From my read there are a couple of important changes - one negative, the other positive. Grahame has already pointed out the restriction on multiple 'ordinary' tickets plus a season/ranger to one ordinary and one season. Personally I thought the former interpretation though correct in the reading of the Conditions, was renally extractive in effect.
Oh - I'm sure it wasn't what was
intended when the old rule was written - and according to one conductor I met it didn't apply on the North Downs line ... where (frankly) I had invoked it by accident, having not realised that the train I was on wasn't calling at Farnborough North.
14.4 In all cases you must comply with the specfic terms and conditions of each of the Tickets you are using (for example, keeping to the valid route(s) and train services for which each Ticket is valid). It is your responsibility to check that you comply with the Conditions listed above.
This stops one taking a different route with the split ticket combination
... goodness, I hadn't realised that was allowed in the past; I always took the old rule as meaning you could be on a train that did not stop at the station(s) where you switched.
Looking wider at things I have noticed (and in the absence of a document to tell us what's changed!) ... I wonder about:
15.2 Unless Train Company staff, or notices on the train give you specific permission, you cannot travel in first class accommodation with a standard class Ticket. This applies even if there are no vacant seats in standard class.
No longer (?) any mention of trains that aren't scheduled to have first class on them being automatically declassified. There's a very interesting diagram that starts with the 07:04 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa - a 2 car unit on hire from
SWT▸ that then runs Stroud Valley services all day, with half a carriage being first class accommodation. Looks like from 3rd October, that will have to have notices attached on a daily basis, the train manager will have to be giving permission all day, or the train will in effect be reduced to 1.5 carriages.
6.4 Children under five years of age may travel free of charge without a Ticket providing that they are travelling with a passenger holding a valid Ticket or other authority to travel.
As I recall, that used to be "up to 2 children". A sensible change, allowing mum to take her newborn triplets. As children's tickets were from age 5 to 15, under the old system the third triplet required (!) an adult ticket, as adult tickets are valid at any age.
6.3 You must have in your possession a valid Ticket before you board a train unless one of the following circumstances applies:
(a) At the station where you start your journey, there is no means of purchasing a Ticket, either because there is no Ticket office open or self-service Ticket machine in working order
That is an improvement in some ways, as the words "in working order" have been added. Under the old system, you could (in theory) have been in trouble if there was a non-working
TVM▸ - a point which I would have thought far-fetched except we had a significant discussion about it here with someone who's job it was to apply the rules.
I am, though, concerned that the text does NOT say "Ticket machine in working order that can sell you what you require". At stations without booking offices and with card-only machines, what do you do if you want to pay in cash? Or if you want to purchase a groupsave? Reading the rules, looks like you should obtain the conductors's permission to join the train when (s)he's on the platform so that (s)he can sell you the ticket once you get going.
9.4 Notwithstanding Condition 9.2 (b) above, if you are using an advance Ticket and you miss your booked train because a previous connecting train service was delayed, you will be able to travel on the next train service provided by the Train Company with whom you were booked without penalty.
If you have an ‘off-peak’ or ‘super off-peak’ Ticket, correctly dated but invalid for the service on which you are travelling; you are using a route for which your Ticket is not valid; or you break your journey when you are not permitted to do so, you will be charged the difference between the fare that you have paid and the lowest price Ticket that is valid for the train you are using.
So if a connecting train on an advance ticket fails, you're OK, but if a connecting train on the last off peak service before a peak tie fails, you will be charged the peak fare for the later train you 'fall back' to. Nice - not!
23.1 You may take up to three items of luggage into the passenger accommodation of a train unless:
(b) there is not enough room for it;
So you can turn up with luggage within the prescribe limits, but be denied travel based on how much luggage you have?
23.2 You will normally need to be able to manage your luggage without additional help; however, if you have a disability and require assistance, you can book this in advance of your journey.
I know this isn't new ... but it does remind me that a valid answer to someone asking "can you help me lift my luggage onto the rack" is "no - you're only supposed to bring what you can manage on the train and you're breaking the bylaws!". No - of course I wouldn't say that ... I don't think ...
Overall, very pedantic here, but these are the sorts of things that we may end up discussing in detail in references to incidents in the future. And one further question - a few days ago I purchase tickets for outward use this week and with return early next month. Which conditions apply to the return halves? (Please treat that question as rhetorical ... !)
