Ticketing question

In message <vs4d5e$12j6i$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, at 20:41:18 on Thu, 27 Mar

There's no direct train from Aberdeen via Cambridge, and every train if you construct a multi-leg trip, does.

In message <vs3v4g$27535$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, at 16:41:52 on Thu, 27 Mar

You can't catch a train which doesn't stop at Cambridge, because there aren't any.

That's easily determined by asking a ticketing site for "via Hitchin" as well as "via Ely". If it gives the same result then both routes are valid. Generally, the further away you start the journey, the more likely it is.

That's always valid, but like trains on the ECML, not all of them stop. So changing from an InterCity will require changing first at Peterborough, and then that train will end up at St Pancras (but for ticketing purposes that's OK).

You see a ticket inspector on those Thameslink trains once in a blue moon.

No, that's far too hi-tech for the train companies. There was supposed to be a pilot scheme about ten years ago on Greater Anglia to provide ticketless travel by logging GPS, then work out an appropriate fare later. But I'm not sure it got of the drawing board, and is certainly not deployed.

What collector? They simply don't exist on the very vast majority of trains involved (ie Outer Suburban out of Kings Cross).

Science fiction.

In message <vs4n70$27535$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, at 23:32:47 on Thu, 27 Mar

I just checked, and it is valid if you buy the "Any Permitted" rather than the very sightly cheaper "via Ely" ticket.

That's probably because they don't go via Cambridge

Mapped routes LONDON, AA and EC+KE. Looks like the first and third would allow travel via Hitchin, in which case if you had a 'Route Any Permitted' flexible ticket then you could do that. If you had an advance ticket you'd have to travel on the specific trains chosen.

Theo

I can see why. If you walk or cycle you could be charged for a train journey you never made :-)

All the trains from Aberdeen stop at Cambridge ?

In message snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, at 08:55:08 on Fri, 28 Mar 2025, Scott snipped-for-privacy@gefion.myzen.co.uk> remarked:

Except the accelerometers in the phone can tell if your trip was walking, cycling, car, train etc. Just from the bouncing around, not even the more obvious "what was their speed and did it correlate with a timetabled train".

In message <vs5oo2$27535$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, at 09:05:05 on Fri, 28 Mar

Oh really, please keep up! There are no direct trains from Aberdeen which go via Cambridge. Either stopping or non-stopping.

Yes, so you would have to use a train which did not stop at Cambridge.

... and so could you actually stay on to LONDON with the Aberdeen to Cambridge 'Route any Permitted' ?

Yes, but it appears there's no such fare:

Aberdeen to London Anytime Single £232.10 Route Any Permitted Super Offpeak Single £115.40 Route Any Permitted (the latter has NOT VALID ARRIVING INTO LONDON BEFORE 1117 M-F)

Theo

In message <vs6n1a$27535$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, at 17:42:01 on Fri, 28 Mar

Not because of the mapping as such, but if Break of Journey is permitted on both the Aberdeen-Cambridge and Cambridge-London tickets, and you changed at Peterborough onto a train which stopped at Hitchin, then that would be within the rules.

In message <cuh*lIB+ snipped-for-privacy@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>, at 17:53:50 on Fri,

What we need is an Aberdeen to Cambridge Route Any Permitted ticket.

Too loose a requirement, "any permitted" is a nebulous "but" clause, in this case it's "but not via London".

Fair enough, the "not via London" could well include both "via Ely" and "via Hitchin/Stevenage".

Which doesn't exist.

The question was if an Aberdeen to Cambridge ticket is valid via London. It would, if an Any Permitted ticket existed. It doesn't, and the 'Not Via London' ticket is not valid via London. That mwans not going via London Terminals, and knocks out the 'LONDON' permitted route (which breaks down into separate permitted routes Aberdeen to London and then London to Cambridge)

Also, other rules prevent you doubling back on yourself. So Aberdeen to Euston to KX to Cambridge would be allowed on an Any Permitted ticket, but Aberdeen to KX then KX to Cambridge would not. You'd have to change at Hitchin, approached from the north.

ICBA to check the routeing guide again, but I don't think you could use a 'Not London' Ab-Ca ticket on the WCML or MML and then using the Overground - all the non-London routes use the ECML.

Theo

In message <auh*TAL+ snipped-for-privacy@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>, at 15:52:36 on Sun,

I think the question was whether separate Aberdeen-Cambridge and Cambridge-London tickets could be concatenated at Hitchin.

This is still answering the wrong question.

Only if you using a sole ticket for the trip.

Yes (although I think Stevenage is also allowed).

You could probably use it on a route for example via Sheffield, Nottingham and Ely, but I don't know why people would bother.