GWR Zones for Weekend 1st?

[alistairlees]

The GWR website says:

It’s easy to upgrade, the price just depends on the number of zones you travel through.

But I can't find any explanation of where the zones are, either on gwr.com or on the internet generally.

Does anyone know?

 

[_toommm_]

It used to be on that page, as I remember looking at it when I was doing the summer Pembroke services. It's here though - I just googled GWR First Class Zones and its was the fourth result:

Weekend First Map - Great Western Railwayhttps://www.gwr.com › media › gwr › pdfs › maps

 

[alistairlees]

It used to be on that page, as I remember looking at it when I was doing the summer Pembroke services. It's here though - I just googled GWR First Class Zones and its was the fourth result:

Weekend First Map - Great Western Railwayhttps://www.gwr.com › media › gwr › pdfs › maps

View attachment 111062

Thanks. Upgrade costs don't appear to have anything to do with these zones, or "the number you pass through", though. Not a criticism of you!

 

[_toommm_]

Thanks. Upgrade costs don't appear to have anything to do with these zones, or "the number you pass through", though. Not a criticism of you!

No criticism took (to be fair I didn't fully answer your question). It seems from spending some time on brfares.com:

One zone: £10.00
Two zones: £15.00
Three zones: £20.00
Four+ zones: £25.00

There are exceptions to this though as is the way (as you know) with train tickets.

EDIT: The upgrades should also be available changing trains, so you could upgrade on, say, Penzance to Hereford, for £20.00.

 

[bnm]

EDIT: The upgrades should also be available changing trains, so you could upgrade on, say, Penzance to Hereford, for £20.00.

Not sure how you'd get from Penzance to Hereford with a through ticket on two GWR services conveying 1st Class.

 

[RPI]

The GWR website says:


But I can't find any explanation of where the zones are, either on gwr.com or on the internet generally.

Does anyone know?

What journey are you making?

 

[alistairlees]

What journey are you making?

From Paddington to Hereford. I can look up the fares ok (see brfares.com - https://www.brfares.com/!expert?orig=PAD&dest=HFD) which shows it as £20.00. But I don't see any relationship between the GWR statement of "the fare depends on the number of zones you pass through", the fares themselves, and the zonal map provided by another poster earlier on in this thread.

 

[_toommm_]

From Paddington to Hereford. I can look up the fares ok (see brfares.com - https://www.brfares.com/!expert?orig=PAD&dest=HFD) which shows it as £20.00. But I don't see any relationship between the GWR statement of "the fare depends on the number of zones you pass through", the fares themselves, and the zonal map provided by another poster earlier on in this thread.

It passes through three zones - A, B, and C1, hence the £20.00.

Not sure how you'd get from Penzance to Hereford with a through ticket on two GWR services conveying 1st Class.

I’ll admit that’s a bad example as it’s not possible with a through ticket wholly on GWR.

 

[Mark J]

No criticism took (to be fair I didn't fully answer your question). It seems from spending some time on brfares.com:

One zone: £10.00
Two zones: £15.00
Three zones: £20.00
Four+ zones: £25.00

There are exceptions to this though as is the way (as you know) with train tickets.

EDIT: The upgrades should also be available changing trains, so you could upgrade on, say, Penzance to Hereford, for £20.00.

How can GWR justify £10.00 for zones B, D1 and E1.

All are tiny zones.

 

[WelshBluebird]

How can GWR justify £10.00 for zones B, D1 and E1.

All are tiny zones.

The zones look cynically placed to me in general.
Plenty of regular "local" journeys like Bristol to Taunton / Exeter, Penzanze to Plymouth, Bath to Swindon, Swansea to Cardiff etc all split up to cover two zones when given the size of most of the zones they could easily be in one zone.
But I guess Weekend First is only offered because its an additional revenue stream and so there's no need for them to be fair with the pricing!

 

[alistairlees]

Paddington to Hereford (Zones A, B and C1) - £20.00
Paddington to Oxford (Zone A) - £15.00
Oxford to Hereford (Zones A, B, C1) - £20.00
Hanborough to Hereford (Zones B and C1) - £15.00
Evesham to Hereford (Zone C1) - £10.00
Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour (Zone C1) - £15.00
Swindon to Bath (Zones B and C1) - £15.00
Paddington to Taunton (Zones A, B, C1 and D2) - £25.00
Paddington to Penzance (Zones A, B, C1, D2 and E2) - £25.00
Swansea to Bridgend (D1) - £15.00

So doesn't seem related to the number of zones passed through, as the GWR website claims.

 

[RPI]

Paddington to Hereford (Zones A, B and C1) - £20.00
Paddington to Oxford (Zone A) - £15.00
Oxford to Hereford (Zones A, B, C1) - £20.00
Hanborough to Hereford (Zones B and C1) - £15.00
Evesham to Hereford (Zone C1) - £10.00
Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour (Zone C1) - £15.00
Swindon to Bath (Zones B and C1) - £15.00
Paddington to Taunton (Zones A, B, C1 and D2) - £25.00
Paddington to Penzance (Zones A, B, C1, D2 and E2) - £25.00
Swansea to Bridgend (D1) - £15.00

So doesn't seem related to the number of zones passed through, as the GWR website claims.

Only one problem with Cardiff to Portsmouth, no first class (on direct services anyway)

 

[DingerUK]

I’m travelling from swansea SWA to Paddington PAD and emailed GWR customer service who were not able to tell me the upgrade cost and that I needed to ask at the station or on board

Cheeky that Swansea to Cardiff is it’s own zone so it looks like I need 4+ so £25

I’ve not done the upgrade before, is it worth it? Snack box better wifi and seats and tea / coffee for 3 hour trip? I’m on the fence

 

[alastair]

I’m travelling from swansea SWA to Paddington PAD and emailed GWR customer service who were not able to tell me the upgrade cost and that I needed to ask at the station or on board

Cheeky that Swansea to Cardiff is it’s own zone so it looks like I need 4+ so £25

I’ve not done the upgrade before, is it worth it? Snack box better wifi and seats and tea / coffee for 3 hour trip? I’m on the fence

I get the impression GWR are not interested in promoting weekend first. A family member was travelling Totnes/ Paddington on Good Friday. Standard was rammed, plenty of room in first. Having tried and failed to get a Seatfrog upgrade I advised him to go for a £25 weekend first however when the TM came round she could not work out how to account for weekend first on her machine! This seems quite odd - surely TM's should be actively promoting weekend first (as was done in the past) , a couple of dozen upgrades is £600 revenue. Later in trip, however, the TM "phoned a friend" and found out how to take the payment.

 

[superalbs]

It used to be on that page, as I remember looking at it when I was doing the summer Pembroke services. It's here though - I just googled GWR First Class Zones and its was the fourth result:

Weekend First Map - Great Western Railwayhttps://www.gwr.com › media › gwr › pdfs › maps

View attachment 111062

Interesting location for Bristol Parkway...

 

[Haywain]

I’m travelling from swansea SWA to Paddington PAD and emailed GWR customer service who were not able to tell me the upgrade cost and that I needed to ask at the station or on board

Cheeky that Swansea to Cardiff is it’s own zone so it looks like I need 4+ so £25

Swansea to Cardiff quite clearly crosses 2 zones (£15), whereas Swansea to Paddington crosses 4 (£25). It's not really an outrageous rip-off.

 

[RPI]

I get the impression GWR are not interested in promoting weekend first. A family member was travelling Totnes/ Paddington on Good Friday. Standard was rammed, plenty of room in first. Having tried and failed to get a Seatfrog upgrade I advised him to go for a £25 weekend first however when the TM came round she could not work out how to account for weekend first on her machine! This seems quite odd - surely TM's should be actively promoting weekend first (as was done in the past) , a couple of dozen upgrades is £600 revenue. Later in trip, however, the TM "phoned a friend" and found out how to take the payment.

It was an issue with the ticket issuing system, Normally weekend first will only show up when a weekend date is put into the machine, someone somewhere forgot to make an exception for bank holiday Friday! A small work around was required to get it to work.

 

[Cowley]

Thread reopened for @Starmill to ask a question.

 

[kjetilniki]

Thank you for all the info.

i was looking in vain for the zone map because i was considering travelling to Bridgend BGN from Paddington PAD to escape the NH carnival. and found the GWR info https://www.gwr.com/your-tickets/ways-to-save/weekend-upgrades was completely useless.

Success
With your help i found the map and also checked (see brfares.com - https://www.brfares.com/!expert?orig=PAD&dest=HFD) editing substituting BGN for HFD, and confirmed that passing thro 4 ABCD zones the supplement was £25.

Railcard
I assume there is no 1/3 off for railcards on the £25 supplement

Cheaper buy now
In fact with railcard discount the price of an advance ticket [at present] s £21.10 2nd class and £40.25 1st so £19.15p upgrade cost

Conclusion
For a 2 hour 15m journey each way, £80 return instead £42, I don't think I will buy first class despite

• spacious seats, all with tables and extra legroom
• USB sockets and enhanced Wi-Fi
• complimentary snackbox, and hot and cold drinks served at your seat

PS is it worth complaining to Passenger Focus about the lack of the fare zoe and price structure map on their website? or about the widespread failure to specify the rules of offpeak and superoffpeak in a comprehensive way.