if that's the station in question.


I find St Pancras difficult to navigate and just follow a sign to
Tickets - don't know which one . sorry (Is there a difference?) I know
there is a Eurostar office
Yes St. Pancras International.

No problems at Bedford with acceptance of tickets of course as there is
just one set of gates to enter or exit all the platforms whereas at St.
Pancras the EMR & Thameslink trains arrive at/depart from different
parts of the station.

BTW not my concern but I wonder how the 2 railways share the revenue (St
Pancras I assume from the entry gates but as I said leaving Bedford
there is no way of telling what train I'm going to catch)
--
Bryan Morris

Roland Perry January 1st 20 10:09 AM

London St Pancras to Bedford
 
In message , at 09:20:11 on Wed, 1 Jan
2020, Bryan Morris remarked:
In message , Roland Perry
writes
In message , at 20:36:36 on Tue, 31 Dec
2019, Bryan Morris remarked:

The booking office didn't ask me which train company I wanted they
just give me the tickets

JOOI, which ticket office was it - the Thameslink vs EMR at St
Pancras, or somewhere else?

Aah Just noticed restrictions are weekends (which it was) only

It was the National Rail office at the station.


There are two at St Pancras, if that's the station in question.


I find St Pancras difficult to navigate and just follow a sign to
Tickets - don't know which one . sorry (Is there a difference?)


Historically there were two ticket offices, one belonging to FCC
situated adjacent to the barrier line to the low level platforms. The
other belonging to EMT, not very far away, but couldn't be accused of
being adjacent to anything of much use, least of all the high level EMT
platforms.

I see that EMT refurbished their ticket office at the end of 2016, and
perhaps that also subsumed the FCC (now Thameslink) office.

I know there is a Eurostar office
Yes St. Pancras International.

No problems at Bedford with acceptance of tickets of course as there is
just one set of gates to enter or exit all the platforms whereas at St.
Pancras the EMR & Thameslink trains arrive at/depart from different
parts of the station.

BTW not my concern but I wonder how the 2 railways share the revenue
(St Pancras I assume from the entry gates but as I said leaving Bedford
there is no way of telling what train I'm going to catch)


It's done by a scheme called ORCATS, which models the availability of
seats on the flows in question, and makes various assumptions about
which trains people will get. Alterations to the timetable (especially
in the peaks[1]) will literally change the equations.

[1] I see there's no longer any non-Thameslink morning service from
Bedford to StP until 10:13, for example; or between 16:23 and
19:23 on the way back.
--
Roland Perry


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