Manchester Stations - Burnley Manchester Road routing query

[mirodo]

I'm travelling from Manchester to Burnley this Saturday.

From the East Coast booking engine, I can see two route options:

Manchester Victoria - Hebden Bridge ; Hebden Bridge - Burnley Mcr Rd
Man Piccadilly - Bolton ; Bolton - Blackburn ; Blackburn - Burnley Mcr Rd

and two ticket options.

£12.20 Anytime Day Single
£13.80 Anytime Day Single Route: Via Hebden Bridge

The booking engine seems to suggest that the £12.20 fare is valid via Hebden Bridge. Is this correct? And if so, why have a fare at £13.80 which is more expensive and more restrictive, as it doesn't allow the option of going via Bolton/Blackburn?

Edit: Can the £12.20 fare also be used Manchester Piccadilly - Preston ; Preston - Burnley Mcr Rd?

 

[LexyBoy]

Permitted Routes are:
1 - Direct trains - there don't appear to be any;
2 - The shortest route over which a regular passenger service operates, or one within 3 miles of it - the shortest route by far is from Victoria via Hebden Bridge at 28m34ch. From Piccadilly via Bolton it's 36m34ch. I'm not 100% sure what the rules are here (I really should know) but it seems likely that both routes are being shown as permitted since each is the shortest from the chosen Manchester Group station.
3 - Mapped routes - not applicable here as Burnley Manchester Road shares a Routeing Point with Manchester.

The Any Permitted is valid via Hebden Bridge as per the above, and the Via Hebden Bridge is also valid on any routes permitted for the Any Permitted since it is higher in price. There's also a Via Preston fare at £15.90 Anytime Day Single, which is valid via Preston which is not on any Permitted Route between Manchester and Burnley - in this case the routes you may take are Permitted Routes from Manchester to Preston and Preston to Burnley, plus all routes permitted for the Any Permitted ticket. Simples no?

Generally the Via Hebden Bridge fares apply where there is an alternative route, e.g. Bradford Interchange - Manchester is permitted via Huddersfield, and the Via Hebden Bridge ticket offers a cheaper journey for which Northern recieve all of the revenue, rather than sharing with TPE. Why it exists from Burnley I don't know, it may simply be an anomaly from the way fares are set.

 

[mirodo]

Thanks. The £12.20 ticket it is then!