deviating from route

[oshihu]

hi all,

i’m planning to go from brighton to bristol parkway, and the ticket says “Travel is allowed via any permitted route.”

i would like to break my outward journey and stop in bath for a bit. the route listed on trainline and national rail doesn’t stop there (see attached).

i have travelled via bath before on a different route (normally with a change at bristol temple meads before heading to bristol parkway) so just want to double check that if i changed trains in say reading to head to bath, then in bath got on another train to bristol parkway, would that be allowed when using an off peak brighton - bristol parkway ticket?

hope this makes sense, thank you in advance!

 

[Watershed]

hi all,

i’m planning to go from brighton to bristol parkway, and the ticket says “Travel is allowed via any permitted route.”

i would like to break my outward journey and stop in bath for a bit. the route listed on trainline and national rail doesn’t stop there (see attached).

i have travelled via bath before on a different route (normally with a change at bristol temple meads before heading to bristol parkway) so just want to double check that if i changed trains in say reading to head to bath, then in bath got on another train to bristol parkway, would that be allowed when using an off peak brighton - bristol parkway ticket?

hope this makes sense, thank you in advance!

That would be fine. "Via any permitted route" means that you can choose between any of the routes classed as "permitted routes". You can either go through a document called the Routeing Guide to work out what these are, or the simpler option is to see if the same ticket is offered when you add a "via" point of the relevant station (e.g. Bath).

In this case travel via Bath is permitted and this is unlikely to be controversial as it's a perfectly reasonable way to get to Bristol Parkway, even if not the absolute quickest route.

A break of journey is permitted at any intermediate station with most flexible tickets (but not on Advance tickets). Any restrictions on break of journey would be shown in the restriction code associated with your ticket.

In this case it will be either YU if you bought a Super Off-Peak ticket or YC if you bought an Off-Peak one. Neither code restricts break of journey (you can check at nre.co.uk/YU and nre.co.uk/YC respectively - this link should be printed on the ticket).

An Off-Peak or Super Off-Peak Return is valid for one day to make your outward journey, so you would need to continue from Bath to Bristol Parkway the same day as you stop off in Bath. Otherwise you would need to buy a new Bath-Bristol Parkway ticket if you're travelling the next day or later.

 

[yorkie]

hi all,

i’m planning to go from brighton to bristol parkway, and the ticket says “Travel is allowed via any permitted route.”

i would like to break my outward journey and stop in bath for a bit. the route listed on trainline and national rail doesn’t stop there (see attached).

i have travelled via bath before on a different route (normally with a change at bristol temple meads before heading to bristol parkway) so just want to double check that if i changed trains in say reading to head to bath, then in bath got on another train to bristol parkway, would that be allowed when using an off peak brighton - bristol parkway ticket?

hope this makes sense, thank you in advance!

Yes, and indeed you can generate an itinerary with an extended wait at Bath on the forum's ticketing site to demonstrate this.

As this is so obviously on a permitted route, staff at Bath Spa aren't going to question it.

Note: If you buy the ticket before the day of travel, you would pay more to use Trainline, compared to using the forum's ticketing site, as Trainline charges a booking fee*

(* the fee is waived for journeys bought through the app on the day of travel)

The forum's site also allows an "open return" option if you don't want an itinerary on the return leg; alternatively, if you don't want an itinerary in either direction, I'd suggest using BRFares.com

 

[Farigiraf]

i have travelled via bath before on a different route (normally with a change at bristol temple meads before heading to bristol parkway) so just want to double check that if i changed trains in say reading to head to bath, then in bath got on another train to bristol parkway, would that be allowed when using an off peak brighton - bristol parkway ticket?

Worth noting that instead of changing in Reading, you could just catch a Bristol Temple Meads bound service straight from Paddington, these always call at Bath Spa.

Plus there's also a one-change option from Brighton to Bath via Fareham, but this involves around 3 hours on regional trains so the onboard experience won't be as good as on the trains from Paddington. It's a good backup to consider nonetheless.

Both of the above options are valid on your ticket.

 

[oshihu]

amazing news, thank you everyone!

 

[fandroid]

Both the Anytime and Off-peak returns on the Via Salisbury route (as mentioned above concerning changing at Fareham) offer considerable savings, as they're not priced by GWR which has been sneakily racking up fares over the last year or so.

 

[Watershed]

Both the Anytime and Off-peak returns on the Via Salisbury route (as mentioned above concerning changing at Fareham) offer considerable savings, as they're not priced by GWR which has been sneakily racking up fares over the last year or so.

They are still priced by GWR but have always been cheaper because they were historically priced by Wessex Trains (and before them, Regional Railways) rather than the Intercity/FGW priced fares routed "Any Permitted".

 

[Swedenorer]

Plus there's also a one-change option from Brighton to Bath via Fareham, but this involves around 3 hours on regional trains so the onboard experience won't be as good as on the trains from Paddington. It's a good backup to consider nonetheless.

And the countryside from Romsey to Bath and especially the Wylie Valley and around Bradford on Avon is delightful.

 

[fandroid]

They are still priced by GWR but have always been cheaper because they were historically priced by Wessex Trains (and before them, Regional Railways) rather than the Intercity/FGW priced fares routed "Any Permitted".

Thanks for that clarification. And I'd endorse that comment by @Swedenorer. The scenery is marvellous on that route.