Great Western Coffee Shop

Melksham to Paddington - Super Off Peak return £54.30 (adult, no railcard, via Swindon)
Bath Spa to Paddington - Super Off Peak return £59.50 (adult, no railcard)

See attachment below - Melksham at 09:02, change at Trowbridge and Bath Spa, arrive London 11:14, at the £54.30 fare.

Bearing in mind that I can join or leave a service mid-route, split tickets, etc, does this mean that I can buy a save £5.20 on super off peak journeys from Bath Spa to London (Paddington) by buying Melksham tickets?

Same thing appears to work for journeys to Reading - surely I can't have read that right, can I ??

The cheapest fare is routed 'via Swindon' rather than 'Any Permitted' @ £59.50 and no matter which of the two directions you leave Melksham from, you end up travelling through Swindon. An anomaly I guess.

You have read it right grahame. Poorly worded and implemented routeing restriction on the cheaper 'via Swindon' standard class fares.

The intention of the restriction is, I suspect, to route people through Swindon, but not via Bath Spa. It seems the booking engines aren't applying that.

However, even if that is the intention then, as pointed out, one goes 'via Swindon' whether they leave Melksham north or southbound.

With the anomaly now highlighted publicly, one can expect GWR to look to protect their Bath - Reading/London revenue by changing the restriction wording and tightening up the booking engine implementation. 'Not via Trwbrdge' perhaps. Leaving the 'Any Permitted' valid via all three routes allowed by the Routeing Guide - Trowbridge/Bath, Trowbridge/Westbury, and Swindon.

It's not just the Super Off Peak that has savings. The Anytime Return from Melksham - Paddington 'via Swindon' Is £171.60. That too can be used via Bath Spa. Saving Bath - Paddington passengers over £25 (£196.80).

Now take a look at the 1st Class fares. The price differential is reversed. 'Via Swindon' is more expensive than 'Any Permitted'. ???

A complete dog's dinner of fares choices. ::)

It makes you wonder at the mentality of anyone who can either think it worthwhile introducing such discrepancies, or (if they have come about by accident) not think that they should be removed straight away when they come to light in the interests of a better customer experience!

They tend to come about be accident - you have a one dimensional pricing system mapped on to a two diminsional infrastructure and I suspect there will never be a perfect solution.

Weymouth to Melksham on a Saturday evening is change at Bath and Chippenham .. at the same good fare as change at Westbury.   We have NOT promoted days out to Weymouth on a Saturday, on the basis the the last thing families out for a trip at the seaside want is the joy of going all around there houses with the kids asking "Are we nearly there?"

Real solution?  Run the Swindon - Westbury service hourly (including evenings) then these long-way-round journeys can be removed from the fare structure. Oh - and if the train's hourly, I'm pretty sure that each train will be busier that each current train.   Yes - huge traffic growth.  Analysis suggest that more-than-hourly outside an extra peak service or two would take it past the "each train is busier" threshold for a few years.

If it is an anomaly, it is a very common one, as there are a lot of fares to/from Bath Spa that are more expensive than from places further afield.