Doubling back through Meadowhall with a season ticket

[emorris]

Hi,

I commute between Penistone and Sheffield 3 days a week and use Flexi Seasons. As I sometimes travel beyond that (typically to Doncaster, and sometimes towards Huddersfield), and have found extending to certain other stations in South Yorkshire is the same price, I'd like to maximise the possibilities of use. In particular, Denby Dale to Doncaster (route via Meadowhall) is the same price.

My only thought is breaking the journey in Sheffield would mean doubling back through Meadowhall. Interestingly, there's an easement (700507) which allows this from Barnsley and other stations before Meadowhall, and it works on NRE. However, it doesn't work for journeys starting further than Barnsley up the Penistone line.

I have 2 questions:

1. Could that easement be applied in this case? For instance, could I "break" my journey at Barnsley then "start" from there?
2. Regardless of the technicalities, is this likely to cause and issues with Northern guards, e.g. being told I have to change at Meadowhall?

Many thanks

 

[Watershed]

As you say, the double back via Sheffield isn't generally permitted, since it doesn't involve a direct train, would break the rules for tracing mapped routes, and is more than 3 miles longer than the shortest route. It is only allowed if you fall within the scope of an easement. As you say, there's one that covers stations up to Barnsley but not further north.

Arguably there should be an easement that covers the Penistone line stations, but perhaps Northern have their reasons for not including these in the easement.

Unfortunately you can't expand its scope merely by breaking your journey. The Routeing Guide isn't recursive in this way, and your journey is still from Denby Dale/Penistone even if you break it at Barnsley, for example.

I can't really come up with much of a better option here for you, except to note that you just need a Meadowhall to Doncaster ticket if you do get the train there - and the train doesn't need to stop at Meadowhall, since one of your tickets is a (type of) season ticket.

 

[A S Leib]

Would the SY Connect+ train, tram and bus ticket (£40.40 per week, £151.90 for 28 days or £1,702.90 for a year) be useful?

Edit: skipped over the "3 days a week" bit at first, so maybe not.

 

[Bob figgis]

You can also get the SY Connect+ for the day at £11:40

South Yorkshire | SYConnect & SYConnect+ Ticket Info | TravelMaster

Enjoy unlimited travel with our SYConnect & SYConnect+ tickets to get around all of South Yorkshire by bus, tram or train.

www.sytravelmaster.com

 

[noddingdonkey]

I think your issue is that via Sheffield isn't a valid route for Penistone to Doncaster, according to NRE at least.

 

[emorris]

Thanks folks. I'll go with DBD-SHF to be on the safe side.

I thought I'd read something about season tickets being more flexible with regards to routeing (other than the boundary rule) but clearly not.

SYConnect+ is a good deal when doing a couple of bus/tram trips too but isn't worth it in this case.

 

[yorkie]

Thanks folks. I'll go with DBD-SHF to be on the safe side.

I thought I'd read something about season tickets being more flexible with regards to routeing (other than the boundary rule) but clearly not.

The rules for calculating permitted routes are the same for Seasons as for non-Seasons.

However, Season tickets allow unlimited journeys in either direction, which can open up additional possibilities.