Easement 600081

[Merseysider]

"Customers travelling from Southport to Bryn and beyond in possession of fares routed "Liverpool" or "Any Permitted" may not travel via Wigan North Western. This easement applies in both directions."

Via Wigan is the shortest route. This easement is described as a Circuitous Route.

Notwithstanding the fact this easement is unenforceable, any ideas why anyone (TOCs, ATOC?) may want to prevent Southport - Bryn passengers travelling via Wigan? There isn't a fare anomaly as far as I can see, as the SDR from Southport to Bryn is £11.90, higher than any intermediate fare via Liverpool.

 

[kieron]

I don't know the answer to your query, but it may be worth noting that, as per the routeing guide, customers with tickets routed "Any Permitted" may not travel by routes which do not pass through Wigan North Western, either.

Bryn is associated with Huyton and Wigan.
Southport is associated with Liverpool, Preston and Wigan.
The shortest route between the stations involves passing through the common routeing point.
There are no other routes within 3 miles of the shortest routes.

It is fortunate that the routeing guide can't prohibit travel via the shortest route.

 

[mildertduck]

I think I've found the problem, and it is that Bryn looks to be an anomaly.

For Garswood, and St Helens Central, there are tickets "Route Liverpool" (cheapest, priced by Merseyrail), "Any Permitted" (priced by Northern), and "Route Wigan" (most expensive, priced by Northern). I'm wondering if Northern have asked for that restriction to go in such that they get a share of the Merseyrail flow around the coast?

However Bryn is different. It only has Any Permitted tickets. And this interesting conflict about what constitutes permitted arises.

 

[Merseysider]

kieron, I hadn't realised that Southport and Bryn both had the common routeing point, thanks for pointing that out. Another reason why the easement is unenforceable.

It is indeed fortunate that the shortest route cannot be barred.

mildertduck, you may not be far off the truth. We have several previous examples where TOCs have asked for easements to be introduced in order to benefit them financially, or to hit another TOC's revenue share.

The WebTIS booking engine (LM, TPE et al) seem unable to find any journeys for Southport - Bryn even with via/avoid points being entered. TTL powered sites (eg VT) do not implement this easement and thus can return journeys and tickets. NRE doesn't have this problem either. All very odd.