Bristol Parkway - Reading

[OwlMan]

Bristol Parkway - Didcot off peak day return - £17-80 &
Didcot - Reading off peak day return - £5-00
In view of easement no.000082 "Journeys via Swindon and Didcot or via Swindon to Didcot and routed Not London may double back between Reading and Didcot. This easements applies in both directions"; would a off peak day return from Bristol Parkway - Didcot be valid to leave Reading station?
(in other words do I need to buy the Didcot - Reading return?)

Peter

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Provided you travel via Swindon and have a NOT LONDON routed ticket you would not need the Reading-Didcot return, however the only NOT LONDON routed tickets between Bristol and Didcot are 'advance' fares and your not allowed to break your journey on them.

Also, if you bought a Bristol-Didcot ticket and a Didcot-Reading return, your train to Reading would have to stop at Didcot.

 

[John @ home]

Provided you travel via Swindon and have a NOT LONDON routed ticket you would not need the Reading-Didcot return, however the only NOT LONDON routed tickets between Bristol and Didcot are 'advance' fares and your not allowed to break your journey on them.

Interesting. Are you suggesting that the ANY PERMITTED route is more restricted than the NOT LONDON route? If so, I would be interested in whether others thought that restriction would be enforceable.

John

 

[hairyhandedfool]

If the easement is correctly copied (in the original post) from the NRG, then yes its more restricted for that journey, unless there is another easement in the NRG somewhere.

 

[glynn80]

Interesting. Are you suggesting that the ANY PERMITTED route is more restricted than the NOT LONDON route? If so, I would be interested in whether others thought that restriction would be enforceable.

John

Is this case yes, the easement is in place for journeys originating west of Swindon to destinations north of Reading (as highlighted in the topic regarding Burton on Trent fares).

There is not a direct comparison between the Not London Advance Fares, which are only valid on the specified services printed on the ticket and thus would not be valid for doubling back and the Any Permitted walk on fares.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

...There is not a direct comparison between the Not London Advance Fares, which are only valid on the specified services printed on the ticket and thus would not be valid for doubling back and the Any Permitted walk on fares.

Ticket type has nothing to do with route, just because you have to book it doesn't mean you can't use it the same way as a 'walk-up' fare.

The AP fares are routed 'AP Not London' and are therefore valid via Reading if that is what is booked in advance.

My Fastis machine shows the 1302 Bristol Parkway to Reading service (destined for Paddington) and the connecting 1416 Reading to Didcot service (destined for Cheltenham) as currently available on Wednesday (11th) for just £11.50 advance single. No 'Walk-up' fares were shown as valid.

 

[glynn80]

Ticket type has nothing to do with route, just because you have to book it doesn't mean you can't use it the same way as a 'walk-up' fare.

The AP fares are routed 'AP Not London' and are therefore valid via Reading if that is what is booked in advance.

My Fastis machine shows the 1302 Bristol Parkway to Reading service (destined for Paddington) and the connecting 1416 Reading to Didcot service (destined for Cheltenham) as currently available on Wednesday (11th) for just £11.50 advance single. No 'Walk-up' fares were shown as valid.

So it is, checking on thetrainline also gives the journey details. Its surprising as in many cases the routeing guide easements are not loaded into the ticketing systems.

But on thetrainline it also gave the walk-up fares both the Stroud and Any Permitted Off Peak Singles and the Any Permitted Anytime Single as well. Seems thetrainline takes a different interpretation to the routeing guide to than the Fastis system you use.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Did you tell thetrainline to go via Reading or leave it open?

When I searched thetrainline for 11th March at 1300hrs via Reading it brought up two tickets, Advance single (£11.50) and First Advance single (£33).

 

[glynn80]

Did you tell thetrainline to go via Reading or leave it open?

When I searched thetrainline for 11th March at 1300hrs via Reading it brought up two tickets, Advance single (£11.50) and First Advance single (£33).

I searched Cheltenham Spa to Didcot Parkway on the First Scotrail branded thetrainline site. I put the via point as Reading.

Here is the screenshot of the results.

 

[Mojo]

Provided you travel via Swindon and have a NOT LONDON routed ticket you would not need the Reading-Didcot return, however the only NOT LONDON routed tickets between Bristol and Didcot are 'advance' fares and your not allowed to break your journey on them.

I suppose it could be used for Bristol to Oxford which has a "Not London" route?

 

[hairyhandedfool]

I searched Cheltenham Spa to Didcot Parkway on the First Scotrail branded thetrainline site. I put the via point as Reading....

Hmmm, yes I put those details in Fastis and the main trainline site and got the same results, strange.

 

[yorkie]

The routeing guide is interpreted differently by different applications.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

The routeing guide is interpreted differently by different applications.

The same applications have interpreted it differently for two different journeys.

Both Fastis and thetrainline say that only AP tickets are valid to doubleback at Reading on Bristol to Didcot tickets, persumably because they are routed 'Not London' and the 'walk up' fares are not.

However they both also say that 'Any Permitted' tickets are valid to doubleback at Reading on Cheltenham to Didcot tickets.

 

[devon_metro]

It probably has something to do with the mainline recently being shut, and tickets to Didcot were valid via Reading (as London services were going via Westbury)