Great Western Coffee Shop

Hi

For 2 years I have commuted from Bristol to Reading, using an annual ticket, but due to a change in how I work, I now use a combination of weekly season tickets, working from home and driving.

Today, however, I chose to use the train a buy a ticket, here are the options

Bristol PW to Reading
89 - Open Return
38 - Saver Return (After 0930 Out and Non peak train return)

Bristol PW - Didcot PW - Reading
22.30 - Cheap Day Return (16) + Cheap Day Return (6.30) (After 0930 and NO Return Restrictions)

Why is it ^22.30 to buy two tickets and ^38 to buy a single ticket for exactly the same journey? Why does FGW not offer a Cheap Day Return to Reading? The Server Return restricts the time you can travel at and costs 80% more!

The biggest irony today was that the young passenger near me was checked by the guard, and asked to leave the train a Didcot PW and wait two hours until his ticket was valid, or pay an extra ^45 for the crime of using a Saver Return from Reading to Bristol PW on the 17:11. He paid the price for a Full Single from Reading to Bristol. In all, he paid almost 4x what I paid for the same journey!

Because cheap day returns are only for shorter journeys but you can still buy two for your journey to make it cheaper.

The prices are different as Didcot - East is in the 'Network South East' region and hence has lower ticket prices.

Not technically true- Cheap Day Returns are availible from Bristol T M to London Waterloo which I'm sure works out as *much* longer than Bristol PW - Reading.

Yes, it is very annoying, and those tickets should certainly be made availible. BPW-Reading isn't exactly a huge distance either. I remember reading somewere that you used to be able to get CDRs from Bristol to Paddington and Reading, but sadly times have changed and people are forced into finding loopholes in the system.

From what I understand:
Swindon - Didcot was an intercity fare.
Didcot - Reading was a Network South East fare.
I assume Swindon - Reading was an intercity fare.

Despite BR being dead, everything is still based on it.

Crumbs. You're digging up some fairly old threads here. This one has had no activity for over two years!

Yes ... that's broadly my understanding.  But I'm doubtful about Swindon -> Didcot - I think that may be a local fare in its origin.

But I think the Southern route to Bristol was a NSE route, hence the availability of Off Peak* day returns.

*To use the CORRECT names!

<pedant's hat on>

Btline, you'll note that the reference to Cheap Day returns you quote was made in 2007 when they were still called just that!  :P

Perhaps you ought to say "current" name rather than "correct"...

Whoops, sorry for that rather harsh post. :-X :-[ :'(

It's just that people keep referring to tickets (even now) as Savers and Supersaver etc., and I don't know what they mean. The new names are a lot better and "do what they say on the tin".

What, like buying an off-peak single or return from stations west of Oxford to London on the 6.43 from Hereford, for example?

Have to agree (guess where I travel from!). The new names don't make any sense on the Cotswold line.

But once the re-doubling work has been completed, FGW will withdraw the validity of off-peak tickets, which will tidy things up (or am I being too paranoid?)