Penalty Fares queries certainly do seem to raise their ugly heads more often than most. (Argg, that is not a dig at you at all btw)
To me, if this is the case. Is the
PF▸ system fit for purpose? Clearly from posts not at all exclusive to this forum, seem to be heavily discussed and people don't understand exactly what they are.
I raised this post in another thread a while ago, which sadly went unanswered by the poster I was replying to. But Argg has raised an interesting point of arriving too late to buy your ticket.
In my case I cannot drive and have to rely on Public Transport. (Most commonly owned in Zummerset by the same parent company who owns the company you work for Wink )
Lets take the example I am travelling on the 20:22 departure from Frome Town Centre to Bath intending to get an onward train to Taunton. Would I be expected to check for roadworks along the bus route? Checking that every single day would be the regular stationary vehicles in Norton St. Phillip. (Which regularly ends up causing delay and accidents do frequently happen pretty mundane (Not lazy, more tedious I'd say?). Even so that doesn't elliminate the possibility that a driver crashing into there).
Are you saying that if I then got to the station late because the bus gets delayed that it is my fault?
Now there is a very good reason why I chose this bus as an example. The 20:22 Bus is the next service in the time table. Prior to a fairly recent timetable change the departure was 18:22 exactly
two hours before the 20:22. In the new timetable the bus leaves at 18:28 which is 1 hour and 54 minutes until the next bus.
Is it really appropriate for an
RPI▸ in this case to say "You should've left earlier" ?? I'd be interested to see their reaction when they're told how much "earlier" I would've needed to leave to get there and how much waiting around would need to be done!
Personally, If intended a good connection and then suffered delay on route. I don't think I should be liable to a penalty fare. I also think that a missed departure on an Advance Ticket should be honoured. Because the 17:49, 18:28, 20:22 and 22:22 Bus Services are the last departures of the day and are all operated by FirstGroup. So (and grahame also agreed
IIRC▸ ) as they are run by the same parent company, I think a ticket should be sold/passed without question on production of your Bus Ticket.
Also as I pointed out in the original post. Is one expected to check the timetable/bus route each time they intend to take a train? I don't suppose you would agree on how tedious that would be every day? (I use buses and trains pretty much every day)
Even then, that "delay" information is only as good as the person feeding it into the computer. Some companies (including a primary operator in Somerset & Wiltshire) predominately supply this information mainly over Facebook. Even to this day, not everyone has a Facebook Account.
Invariably, with FirstGroup's Service Updates, You tend to only find the delay info once the delay has started, really useful to find the 14:49 is cancelled at 14:45.
Perhaps when you look at other transport method's failings, it becomes clear how even the smallest delay has a large knock on effect which could end up being very costly (i.e. missed Advance Ticket Departure). Perhaps integration is a necessity rather than a desirability. But I don't think we'll ever achieve true integration with such a fragmented transport industry which seems to encourage PF's even for what could be a genuine issue through no fault of your own (i.e. It was the bus companies fault)
Completely throwing the thread off topic. I wonder IF I received a Penalty Fare for missing an Advance Ticket Departure because the First Bus 267 broke down, whether FG would cover costs for the PF and reimburse me for both my Rail Tickets and Bus tickets?
I thought not..............
