On Mon, 17 Jul 2006 19:17:24 +0100, Anonymouse wrote:


I go from Bromley to Amersham on a semi-regular basis. The first time I
went, Bromley station (zone 5) told me that they could not issue 1-D
travelcards. They could only sell me a standard day return for
£18.80(!)[1] - compare with £7.40 for a 1-D travelcard. The National Rail
website also offers a cheap day return at £17.00 (I was travelling off
peak). I also tried a ticket agent who was much more helpful than the
station but who also was not able to sell me the travelcard. Eventually I
bought cheap day return to London and used Oyster pre-pay from London
Bridge to Amersham. It's valid all the way, including on Chiltern Trains
services.

I wrote to TfL about this and they replied that travelcards including
zones A-D can only be issued at Underground stations, not agents or
National Rail. Apparently "low demand" is to blame. It's not very helpful
if you live in South London quite some way from an Underground station.

A year or two ago Barry Doe went into this in some detail in
everyone's favourite fortnightly WHS reading material. I think the
answer was to get your local station to sell a ODTC as if it was
issued at Amersham station. By some local easement, this is then valid
as a z1-D travelcard, not an (Amersham to boundary z6 return)+(z1-6
ODTC).

ICBW, may contain traces of nuts, etc etc.
--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK