Great Western Coffee Shop

I can guess the answers but can some ticket expert confirm please ...


a) There is no 08:26 Westbury to Penzance service but there IS an 08:20  Westbury to Paignton, on which off peak [period] returns to places like Tiverton are valid but I can's find any off peak  day returns valid on it.  Would an FOSS / FOSW be accepted on this train?

b) As FOSS and FOSW are "not available on bus", does this mean that the tickets are not accepted on buses that are run to replace trains?

c) The accompanying map shows only the FOSS (not the FOSW) valid from Romsey to Eastleigh via Chandlers Ford and from Brockenhurst to Lymington, and only the FOSW (not the FOSS) valid from Bristol Parkway direct to Newport.

As the quote and map are from the official National Rail web site, is it fair to assume these exclusions?

Bus or ferry links covers where you can buy a through ticket from train to bus.

There is for example a melksham to Padstow (PDT) ticket off peak single £63.70. The freedom of Southwest ticket isn’t valid for the bus link from Bodmin parkway to Padstow. Screen shot of itinerary

This is not intended to exclude rail replacement

Why do "Freedom" tickets always (it seems) fail to operate station barriers?  And why are some staff so helpful and friendly with passengers using them, and others come across as agressive (almost the sort of behaviour which they announce will not be tolerated to staff - but it's OK for staff to make customers feel REALLY small!).

The explanation I have been offered (of the barriers) is that it's a two part ticket and they have to check the write-in section (and they sometimes do check it) but surely with gates so common these days, their systems could monitor the number of days the ticket has been used anyway, and catch people on their 4th day on a 3-of-7 or 9th day on an 8-of-15. Want a bit more than that?  Print a scan code onto the ticket!

The 'QR code style ticket could be programmed to work, but the magstrip tickets have only 8 bytes of data storage on them & writing used dates isn't possible in that space

Is that the limit of what the ticket barriers can write or a total storage limit?   

I don't know - but is a figure I was quoted when I raised a similar query a few years ago

But strangely, the tickets do work in a minority of barriers. When I have had FOSS tickets, I have found that each time at least a couple of different stations have had barriers which accepted them quite happily.

Incorrect programming in those gates?

Just looking at the map, Graham, and it does seem very strange the the FOSW is apparently not valid Romsey - Eastleigh via Chandlers Ford or on the Lymington branch.  Both look very deliberate exclusions from the map.

In practical terms, I can't imagine there would be any problem actually travelling on either line with a FOSW rover.  I have done this but a long time ago now.

Indeed ... as it happens I'm not headed onto either in my final 2 days (I almost made it through Chandler's Ford) ... from a very wet Melksham I'm now in a sun-kissed train approaching Plymouth.

Many moons ago I used to do the proof reading for publicity leaflets like the rovers and this quirk raised it's head then. If I remember the answer I got then was that, although the rover is valid on the various operators in the area, as the FOSW was a GWR sponsored item it would only be valid on lines where GWR actually ran a service, although their argument fell down when it came to the SWR line from Axminster to Salisbury!!

It did seem a bit petty to me at the time but, brick walls and head banging.....

As an aside, if you down load the current map from the GWR website you'll see that both the Chandlers Ford line and Lymington Pier branch are not there..

https://www.gwr.com/stations-and-destinations/stations

Of course the GWR network map will not show Lymington or Chandlers Ford.

Co-incidentally I downloaded the map from the GB Rail Rover Guide website yesterday which shows all the routes one would expect including these two. The National Rail site also lists all the relevant stations including these two. Salisbury/Yeovil/Axminster also included

This is the map from the Rangers and Rovers page on GWR's website https://www.gwr.com/your-tickets/choosing-your-ticket/rangers-and-rovers (https://www.gwr.com/your-tickets/choosing-your-ticket/rangers-and-rovers)