Blackpool Stations

[Mcr Warrior]

Is there such a thing as "Blackpool Stations" as a ticketing destination (or origin) or do you always have to choose either Blackpool North or Blackpool South?

 

[Merseysider]

Unfortunately not, but in practice tickets to either are generally treated interchangeably.

 

[David Goddard]

Unfortunately not, but in practice tickets to either are generally treated interchangeably.

Having followed the thread about the trials and tribulations at Blackpool North, I would not dare to arrive at North with a ticket marked South.....

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Having followed the thread about the trials and tribulations at Blackpool North, I would not dare to arrive at North with a ticket marked South.....

Indeed. Probably better to do the reverse - arrive at unbarriered South with a ticket for North. All trains from there start there (it's the end of the line!) so you should have a chance to ask the conductor whether they're OK with it before getting on the train.

 

[embers25]

In my experience guards on South trains have no issue with north tickets but barrier staff at north have a big issue with South tickets (and everything else in the world to be honest!)

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don't entirely understand why they don't just sell them all to Blackpool Stations.

 

[philthetube]

probably quite a few places where "stations" tickets would be useful, Burnley comes to mind.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

I don't entirely understand why they don't just sell them all to Blackpool Stations.

Blackpool Stations used to be "a thing", but was abolished in May 1994, if Wikipedia can be trusted (stop sniggering at the back...). It does seem plausible given that the shadow TOCs were being split out around that time in preparation for privatisation.

Abolishing the station group allows for more accurate revenue allocation between e.g. what would have been Regional Railways North West (Blackpool South) and North East (express services to North), as well as InterCity (in case they happened to operate any North services at that time).

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Thanks for the clarification. So, another, pre-privatisation change primarily for railway convenience but not necessarily in the travelling public's best interests.

 

[David Goddard]

Was Exeter the same(seem to recall it mentioned on another thread recently)?

 

[scrapy]

Makes sense for tickets from stations on both branches west of Kirkham to be to a specific Blackpool station (e.g a ticket from Lytham to North should cost more than to South), but from a customer point of from Kirkham and anywhere to the east, tickets should be valid to any Blackpool station.

 

[Starmill]

A ticket from Blackpool South to Preston is quite unlikely to be accepted at Blackpool North. It costs less, for an Anytime Day Return it's £8.60 vs £9.40.

I don't entirely understand why they don't just sell them all to Blackpool Stations.

Presumably the reason is that if they did people from Blackpool South would pay more? Bad press, and the South Fylde is less busy.

Of course you could take the view that 80p is trivial. In which case I would agree with the suggestion of just cutting the fare from Blackpool North.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Sep 2020 ==

Was Exeter the same(seem to recall it mentioned on another thread recently)?

Yes. And in Cardiff. There often are price differences.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Sep 2020 ==

Thanks for the clarification. So, another, pre-privatisation change primarily for railway convenience but not necessarily in the travelling public's best interests.

If all fares to Blackpool had remained the same, it's likely that people travelling to Blackpool South would have faced higher price increases.

 

[Hadders]

I think Exeter is to do with the split between what was Network South East and Inter City. That’s certainly the reason for via Taunton and via Honiton fares existing.