Bath to Prestatyn - 2 adults, no rail cards.
Out Friday evening after 4 p.m.
Back Sunday any time

Best price found by my friend 167.20 on the Train Line. What should I advise?

Thanks

P.S. Friend is not over 55, nor is friend's friend

If you're coming out from London Bridge via Tulse Hill, there are three ways the train can take to Sutton

via Wimbledon
via West Croydon
via Mitcham Junction

As far as I can make out, there was some sort of issue on the booked route / southbound track, so the train was being sent to Sutton via another of the routes and then back along the Northbound track to make all of the stops but in the reverse order.  But that message didn't reach the comprehension of all of the passengers for whatever reason.

Graham E - E as in first letter of surname.  This is not the first forum I have been a member of, and on others the name "Graham" was sometimes taken before I joined - thus "grahame" to provide a consistency - mostly for me so that I don't forget what my name is somewhere.

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This poll was originally open ended.  I have now set an end date at the weekend, at which point we can draw conclusions.

Many thanks - I'll read into that.

I note a head bullet that the ORR have chosen:


Not sure what the "Wessex Operating Route" is exactly, but does that mean we've drawn the short straw down in the Somerset / Dorset / Bath / Bristol / Wiltshire area?

No report thus far this morning.  Still an HST shortage though - complete cancellation of 06:30 Bristol to Paddington.  Unrelated, or robbing Pierre to pay Paul?

I'm travelling to Ireland for work in February, and back a week later.   Attracted by SailRail.   

I'll be leaving from somewhere in Wiltshire, but need to get back directly to a meeting further west.  The tickets are singles so that I can start from Me****** and return to Ta*****, right?    And I can book them, I think, at my friendly local staffed station?

I have added "QR^▸ (QR Code - Quick Response code)" as in "QR Codes" to our Acronyms and Abbreviations page so that you can find out what it stands for  .

Many of our members are known by their initials or some other abbreviation too.   Should we add them to the Acronymn and Abbreviation page?  If you are known here by an abbreviation or acronym and would like to be listed, please post up a one liner telling the team how you would like your description to appear and - subject to editorial content and a majority of votes in favour of adding such data, we'll add you to the page.

Maybe .. but there are 23 super-offpeak trains from Chippenham to London per day, 3 offpeak and 8 peak.   In the reverse direction, there are 10 peak, 8 offpeak and 16 super offpeak.   And if you go to London late in the afternoon so you can't leave on your return before 5 p.m., you have a choice of 5 peak services, 6 super offpeak and just ONE offpeak at 19:00.

But the whole "which services are peak?" question from Chippenham was sufficiently frustrating for us to draw up a chart:
   http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=9506.msg98941#msg98941

From 08:00 to 09:55 in the morning on a Monday to Friday, there is every reason to offer off peak on the front page. from then until around lunchtime, you could argue that it should be offered for people returning before the eveing peak (trains between 15:30 and 16:30 back from Paddington). Later in the day, it looks like someone's trying to hide the cheapest fare that many people will want for an evening out and mislead them into paying more than they need - sorry, but to much of Jo Public it is misleading.

I may have asked before and got a "no", but has anyone done any analysis on the tickets that people have bought and are travelling on, and worked out how many are on the most appropriate (i.e. best value) tickets and how many have spent more than they need?

P.S. - I'm not suggesting that the Open (should that be capitalised?) return shouldn't always be on the front page - with Chippenham tickets valid for a month after purchase, there will always be quite a few people who may come back on these 10 busiest services, even another day.   It also gives people the knowledge of the open fare to help them make the buying decision that's right for them.

Why does Cross Country's 05:19 Bristol Temple Meads to Cardiff appear on FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s pocket timetable number 1, whereas all the FGW services that run this route coming up (for the most part) from Taunton or Portsmouth are not listed?

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Train-times-and-tickets/Train-times/~/media/PDF/Timetable%20Changes/GWTT01.pdf

Hi, folks ... I haven't overlooked the responses here - thank you - all be they a very limited number.  I'm afraid I conclude that the whole thing is so wrapped up in circles and mirrors that none of us mere mortals can work it out. 

The Panorama program, with Network rail and ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) spokespeople, gave me something of an update on elements associated with the costing. And I've noted at the beginning of January that fare rises were said to be above inflation to help investment that will provide a better service.   So I'm now looking eagerly forward to a better service from my local station. 

Do you know how - on Google - the majority of people will follow and find what they want on the front page.   How does that work for Ticket Vending Machines?

I travelled up from Chippenham to London last Thursday afternoon.   Long queue at the one of three counters open, so I used the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine).   Front page offers me London tickets - peak and offpeak, and with and without various London Underground Travel Card options.

Now - I happened to know that there's something called a super offpeak which is cheaper than any of the options which was offered on the front page, and I managed to find a "please give me more options" button and navigated my way to the ticket I wanted.

I would have thought that there was quite a heavy super-off peak traffic at that time of day.  My question - how is it decided what goes on the front "splash" page? 

Does it seem a little naughty to be offering peak tickets at a time of day that they're unlikely to be needed, and yet not offering the best deal for the mid-afternoon?  I suggest that many occasional travellers aren't aware of  "super offpeak", and would probably have assumed that they needed the offpeak ticket, at a higher price than they needed to pay.

I think that's just a severe case of "I have not come across QR^▸ (QR Code - Quick Response code) codes"  


I have changed it an that direction (within the character space I'm allowed) .. and note that CLPG^» (Cotswold Line Promotion Group - about) has made a similar request.  Hope that answers both of you.

I've got a mechanism which will tell me in the web server logs where someone has arrived via the QR^▸ (QR Code - Quick Response code) code ... I have my guesses as to how many that will be shorter and longer term, but time will tell. 

QR^▸ (QR Code - Quick Response code) codes are the two-dimensional barcodes that you can wave your mobile phone at and get taken straight to the URL in describes.   They're really intended for printed pieces (you can see them on the pocket timetables for example), but I've put one on the top of the pages of this site ...

* If you have a printout of a page - or someone else has - they'll be able to get here quickly

* If someone has a mobile phone and you want to give them our URL you can just have them wave the phone in the direction of this page.

Please help me gauge how useful this is by completing the poll at the top of this page.  Thanks!

Melksham Railway Development Groups meets - main items on the agenda are the LSTF^▸ (Local Sustainable Transport Fund) bid by Wiltshire Council for works up and down the TransWilts line including an appropriate service of trains, and responses to the Greater Western Franchise.

3rd February 2012, Melksham Town Hall, 19:00.   All welcome.

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Last Friday (27th January) was the Melksham Civic Awards for services performed for the local community in 2011, and the Melksham Railway Development Group was given an award - presented by our Mayor - for its works last year, with special mention being made of the success of extra Summer Sunday trains and the Santa trip in December.

Full report here (I was at the meeting, though not as a representative of MRDG^» (Melksham Railway Development Group - about)).