Combined Train&Bus season tickets (*not* Plusbus)

[W-on-Sea]

I wonder if anybody (with Avantix, and/or who may work for FGW and know about such things) can help with a fare query.

On the FGW website http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=74 the following is stated

Main RailLink services
First Great Western has close working relationships with a number of local bus operators to offer you a RailLink feeder services. You can buy combined Train&Bus tickets for your complete journey to any destination along the following bus routes.

Bodmin Parkway - Bodmin - Wadebridge - Padstow, route: 555
Bristol Temple Meads - Bristol Airport: routes 330 and 331
Exeter St Davids - Exeter Airport: route 56
Exeter St David's - Okehampton - Holsworthy - Bude: route X9
Oxford - Abingdon: route X3 and X13
Oxford - Witney: route S1
Reading - Heathrow Airport 'RailAir' service
Reading - Wallingford: route X39 and X40
Redruth - Helston - Culdrose (RNAS): route 34
St Austell - Eden Project: route 101
Taunton - Watchet - Dunster - Minehead: route 28

Elsewhere on their website
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=44#Combined the following is stated

Combined Train&Bus through tickets
There are currently 102 destinations available with a combined Train&Bus ticket across our network. You can buy a ticket all the way to your final destination, including your train travel and travel on a RailLink bus service.

These tickets offer various different journey opportunities including:

A single, or return journey on a bus route from a rail station to a specific destination.
Unlimited travel on a bus route from a rail station to points along that route.
Unlimited travel on all bus routes in a specified town.
For further information please contact our Customer Services Team or ask at staffed stations.

(It appears that this is something separate from, and additional to PlusBus addons - and an in several of the cases listed above appears to be an effective bus replacement for railway lines closed at some time in past decades, particularly under Beeching.)

Several of these routes are also shown on the FGW network maps
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Documents/Custom/RouteMap/fgwRouteMap.pdf

So, how do I find out the fares?

Specifically, I want to know how much an annual season ticket (standard class) from Didcot Parkway to Oxford PLUS the Bus addon to Witney costs. (Presuming it is still available; there is a bus timetable for the Oxford - Witney route hidden away elsewhere someone on the FGW website, but it is evidently somewhat out of date, not least as the route number has changed - from 100 to S1 - in the meantime).

The person I spoke to at FGW at first suggested that I get a PlusBus addon from Oxford, which, she assured me, would be valid to Witney. However, being quite clear about the Oxford PlusBus zone boundaries (Oxford City, essentially, whereas Witney is 13 miles away), I said I was sure that wasn't the case.

She then, with further prompting, searched for the prices of a season ticket from Didcot to Witney (I don't know exactly which codes she may have used, or how exactly this might be expressed). (I see this page - http://www.railbus.co.uk/bustickets.htm - which again is clearly not up-to-date - suggests the code "H991 WitneyBus".

She told me this annual season would cost £992.

If that's true, I'm very happy. Because that is the same price as a Didcot Parkway to Oxford season ticket. So the bus journey essentially would be free.

Can this possibly be true? (I suppose it could - A season from Oxford to Twyford costs the same as one to anywhere on the Henley branch, one to Maidenhead the same as to anywhere on the Marlow branch.). But I'd have thought that Stagecoach (given that THEIR passes that would allow travel on the S1 bus between Oxford and Witney cost £725 for an annual) would want a cut?

If anyone can help, or has experience of buying/using these (incredibly unadvertised) tickets, I'd be most grateful.

 

[sonic2009]

Looking at Avantix Traveller a Annual Season between Didcot Parkway and Witney Bus costs :

DID - WMP Route Oxford costs £1,632 STD and £2,128 1ST

I can confirm the Oxford Plus Bus is not valid to Witney

You could save Money by doing this :

Annual Season DID - OXF £992 STD £1,488 1ST
Oxfordshire Megarider Country 52 Week (Show's Where Valid) £350.00

 

[W-on-Sea]

Brillant, thanks so much. That's more like what I was expecting. A free ride on the rather sumptuous "Stagecoach gold" leather coach-seated S1 did seem rather too good to be true.

I just hope I can find someone who will know how to sell me the thing! (The above conversations were at one of the information desks at Oxford station, of all places)

 

[sonic2009]

Brillant, thanks so much. That's more like what I was expecting. A free ride on the rather sumptuous "Stagecoach gold" leather coach-seated S1 did seem rather too good to be true.

I just hope I can find someone who will know how to sell me the thing! (The above conversations were at one of the information desks at Oxford station, of all places)

A place like Didcot Ticket Office or Oxford Ticket office should be able to do it!

Just ask for a Season Between Didcot Parkway and H991 WitneyBus

 

[W-on-Sea]

Looking at Avantix Traveller a Annual Season between Didcot Parkway and Witney Bus costs :

DID - WMP Route Oxford costs £1,632 STD and £2,128 1ST

I can confirm the Oxford Plus Bus is not valid to Witney

You could save Money by doing this :

Annual Season DID - OXF £992 STD £1,488 1ST
Oxfordshire Megarider Country 52 Week (Show's Where Valid) £350.00

Thanks - the problem with that arrangement is that the Megarider Country is not valid within Oxford City (or the built-up area of Banbury) - as you see it's only valid on Route S1 between Eynsham and Carterton, but not between Oxford and Eynsham (which is a bit too far to walk as part of a daily commute...)

I *could* save money (and time, when or if the connections work) by combining a Megarider Country with a season ticket from Didcot to Hanborough (the Megarider Country would be valid on the buses between Hanborough and Witney) - but the buses on those routes are much less convenient in terms of frequency, don't run in the evenings or on Sundays, and don't make a point of connecting with the relatively few trains that stop at Hanborough. But the added inconveniences means I've ruled this idea out.

The Megarider Gold (£725) would do the trick (and allow travel on all Stagecoach buses in Oxfordshire, with the exception of one route). Although as the other routes I'm likely to use most from Witney OR Didcot aren't run by Stagecoach (and nor do they accept Stagecoach tickets) I'm not sure whether it's worth paying the extra for that rather than just the Oxford-Witney addon...

 

[barrykas]

Having just looked it up in The Manual, it'd have to be issued as separate Didcot - Oxford and Oxford - Witney seasons by the looks of it.

Bus add-on prices are as follows:

• Single : £3.00
• Day Return : £5.10
• 7 Day Season : £20.00
• Monthly Season : £60.00
• Annual Season : £640.00

Only valid on Stagecoach Oxford route S1, and only available for the periods shown.

HTH,

Barry

 

[W-on-Sea]

Thanks, most helpful.

 

[First class]

Having just looked it up in The Manual, it'd have to be issued as separate Didcot - Oxford and Oxford - Witney seasons by the looks of it.

Bus add-on prices are as follows:

• Single : £3.00
• Day Return : £5.10
• 7 Day Season : £20.00
• Monthly Season : £60.00
• Annual Season : £640.00

Only valid on Stagecoach Oxford route S1, and only available for the periods shown.

HTH,

Barry

Can't see why you think it should be issued separately...

The fare will appear as one through ticket, and The Manual states to add on £640 to the 12 Month rail annual, not stating to issue separately. It would be a bit inconvenient to have more than 1 ticket, which surely is the point of a through fare?

 

[barrykas]

Can't see why you think it should be issued separately...

Was thinking PlusBus for a minute there, rather than a "normal" Bus-Link ticket.

The fare will appear as one through ticket, and The Manual states to add on £640 to the 12 Month rail annual, not stating to issue separately. It would be a bit inconvenient to have more than 1 ticket, which surely is the point of a through fare?

Not necessarily! A through fare doesn't appear in the NFM "Fare Finder", for example, and I'd hazard a guess that FasTIS won't have a through fare either, so it would have to be issued as invidiual tickets. (As FasTIS won't let you "create" a through ticket involving an add-on).

There's also the (slight) possibility of someone wanting the bus add-on for a different period to the rail season, etc.

YMMV, of course...

Barry

 

[W-on-Sea]

Hmm, for what it's worth, I decided against buying this ticket, because it simply isn't good value at all.

£640 p.a. for validity on only one of several (albeit the most frequent and direct) routes between Witney and Oxford, or £700 for a Stagecoach Oxfordshire Megarider, which lets you use any Stagecoach route in the county, and beyond - even on some routes to Stratford-upon-Avon, Leamington, Swindon? For £5 extra a month, the decision was clear.

Maybe that in part explains the lack of advertising for the through ticketing! It's simply poor value.

 

[barrykas]

Also FWIW, I forgot to mention that I checked on FasTIS and it will quite happily issue it as a through ticket, rather than having to do the train and bus separately.

Cheers,

Barry

 

[hairyhandedfool]

As a season, Fastis will definately do a through ticket, it is also possible to do the through single or return ticket on the Fastis I use at work, but only if I go through a fares only enquiry.