Invalid Routing? BRIGHTON-WOOLSTON Not London

[RJ]

It is design to trap people. Some Not London are valid via Clapham others not then another price via Barnham what is the only? valid route.

It’s not a trap. If you’re going to try and be a sharp customer then you need to cover all your bases and be diligent with what you’re doing.

If that’s deemed as too much hassle it’s best to stick to simple tickets that don’t require technical validity checks.

 

[Watershed]

Some not London tickets from SWR land to Brighton are valid via Woking, Guildford and Redhill which can sometimes be time competitive with changing at Clapham Junction. Routing them via Clapham Junction will prevent the use on this route.

But not tickets from Brighton to Woolston, which is the subject of this thread. I agree that specific routing of tickets can be problematic, however in this particular example it would increase validity.

 

[paul1609]

The reasons for the Southampton Area to Brighton inconsistencies are basically historical.
Southampton to Brighton (not via London) has always been valid via Clapham Junction. This is largely because in BR days the only direct services along the coast were the direct Brighton to Cardiff (and in some years West Country) occasional trains Once you leave the Southampton Group Stations on the netley line I don't think the (not via London Ticket) has ever been valid via Clapham Junction. This is because Southampton Group is not a valid routing point from the Netley Line stations as it fails the fare check rule because fares from St Denys are higher. This leaves Fareham as the only origin routing point. At the time Fareham was unelectrified and was basically served by a branch line from Eastleigh, as a consequence it only normally had one direct train to Clapham Junction the overnight Milk/Newspapers/ Passenger Train. Fareham to Brighton tickets have only ever had a route along the coast.
When the second SWT franchise started they changed the regulated fare to super off peak at the old off peak fares and hiked the off peak fares. Southampton to Brighton (not via London) was priced by the South Central Franchise and wasn't affected. It quickly became apparent that some people were using the not via London Brighton tickets to commute to London. SWT weren't very happy with this and tried to pressure the South Central Franchise Holder to increase the fares. The South Central Franchise didn't want to do this because a huge hike in the fare would have to be reflected in their basket but would only really benefit SWT. This went on for sometime possibly including 2 different franchises and eventually it was decided that the pricing of the tickets that were valid via Clapham would be transferred to SWT since which they have increased substantially but still remain bargains.
I think the Netley Line (Not via London) fares have remained with Southern and don't give any actual benefit over the Route Barnham tickets but sales are probably so low nobodies noticed.

 

[kieron]

Was there ever a route that "00700 NOT VIA LONDON" was valid on that didn't go via Barnham (for which the "VIA BARNHAM" ticket is valid and cheaper)?

If the NFM64 list is accurate, there were only "not via London" tickets between Brighton and Woolston in 1996. Since then, a "via Barnham" route has been created, and the regulated fare has been switched to it. I don't know when or why either happened, but your answer may be in there somewhere.

The original poster @LondonJohn asserts it's valid but there isn't any explanation as to why it's valid and the question is never actually asked;

afyutr asked a straight question and got a straight answer. Whether the answer was correct or not isn't something I can comment on.

That thread was written before the NFM64 data was published, so there was more variation in how people carried out fare checks.

I’ve found out that a SWR Duper Off Peak return with a railcard from Waterloo to Southampton is £26.40 and this is marginally cheaper than the ticket I have with the Clapham Waterloo add ons but it’s more restrictive in times so not an ideal replacement.

I should add that, if you have a Zone 1-3 season ticket, a Boundary Zone 3-Southampton ticket (or Wimbledon-Southampton, if Boundary Zone tickets are a pain to buy) is a bit cheaper. It has the same restriction code as the Waterloo ticket, but I don't know how exactly they work for a train which isn't timed to stop in Wimbledon.