Bristol - Honiton via Weymouth

Good evening,

I am planning a trip to Sidmouth in early August and decided that it would be nice to explore the Heart of Wessex line on the way, then get a train to Honiton and then a bus (rather than the more direct Bristol-Exeter and then bus). I searched for tickets from Bristol to Honiton via Weymouth on the forum’s ticketing site, with a screenshot of the cheapest combination of tickets I could find attached (with all portions flexible, in order to get off at stations on the line, don’t intend to strictly adhere to the proposed timings). Would the Bruton to Honiton anytime day single be valid via Weymouth? Just wanted to double check as it seems a little counter intuitive, considering Weymouth is not on the most direct route between those two points at all.

Many thanks!

Presumably those tickets are routed via Exeter, not via Yeovil? Whichever it is you would have to double back between Yeovil and Weymouth or Frome and Weymouth. I can't see either being allowed

The bus ride from Weymouth to Axminster is lovely

Acathater said:

Presumably those tickets are routed via Exeter, not via Yeovil? Whichever it is you would have to double back between Yeovil and Weymouth or Frome and Weymouth. I can't see either being allowed

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Thank you, the last Bruton-Honiton ticket is valid only for trains passing through Yeovil.

I did use the advance search functions on the forums ticketing platform to specify that the journey should be via Weymouth, and that was the cheapest ticket combination that it came up with, despite the fact that it would involve doubling back as you say and thus seems unlikely to be valid via Weymouth. Hence my question. Unless I’ve done something wrong when searching for the tickets?

30907 said:

The bus ride from Weymouth to Axminster is lovely

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Thanks for this, I guess a cheaper option would be to get a bus to Axminster, train to Honiton and then another bus to Sidmouth. Though it may be more time consuming.

Marvelik said:

Thank you, the last Bruton-Honiton ticket is valid only for trains passing through Yeovil.

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Which means changing stations at Yeovil. Really not a good idea. Does the ticket itinerary show a walk between the two? In reality the road to the junction is a mile and a half sunken hollow way with no pavement and no escape from speeding traffic. There is a bus service but it's sparse and doesn't match the train timings.
You really need to rethink this

Acathater said:

Which means changing stations at Yeovil. Really not a good idea. Does the ticket itinerary show a walk between the two? In reality the road to the junction is a mile and a half sunken hollow way with no pavement and no escape from speeding traffic. There is a bus service but it's sparse and doesn't match the train timings.
You really need to rethink this

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The itinerary (attached, but ignore the first segment from Bristol as I’ll probably pay the extra £2 or so for an anytime to Frome to get an earlier service) in fact suggests going to Castle Cary, then Exeter st David’s, then Honiton.

The Bristol - Frome and Frome - Bruton tickets make sense, I just don’t quite see how a Bruton - Honiton ticket would permit such an obvious diversion via Weymouth?

Marvelik said:

Would the Bruton to Honiton anytime day single be valid via Weymouth?

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Theoretically, it would be valid if you followed the itinerary provided by an accredited retailer. It's pretty obvious though that it isn't intended to be valid for a round trip from Yeovil to Weymouth and I can't see it passing unquestioned.

Haywain said:

Theoretically, it would be valid if you followed the itinerary provided by an accredited retailer. It's pretty obvious though that it isn't intended to be valid for a round trip from Yeovil to Weymouth and I can't see it passing unquestioned.

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Thank you, I suppose I’ll carry a printout of the itinerary with me and hope it’ll be sufficient proof of validity
Or get a bus to Lyme Regis and arrange to get a lift to avoid the hassle.

Marvelik said:

The itinerary (attached, but ignore the first segment from Bristol as I’ll probably pay the extra £2 or so for an anytime to Frome to get an earlier service) in fact suggests going to Castle Cary, then Exeter st David’s, then Honiton.

The Bristol - Frome and Frome - Bruton tickets make sense, I just don’t quite see how a Bruton - Honiton ticket would permit such an obvious diversion via Weymouth?

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It will be to do with the 'split route check' in all likelihood. In other words, to determine the valid routes for a ticket routed 'via X', journey planners are told they can either look at the end-to-end permitted routes that pass through X, or they can use the split route check to combine valid routes from the origin to X, and from X to the destination.

The section from Bruton to Yeovil obviously isn't controversial. This is then combined with the valid routes from Yeovil Pen Mill to Honiton; since Weymouth and Exeter presumably pass the 'fares check' for consideration as valid origin and destination Routeing Points, the valid routes are deemed to be those from the Weymouth Routeing Point Group to the Exeter Routeing Point Group. This allows a 'local' journey to Weymouth, followed by a journey along mapped routes to Exeter (via Castle Cary), followed by a 'local' journey to Honiton.

Obviously this is somewhat of a loophole, but as you have been offered an itinerary by an accredited retailer, you are permitted to follow it if you buy the ticket in combination with that itinerary. I would expect the loophole to be closed now that you have posted about it on the forum, as people from the TOCs and industry bodies watch this forum very carefully to close loopholes. Funnily enough they don't seem to be very interested in fixing things that benefit the TOCs to the detriment of passengers!

Watershed said:

I would expect the loophole to be closed now that you have posted about it on the forum, as people from the TOCs and industry bodies watch this forum very carefully to close loopholes.

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Is there a proper "procedure" within the Forum for asking advice on loophole tickets without sharing it with TOCs etc and thereby having them closed?

Tarquin88 said:

Is there a proper "procedure" within the Forum for asking advice on loophole tickets without sharing it with TOCs etc and thereby having them closed?

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Yes; go to a forum walk, meal, etc.