Bristol Temple Meads to Cheltenham Spa

[Stompehh]

Hi guys,

Is a month season from Bristol Temple Meads to Cam & Dursley valid via Cheltenham Spa?

It's considerably cheaper than the straight season ticket so I hope it is. NRE produces an itinerary but I'm no good at working the routeing guide so if someone could check that for me I would appreciate it.

Also if anyone can come up with anything better that would be even more appreciated!

Thanks

 

[All Line Rover]

No. You can't double back like that.

 

[Stompehh]

Oh :\ is this a bug in NRE then?

 

[bb21]

Oh :\ is this a bug in NRE then?

Presumably.

If NRE produces an itinerary and does not show it as requiring more than one ticket, you may want to argue that it is evidence that it is a valid one, but to use it like that on a season ticket, you need to be prepared for potentially lots of arguments, as doublebacks like that are just silly.

Not worth it in my view.

 

[SickyNicky]

Oh :\ is this a bug in NRE then?

More like a "feature" in the timetable data. Cam and Dursley isn't a mandatory timing point so express trains don't show as passing through the station. As a result, there's no double-back in the data, so the journey is allowed.

In many cases this allows fast trains to a main station then a quick double back to a minor station to be allowed by NRE (or any booking engine). As bb21 implies, I would be happy to do it on a through ticket with an itinerary because the routeing guide says:

If you are planning a journey we would strongly advise you to make use of the Journey Planner at www.nationalrail.co.uk. Any ticket indicated for use in conjunction with a particular journey when using the Journey Planner will automatically be valid for the route and service indicated.

However, if you can't get NRE to show a season ticket on this route (does NRE show any season tickets?) I don't think you could rely on this, technically.