Buying tickets at Charlbury Station

Sat 18 May 2019, 12:29

In terms of the staffing situation, the Cotswold Line Promotion Group AGM last Saturday was told by Tim King from GWR that he was in the middle of interviewing for a new relief booking office clerk to work at the staffed stations along the line covering the days off and holidays of the regular staff (there are supposed to be two relief staff but one post has been vacant for some time, as the first attempt to appoint someone did not work out.)

Fri 17 May 2019, 13:50

Thanks, Richard. 

I did try that, but simply couldn't find this option! I know I have done it in the past, but yesterday it seemed simply not to be there! I tried three times. I will check again when there isn't a huge queue behind me. 

Fri 17 May 2019, 12:24

You can buy a super off-peak from the machine but it’s convoluted. You have to go to ‘Other destinations’, then type ‘London Paddington’, and then it’ll appear as one of the available fares.

Fri 17 May 2019, 11:31

The ticket office at Charlbury is closed for the next few days & the ticket machine stubbornly refuses to offer the possibility of buying a super-off-peak-return to London Paddington. This adds significantly to the cost (£47.70 versus £36.00, or £31.50 versus £23.75 with a travel card). 

From April 1st GWR has also announced that Charlbury is in the penalty fare zone & that you need a valid ticket to get on the train -- only relaxed if the ticket office & the ticket machines are not operational. 

For those with smart phones, a mobile ticket seems to be the solution. I got my ticket at Charlbury station when infuriated by the machine.

GWR has an app for mobile tickets, but I recommend the one provided by loco2.com since this can be used on both GWR & Chiltern lines. They charge nothing for the delivery of the ticket & send you an email with pdf links, together with a version of the ticket that can be viewed in the app itself. I scanned the tickets at Paddington (on the way there) & Marylebone (on the way back).

This also means that one could also benefit from the cheaper fares usually available by getting a return ticket to Oxford Parkway & a day return to Marylebone (changing trains at Oxford & moving across to the Chiltern line on Platform 4). Since there are no restrictions on the times that one can come back to Oxford Parkway from Marylebone in the afternoon, this is often a really substantial saving.