Good route finder?

[soil]

Is there one?
I have tried various sites to get the "correct" route from Herne Hill to Kenley, which should be:

Herne Hill to Streatham
Streatham to East Croydon
East Croydon to Kenley

taking 1 hour 9 minutes (on a weekday), every half an hour, with a 16 minute same-island change at East Croydon, and 11 minutes same-platform at Streatham.

Sites will suggest

Herne Hill to Tulse Hill
Tulse Hill to East Croydon
East Croydon to Kenley

which is objectively wrong, because Tulse Hill has 4 platforms and no lift, and you'd be crossing over a bridge or a tunnel, whereas if you stayed on the train for another stop you'd be guaranteed a same-platform change at Streatham

also

Herne Hill to Penge East
walk to
Penge West to Norwood Junction
Norwood Junction to Kenley

which is potentially not bad if you're in a hurry and can make it in 13 minutes between Penge East and Penge West, timing yourself to catch the half-hourly Kenley train, in a total journey time of 52 minutes, which is appreciably quicker than the route via Streatham. However, route planners will have you on the quarter-hour later/earlier train from Herne Hill, giving you no chance of doing it any faster than 1 hour 7 minutes, making this route a bit silly.

Another suggested route is Herne Hill - Victoria - Purley - Kenley, in 66 minutes, which adds expense for no real gain - and here again, you can possibly reduce the journey time to 51 minutes, if you can change between Platform 3 & 12 in 5 minutes - but not if you take the suggested train from Herne Hill

(note: i am aware that if you know the correct route you can tell the routefinder to 'change at Streatham' or whatever, but this is of no use if you don't - I'm wondering if there's a routefinder that tries to make 'sensible' or 'best' routes, as I would argue that mine is here.)

 

[z444z]

FWIW Google Maps suggests your preferred route.

 

[alistairlees]

Is there one?
I have tried various sites to get the "correct" route from Herne Hill to Kenley, which should be:

Herne Hill to Streatham
Streatham to East Croydon
East Croydon to Kenley

taking 1 hour 9 minutes (on a weekday), every half an hour, with a 16 minute same-island change at East Croydon, and 11 minutes same-platform at Streatham.

Sites will suggest

Herne Hill to Tulse Hill
Tulse Hill to East Croydon
East Croydon to Kenley

which is objectively wrong, because Tulse Hill has 4 platforms and no lift, and you'd be crossing over a bridge or a tunnel, whereas if you stayed on the train for another stop you'd be guaranteed a same-platform change at Streatham

also

Herne Hill to Penge East
walk to
Penge West to Norwood Junction
Norwood Junction to Kenley

which is potentially not bad if you're in a hurry and can make it in 13 minutes between Penge East and Penge West, timing yourself to catch the half-hourly Kenley train, in a total journey time of 52 minutes, which is appreciably quicker than the route via Streatham. However, route planners will have you on the quarter-hour later/earlier train from Herne Hill, giving you no chance of doing it any faster than 1 hour 7 minutes, making this route a bit silly.

Another suggested route is Herne Hill - Victoria - Purley - Kenley, in 66 minutes, which adds expense for no real gain - and here again, you can possibly reduce the journey time to 51 minutes, if you can change between Platform 3 & 12 in 5 minutes - but not if you take the suggested train from Herne Hill

(note: i am aware that if you know the correct route you can tell the routefinder to 'change at Streatham' or whatever, but this is of no use if you don't - I'm wondering if there's a routefinder that tries to make 'sensible' or 'best' routes, as I would argue that mine is here.)

Which sites give you the "wrong" route?

Railsmartr gives the "correct" route (using your definition of "correct") (example is for 31st March 2026)

 

[yorkie]

I'm wondering if there's a routefinder that tries to make 'sensible' or 'best' routes, as I would argue that mine is here.)

I am not aware of any booking sites that specifically look for same/cross-platform connections, no.

It's something that is being considered, though.

 

[Belperpete]

Just because it is your personal preference to change at Streatham, does not make it the "correct" choice. If the train from Herne Hill is running late, you might be better off changing at Tulse Hill, if your train is held there for the East Croydon train to go first.

Taking another example, for a journey between say Euston and Shrewsbury, you could change at either Birmingham International, New St, Sandwell and Dudley, or Wolverhampton. Changing at International gets you the best seat on the Shrewsbury train (as it starts there), changing at New St means you have the chance to do some shopping between trains, Sandwell and Dudley gives you a same platform change (but is a miserable place to wait for an hour if you have missed the connection), while Wolverhampton is probably your best bet at making the connection if the train from Euston is running late. There is no "objectively best", it is entirely subjective.

The Fastjp website will generally give you all the options for routes like Euston to Shrewsbury, where the various routes have the same travel time, and allow you to decide which you prefer. However, in the case of Herne Hill to Kenley, it seems only to give routes via Victoria as they are the fastest and therefore "objectively best".

 

[DelW]

Another difficulty for journey planners is that different passengers will have different priorities. Someone with mobility problems or lots of luggage may prefer a same-platform or same-island connection, even if there's a time penalty; whereas someone fit or unencumbered may prefer an earlier departure needing a brisk walk over a footbridge, or even an off-station transfer on foot (as in the Penge example in the OP).

The NR online journey planner uses minimum connection times which are very conservative for a moderately fit person. Local knowledge often helps, for example yesterday I easily made a 5 minute connection at Reading, helped by knowing that p5 to p7 is a short level walk not needing to use the bridge. The OJP wouldn't have offered me that combination (and I did have a plan B if it hadn't worked).

 

[soil]

FWIW Google Maps suggests your preferred route.

I chose noon Monday, and it says to change at Tulse Hill or take a bus to Norwood Junction (which is a bad idea because you can get stuck in traffic for your half-hourly connection).
Not seeing the Streatham option.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Mar 2026 ==

Which sites give you the "wrong" route?

Railsmartr gives the "correct" route (using your definition of "correct") (example is for 31st March 2026)

I tried NRE, Google Maps & trainsplit.

The Railsmartr output here is better, but I didn't check it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Mar 2026 ==

The NR online journey planner uses minimum connection times which are very conservative for a moderately fit person. Local knowledge often helps, for example yesterday I easily made a 5 minute connection at Reading, helped by knowing that p5 to p7 is a short level walk not needing to use the bridge. The OJP wouldn't have offered me that combination (and I did have a plan B if it hadn't worked).

Yes this can be an issue with advances - e.g., I booked one the other day, HNH - Tunbridge Wells, where there was an available 2 minute connection at Orpington, which is admittedly sketchy, but you could probably have made it - but with the Advance ticket that's not possible.