Didcot-Clapham junction & return

[HOOVER29]

After a trip from Didcot to Clapham Junction via Reading (£25 which is very good value) could I return to Didcot via Basingstoke & Reading or do I have to do the reverse of the outward journey?
Cheers for any help.

Carl

 

[soil]

I take it you mean to Basingstoke on SWT, then Basingstoke - Reading - Didcot?

If so, no.

Permitted routes are via Ascot only (unless you have the Any Permitted ticket, in which case you could go via Paddington)

 

[soil]

Note that a Didcot - Woking ticket undercuts Didcot - Clapham Junction if you are returning the same day, and IS valid for the return journey Didcot - Reading - Ascot - Clapham Junction - Woking - Basingstoke - Reading - Didcot (Didcot - Reading - Ascot - Clapham Junction - Ascot - Reading - Didcot also ok), albeit that trains non-stop from CLJ to BSK would not be permitted - you would need a train calling at both BSK and WOK, or separate CLJ - WOK and WOK -BSK trains.

 

[HOOVER29]

Ticket says "Valid only for travel via (changing trains or passing through) Reading, not valid via London Terminals".
So going on that ruling I could go via Basingstoke & Reading to Didcot
And yes it would be with SWT

Carl

 

[maniacmartin]

The ticket also says subject to the National Rail Conditions of Travel, which along with the Routeing Guide that they reference, go into more detail about permitted routes, as alluded to by soil.

 

[soil]

Ticket says "Valid only for travel via (changing trains or passing through) Reading, not valid via London Terminals".
So going on that ruling I could go via Basingstoke & Reading to Didcot
And yes it would be with SWT

Carl

Er, no.

You can't travel ANY route via Reading.

Via Reading, Bristol and Worcester, for example, would obviously be ridiculous.

You must travel via a PERMITTED ROUTE as defined here:

http://data.atoc.org/routeing-guide

The permitted route for this ticket is as already described in my first post.

 

[yorkie]

Ticket says "Valid only for travel via (changing trains or passing through) Reading, not valid via London Terminals".
So going on that ruling I could go via Basingstoke & Reading to Didcot
And yes it would be with SWT

Carl

"via Reading" means any permitted route which passes through Reading.

(If there are no permitted routes via the point specified on the ticket, then the permitted routes are a combination of the permitted routes from origin to via point, plus the permitted routes from via point to destination)

Permitted routes are as defined in the Routeing Guide, plus the shortest route, plus direct trains.

 

[some bloke]

Could Carl ask for an excess to return via Basingstoke for a few pounds, paying half of the difference between the returns?

 

[soil]

Could Carl ask for an excess to return via Basingstoke for a few pounds, paying half of the difference between the returns?

the only routes available are 'any permitted' (which via Basingstoke is not), and 'reading not London' (which means any permitted route passing through Reading but not passing through a London terminal), so basically no.

You would need, on the face of it, TWO new tickets, one Clapham Junction - Basingstoke (£14 probably), and one Basingstoke - Reading (£6.30).

It would perhaps be cheaper, if the ticket has been purchased already, to get it refunded (£10 deduction) and go for the CLJ - WOK ticket instead.

 

[some bloke]

the only routes available are 'any permitted' (which via Basingstoke is not), and 'reading not London' (which means any permitted route passing through Reading but not passing through a London terminal), so basically no.

You would need, on the face of it, TWO new tickets, one Clapham Junction - Basingstoke (£14 probably), and one Basingstoke - Reading (£6.30).

It would perhaps be cheaper, if the ticket has been purchased already, to get it refunded (£10 deduction) and go for the CLJ - WOK ticket instead.

Thanks - I may be missing something. If someone has the ticket to Clapham Junction why could they not excess to this?

https://traintimes.org.uk/didcot/clj/20:45/today?via=bsk

Off-Peak Day Return £33.40 £40.50 £48.40 £48.90 £75.60 £38.00 £38.30

 

[some bloke]

Perhaps:

If the journey has been started, ask for an excess for the return portion (half the difference to the via Basingstoke return, if that's permitted, perhaps for about £4) and think about a Network Railcard;

If the journey hasn't been started, think about a Network Railcard and buy to Woking?

 

[soil]

Thanks - I may be missing something. If someone has the ticket to Clapham Junction why could they not excess to this?

https://traintimes.org.uk/didcot/clj/20:45/today?via=bsk

Off-Peak Day Return £33.40 £40.50 £48.40 £48.90 £75.60 £38.00 £38.30

What site is that? It doesn't look official.

From what I can see, that £33.40 is TWO tickets, a £23.90 Basingstoke - Clapham Junction return, and a £9.50 Didcot - Basingstoke return.

 

[Joe Paxton]

What site is that? It doesn't look official.

traintimes.org.uk aka Accessible UK Train Timetables is an excellent, long established site that shows results from NRE in an uncluttered, accessible manner (works well on a mobile too).

This is what the website's creator says...

This is an accessible version of the National Rail Enquiries train timetable site, giving access to the information on that site no matter what browser you are using, with no requirement for cookies or JavaScript. It works by screenscraping the information on the official site, and takes the opportunity to remove the “Please Wait” pages and move some things around. Many thanks to National Rail Enquiries for allowing this site to persist.

 

[soil]

traintimes.org.uk aka Accessible UK Train Timetables is an excellent, long established site that shows results from NRE in an uncluttered, accessible manner (works well on a mobile too).

This is what the website's creator says...

ok well it doesn't seem to manage to inform you whether there is one ticket or more, and what they are, unless I have missed something?

 

[some bloke]

that £33.40 is TWO tickets, a £23.90 Basingstoke - Clapham Junction return, and a £9.50 Didcot - Basingstoke return.

Thanks for explaining - yes, one ticket can't be excessed to two.

it doesn't seem to manage to inform you whether there is one ticket or more...unless I have missed something?

To me, traintimes.org.uk gives the wrong impression that there is one ticket ("return" "fare").

Still it does (confusingly) mention the £33.40 option, while the official site says there is no return fare and suggests two "singles" at £56.30.

[traintimes.org.uk] doesn't seem to manage to inform you ...what [the two tickets] are

Yes, and the official site shows a combination of singles so I'd hope a ticket clerk would find out. A search for a single results in "You need to buy more than one ticket for this journey".

Perhaps this ability of traintimes.org.uk to combine returns and potentially save some people a lot of money might be useful in other situations.

Still, it shows £33.40 rather than £18.50.

I wonder how hard it would be to write a program to find, for example, all journeys that included Didcot-Basingstoke-Clapham Junction.

That would mean an £18.50 off-peak return on this route as soil points out, rather than the £56.30 officially suggested, and show savings in many other cases.