A_Guy_80

Hi,

I am arriving in Gatwick Airport at around 10:30PM-11PM and was planning to buy a 1 day paper travelcard (Zone 1-2) from Gatwick rail station so that I could use it for our local travel next day as well as 2-4-1 offers to Tower of London and St. Paul's.

I was hoping it will be valid atleast for 24 hours from the time it's bought. However, I noted on nationalrail website that "Peak Day Travelcards are valid for travel at any time of day and until 04:29 the following morning". This leaves me wondering if I buy a card at 11PM in night would that card be valid only till 4:29am next morning ?

Could someone please help me with validity duration for a 1 day paper tarvelcard. Thanks.

sassy_cat

If you buy it at 11pm (or anytime of day) your card would be valid until 4.29am the next morning.

They are NOT valid for 24hours from time of purchase.

A_Guy_80

Thanks sassy_cat. Helped clear my confusion.

flanneruk

Sassy cat's technically correct. But the answer may be misleading.

Travelcards allowing 2 4 1 admission may be bought only from railway stations. Your hotel might not be convenient for a railway station.

If you're buying a RETURN railway ticket from Gatwick, it gives you access to 2 4 1 admissions throughout the validity of the ticket. so if you're leaving London a day or two later, you can use your railway ticket from Gatwick for 2 4 1 until you go back to Gatwick. Then all you then need to do (apart from downloading the vouchers) is buy the appropriate London Transport tix (from any tube station or ticket selling point) to get you wherever in London you want to go. You won't need to trek off to a railway station.

A_Guy_80

Thanks flanneruk. We are actually arriving in Gatwick but leaving from Heathrow so return ticket option may not work for us.

flanneruk

In which case, on arrival at your London station from Gatwick, ask for a postdated one-day Travelcard for the day you'll be needing 2 4 1 admission.

jamikins

Just to clarify - Gatwick us outside the valid area for the travelcard, so you wouldnt be able to use it to get into London anways. So agree with Flanner, on arrival at your London station (assuming the ticket booth is still open) jsut ask for one for the day you plan to use the 2 4 1. The date is on the ticket.

A_Guy_80

Thanks a lot flanneruk and jamikins - didn't know that we can actually buy a postdated travelcard - that solves the problem.
1. Also, are national rail ticket booths not open 24 hrs at London Victoria and/or London Bridge station?
2. If not, can we not buy post-dated paper travelcard from ticket machines?
3. Also, couldn't we buy the postdated travelcard for London at Gatwick Airport ?

jamikins

No - you cant buy a London travelcard to my knowledge outside of the London travel zone.

Manned ticket booths are open set hours - definitely not late at night that I know of. There are automated ticket booths, but whether you can buy paper travelcards at them now I dont know - I will try to check that out tomorrow on my way to work. I think they just sell point to point tickets...

A_Guy_80

Thanks Jamikins. I look forward to your confirmation tomorrow.

jamikins

OK I checked this morning. You can buy travelcards at the machines but only for same day - not for another day. The one thing I couldnt tell is whether it will be a paper, or whether they require you to update an oyster card with it (as the machines have an oyster reader built in - I needed to actually pay for it to see. But I can assure you that you cannot buy these in advance of the day.

Hope this helps!

A_Guy_80

Thanks a lot Jamikins for checking this for me, i really appreciate that. I also checked online that advance reservation ticket office closes by 9pm. Main ticket office is open at victoria station 24 hours but it's only for same day tickets. So will try our luck there otherwise good-bye 2-4-1, we would have used it just for tower of London. Thanks again.

jamikins

If its a manned ticket booth open 24 hours you should have no problem getting a ticket for other days!

jamikins

Is there a reason why you cant just buy it the next day?

A_Guy_80

Hi Jamikins,

1. It's a 24 hour manned ticket office as per website but it also says that open for 'buying tickets for same day travel' so not sure if we can get the paper travelcard or not but will anyways check there.

2. It's not that we can't buy on next morning but I believe closest rail station from Holborn is Farringdon from where we can buy it but it may just throw our plans to reach Tower of London early in disarray. However, bus 25 which we plan to take to Tower of London may drop us close to Fenchurch Street railbstation so may be could try buying paper travelcard from there. But we are planning to make just one more tube trip that day so am just not sure if we should really go out of our way to buy travelcard if at best it will save us 10 pounds.

jamikins

I'd ask - cant think of why the manned station wouldnt be able to do it for you - never hurts to check!

Enjoy your stay in London!