Splitting Tickets

[whole diary]

[Glovidge]

Absurd, its absurd....

I wanted to get a train arriving at Reading (Theale is where I want to actually go)) at 17:00 on Tues 19th Jan and then returning to Cardiff on Mon 25th Jan for 10:45 (leave Reading at 09:10)

2 singles = ^47 for those allocated times, and flex return approx ^52

Buying to Swindon on each route and then continuing my journey = ^31! A saving of ^16.

 But thats not all. It was cheaper from Swindon on the return journey for me to get an advance First Class ticket than an ordinary advance ticket!?!

I look forward to bamboozling the train manager, and myself.

[Ollie]

But thats not all. It was cheaper from Swindon on the return journey for me to get an advance First Class ticket than an ordinary advance ticket!?!

This usually happens because people will always assume that First Class is more expensive and wont check the price, so when it comes to Advance tickets you will sometimes as in your case see that the First Class is the cheaper option

[inspector_blakey]

Definitely always worth checking the first class price when booking Advance tickets - I've managed to get a cheaper journey by travelling first class once or twice.

[JayMac]

And when travelling longer distances, first class, on an Advance ticket with certain operators, it's worth factoring in the cost of complimentary items. A couple of coffees and some nibbles would set you back around a fiver if travelling in Standard.....

Then there's the 'cost' of a better ambience to factor in as well. For me it makes all the difference when comparing, say, a ^15 Std Advance versus a ^25 1st Advance.

[Btline]

Sometimes even though First Advances are dearer than Standard ones, it can be worth the upgrade. Spending 3 hours on a Vomiter in First Class is just about bearable as there are no crowds. Factor in the fact that I can get through 4 cans of coke, two teas, some biscuits, crisps and a sandwich in this time.....

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hmm. Losing weight clearly wasn't one of your New Year resolutions, then? 

[fullspeedahead]

On the subject of splitting tickets I have found a strange anomaly in the system.
I wanted to make a journey from Winchester to a station in Cornwall, so I decided I would split between Winchester and Exeter St Davids in order to use my Network Railcard discount. However, if the route chosen for this element of the journey is Westbury/Southampton, it seems the guards ticket machines and the self service machines are still applying the nc discount, even though the journey between salisbury and exeter st davids is presumably outside of the published boundary- I therefore now have a ticket costing 24.90, marked as NSE^▸ (Network South East) discount, but the route is marked as 'Westbry Shampton'.
So really what I am asking, is the ticket valid on the route via Castle Cary or not? It doesn't state 'Honiton Shampton', that particular option was actually a couple of pounds more.
When I get to Westbury and join a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) what is the guards reaction likely to be?

[old original]

So really what I am asking, is the ticket valid on the route via Castle Cary or not? It doesn't state 'Honiton Shampton', that particular option was actually a couple of pounds more.
When I get to Westbury and join a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) what is the guards reaction likely to be?

The short answer is no.
NSE^▸ (Network South East) cards are not valid on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) mainline west of Bedwyn or the Portsmouth - Bristol line north of Salisbury. You could use the arguement of "the machine sold it so it must be valid" but I know that won't wash with some guards. Three possible outcomes...
1) The guard doesn't notice (unlikely, they tend to know about NSE cards on FGW trains)
2) They charge excess upto non discounted fare
3) They charge for a whole new ticket, ignoring what you have


http://www.railcard.co.uk/clientfiles/File/map.pdf

[fullspeedahead]

Thanks for your swift reply.
Slightly concerning I suppose that it is possible to purchase a ticket that can never be valid, but hardly suprising given the current fare structure.
If I wanted to now pay the couple of quid excess to have the ticket valid via Honiton instead, do I have to elect to do this before I commence the journey at Winchester? Or could it be done by the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) guard on the train between Winchester and Southampton? On the other hand could the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) guard on the train between Soton and Westbury do an excess for the Honiton route if the train had not reached salisbury yet? Im potentially in an awkward situation if I get to Winchester and theres a long queue at the ticket office.
 

[paul7575]

To avoid the usual 'nothing to do with us' arguments, I'd suggest if you bought from SWT^▸ (South West Trains) originally, trying to sort it out with an SWT ticket office, either Winchester, or Southampton (21 min connection typically). 

Looking at the times in the journey planner over the a sample of about 6 hours, the 'via Westbury' route is only ten mins quicker to Exeter, but in a few hours it wasn't offered, so I suggest a lot depends on whether the NSE^▸ (Network South East) discount is more important than the ability to go via Westbury, especially now that SWT service is hourly all day.

Also depends on connection time at Exeter if you do go via Westbury of course.

Looking at the wider problem of a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) issueing an invalid ticket - it will be some sort of software error I'm sure, like testing that origin and destination are in the NSE card area before they check the route. Should probably report it to SWT.

I got into bother on 'One' years ago, their machine allowed me to 'select' the Network Card before 1000, so printed NSE on the ticket, but with the correct undiscounted fare, IYSWIM. So a checker at the destination tried to give me a PF^▸ (Penalty Fare), even though I'd paid the correct fare. After an email complaint I got an admission from 'One' that their software was badly programmed, and that the Network Card option was wrongly presented.

Paul

[grahame]

Have I got something wrong here?  Shouldn't it be up to the people who program the ticket machines to make sure that they don't issue tickets that can't be valid?  And shoudn't a ticket that says "via Westbury" be valid for travel via Westbury even if it was only issued because of a software glitch?   In a sane world, if an official ticket machine issues you with a ticket, you should be able to take that as a right to travel as specified IHMO.

Of course, if the fare structure is too complex to be programmed, someone could simplifythe system 

[fullspeedahead]

In the end, I popped down to my local station this afternoon and coughed up the ^2.70 to have the route excessed to via Honiton, since for the time of day I was travelling it would have resulted in the same arrival time at my eventual destination anyway and saved me the bother of the potential arguement on the train later. But I would tend to agree with Grahame that if a machine issues it, it should be valid- theres there potential for less experienced travellers to get in a real pickle here.

It is not as if it is the only software fault associated with use of a Network Card, some of the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) machines allow you to select the card for fares that were originally under ^13 in the first place- resulting in the fare being automatically raised to that minimum level, a bit of a nasty trick really. I dont know if FGW^▸ (First Great Western) machines do the same thing.

[paul7575]

It is not as if it is the only software fault associated with use of a Network Card, some of the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) machines allow you to select the card for fares that were originally under ^13 in the first place- resulting in the fare being automatically raised to that minimum level, a bit of a nasty trick really. I dont know if FGW^▸ (First Great Western) machines do the same thing.

Nearly all TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) TVMs^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) do this. There can be advantages in certain marginal circumstances - for instance if you want to take a group of children with you, but it would be better if it only happened when sensible - such as when the additional children have been selected at the same transaction.

Paul

[Glovidge]

Slough to Cardiff = ^21 quoted leaving Slough at 13:36 next Wed (23rd June) arriving Cardiff 15:46

Slough to Swindon and then Swindon to Cardiff = ^5+^5= ^10 leaving Slough at 13:36 next Wed (23rd June) arriving Cardiff 15:46

So thats more than 50% off by splitting tickets. My best result yet!

[eightf48544]

Well done Glovidge for spotting that split.

But doesn't it just go to show what a crazy system we have for fares.