Exeter to Brighton

[RupertW]

I have done this journey before via Honiton and Southampton, the ticket restriction code for an Off Peak Return on this route is UU (not valid between 0430 and 0900 but with an exception that the ticket can be used on 0641 and later Exeter - Waterloo services). When wanting to travel early though, I have not been able to get any of the journey planners to give me a valid itinerary for this ticket though with a departure from Exeter before 0900 so does the above exception only apply if traveling on the services all the way to Waterloo and so I'd have to wait for the 0925 to use the Brighton ticket?

 

[yorkie]

Welcome to the forum

The ticket is here:
http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=EXD&dest=BTN&rte=828&tkt=SVR

OUTWARD TRAVEL

Not valid on trains timed to
depart after 04:29 and before
09:00 except as listed below:
06:55 (and all later services)
Weymouth - London Waterloo:
boarding at stations Weymouth
- Bournemouth inclusive.

06:41 (and all later services)
Exeter St Davids - Waterloo:
boarding at stations Exeter St
Davids - Tisbury inclusive.

But what itinerary do you have in mind?

You may want to have a play with www.fastjp.com (times only; no fares) which is very flexible in terms of via/avoid stations.

If you can get it to generate an itinerary to your liking, you can then check the fares using www.trainsplit.com (a fee will be charged only if a cheaper "split" fare is found; if the through fare is cheapest there will be no fee) or using www.trainscanbecheaper.info (no splits & no fees).

I see that if you depart 0641, you arrive into Southampton at 0928. In practice, you might make the 0932 but this is not an official connection. The next official connection would be the 1032. But you don't need to leave Exeter at 0641 to make that! The 0725 will suffice.

So journey planners will not - unless you specify additional interchange time at Southampton - give you an itinerary departing 0641 onto the 1032. You can specify this additional interchange time using trainsplit.com or trainscanbecheaper.info, and then get the earlier train if you are able to.

(I think you'd be best alighting from the very front of the train at Southampton; your trains are booked to arrive platform 2B and depart platform 2A.)

 

[Paul Kelly]

As you can see in the BR Fares link yorkie provided (scroll down to the bottom to "Unpublished Restrictions"), the electronic version of this restriction is riddled with errors which means it's impossible for online journey planners to implement correctly. Firstly, although the human-readable text says "and all later services", only the 0641 train is listed. Secondly the list of eased stations has been mixed up between the Weymouth and Exeter trains (e.g. it says it's valid on the 0641 Exeter to Waterloo if you board at Weymouth, Upwey, Dorchester etc.!). Really shoddy data quality.

 

[RupertW]

Thanks, the 0823 was the train I was looking at. I was able to get some of the TOC websites to generate an itinerary for this but none would offer the ticket in question when I selected the 0823 departure. I believe there is also an easement allowing the Network Railcard on the 0823.

 

[gray1404]

Do any of the trains you are travelling on actually offer seat reservations? If so, do you need them? If so it is possible to buy your ticket online and select the Off Peak Return without having to select what trains you want to travel on. You just have to make sure you are travelling according to any time restrictions but it sounds like you know what you are doing.

 

[paul1609]

By far the easiest way of doing this journey on cheaper fares is via Clapham Junction. Its also usually quicker.
Try splitting your fare at Pinhoe. I think you need anytime singles to from Exeter St Davids and then a off peak return Pinhoe to Brighton route Clapham Junction, it works out a couple of quid more expensive than the through fare via Southampton, the off peak restriction from Pinhoe is not to arrive at Clapham Junction before 10.00 so everything after the 06.41 from Exeter. the Network card is valid from the 8.23 from Exeter but the minimum fare would rule out its use on the Anytime singles.
The frequency on Brighton to Clapham makes the journey much more reliable than via Southampton. Both trains have to stop at Pinhoe.

 

[JamesRowden]

A cheaper way to do the journey leaving early from Exeter is to get an Exeter-Southampton (via Westbury and Salisbury) ticket and a Southampton-Brighton ticket. It's valid on the 7:45 service towards Manchester (changing at Bristol) and the 8:52 service towards Paddington (changing at Westbury).

 

[yorkie]

I believe there is also an easement allowing the Network Railcard on the 0823.

There is...
https://www.network-railcard.co.uk/using-your-railcard/travel-times/

Exeter St Davids 08:23 South West Trains service to London Waterloo To all destinations

...but it's not in the electronic data, so booking sites will not offer a discount if this service is selected.