East Coast evening peak is 15:55-19:01
What do you mean by that? I think there is confusion here. The way it works is that a ticket has a restriction. Yes,
some EC priced tickets have such a restriction, in this case the restriction you quote is for outward & return portions of Off Peak Day (outward/single/returns) tickets. This is quite different to the majority of EC ticket conditions!
FCC evening peak is 16:30-19:01
Again, there is confusion. This applies to
some FCC priced tickets., in this case Off Peak Day
Returns (return portion
only).
I was on the 16:08 KGX-NNG today, and it must have been about half the passengers in there who had absolutely no idea that Off-Peak tickets weren't valid (was it just that there never used to be an EC service to Stevenage between 15:30 and 16:30 before?)
But you can't say that.
Some Off Peak tickets
are valid,
some are
not.
On top of that, there were no signs in evidence in King's Cross to advise you of this restriction, nothing on the departure boards, and nothing announced on board the train.
There are boards that describe in basic terms which Off Peak tickets are valid however they are wrong, misleading and do not apply to all tickets.
Is this worth a complaint to EC, do you reckon?
Ah, simplified fares, eh!
No, to be honest. It's a wider issue. You could write to your MP but the wording needs working on! To be honest, it's such a farce it's difficult to know where to start.
I wrote about this issue extensively in
this post, using the 1714 service as an example (other services will vary)
Unless they are super-human, no guard/RPI could remember all this, so they have two choices: accept all tickets, or check each ticket in Avantix. How long would that take on a packed train, I wonder? Oh, there is a third (but incorrect) choice: guess and excess some people incorrectly. I bet that happens too...
.....On the 1714 FCC service, the following is / isn't valid:
Destination / Ticket type / Valid or not
Stevenage Off Peak Day OUT Valid
Stevenage Off Peak Day RTN Not Valid
Peterborough Off Peak Day OUT Valid (if routed FCC only)
Peterborough Off Peak Day OUT Not Valid (if routed Any Permitted)
Peterborough Off Peak Day RTN Not Valid (either route)
Peterborough Off Peak OUT Valid (if routed FCC only)
Peterborough Off Peak OUT Not Valid (if routed Any Permitted)
Peterborough Off Peak RTN Valid (either route)
....
If someone is on an Off Peak Day ticket on a train for which an Off Peak ticket is valid but an Off Peak Day is not, the ticket should be excessed tp the Off Peak.
Now I wonder if anyone has been excessed on the 19:00 departure, that would be interesting....
In fact if someone were to be excessed correctly I think that the excess could appear in national media as it highlights how absurd the restrictions are and is strong evidence that ATOC have misleading statements on their website.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And just to add a twist...
Both FCC and East Coast booking engines will let you reserve a seat on the 16:08 when purchasing an off-peak return/travelcard.
Where did you get the idea it was not valid from - a return half of aaoff peak day return is valid on that train - restriction code L4
I suspect he was looking at an outward journey from King's Cross. That
is valid.
Basically, our system is "simple" and allows us to "buy with confidence" and we all know "exactly where we stand", because ticket conditions are "the same across all train companies nationwide". You see, the name Off Peak "describes when you can use your ticket", in this case, as you can see this name is perfectly descriptive and I am able to determine all of the restrictions just by the name.
In the past it "wasn't easy" to find the best value ticket. The choice is now "simplified".
I am so glad ATOC have a
simple system, otherwise if it was complicated, my head might explode.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Doubt it, I just think the EC page is poorly written - I
think the restrictions there are for journeys priced by EC themselves. London-Stevenage is priced by FCC
EC do like 'simplifiers'; they even have their own simple version of the Routeing Guide. The problem with simplifiers on an extremely complex system, is that they can only be relied upon if you put a load of exceptions in, but then it would no longer be simple. In other words, they are trying to do the impossible. I think it is safer not to bother and simply say "Conditions vary depending on the ticket you hold, contact National Rail Enquiries or your local station for the terms specific to your ticket" or similar.
