Mauldeth Road - Hull

[Merseysider]

I'll be going to Hull later and had a query about the tickets I'll be getting.

With railcard applied, I'm planning on buying:

CDR £12.55 MAU - DON (rte: via SHF)
SDR £12.20 DON - HUL (rte: Hull Trains Only)

Can I get a change of route excess on the Return portion only, to change it from Hull Trains Only to Any Permitted?

I'm unsure, given that the route is a TOC restriction.

Also, any other suggestions about splitting the journey that won't restrict me to getting stoppers are more than welcome. Going via Leeds is no good as the connection times in the evening are crap.

 

[mikeg]

I can't answer your other question, but:

Can I get a change of route excess on the Return portion only, to change it from Hull Trains Only to Any Permitted?

TOC-specific tickets cannot be excessed to another route. This is supposedly to do with the way ORCATS works, though this may just be an excuse. The change of route excess only applies to geographically restricted tickets.

 

[Merseysider]

I can't answer your other question, but:


TOC-specific tickets cannot be excessed to another route. This is supposedly to do with the way ORCATS works, though this may just be an excuse. The change of route excess only applies to geographically restricted tickets.

Thanks for answering that. I guess the best ticket would then be £14.15 Any Permitted.

I can't imagine it being too difficult for ORCATS to handle, given the amount of passengers who would know about getting the excess being minimal.

 

[IanXC]

I think you're going to struggle to beat £26.70. If it wasn't for the Selby Swing Bridge works, Howden is usually a good place to split for journeys to Manchester - given the need to get a bus I'm not sure the saving (£1.75) is really worth it!

 

[Merseysider]

I think you're going to struggle to beat £26.70. If it wasn't for the Selby Swing Bridge works, Howden is usually a good place to split for journeys to Manchester - given the need to get a bus I'm not sure the saving (£1.75) is really worth it!

That's certainly one for next time! The works only disrupt trains until September (afaik) so Howden will probably the split of choice next time I go up there - thanks for that.

 

[Oscar]

I can't imagine it being too difficult for ORCATS to handle, given the amount of passengers who would know about getting the excess being minimal.

The point is that all of the revenue from a TOC only fare (excluding a 5.5% commission for an online website or 9% commission for a ticket office) goes to the TOC in question. In other cases the revenue is divided up according to the ORCATS formula which is based on travel opportunities (i.e. the timetable) and is weighted towards direct trains. So if you buy a Hull Trains only ticket almost all the revenue would go to Hull Trains. If you excessed it some of the revenue from the excess would go to other operators, but the excess is only a very small amount, so Northern would lose out. Other excesses don't ensure a fair distribution of revenue either, as the operator taking the lion's share of the revenue from the new ticket may get very little or no revenue from the original ticket if, for example, it does not stop at the original destination. However, it is because TOC only fares have been introduced since privatisation and therefore don't enjoy the same protections as fares introduced under BR that the TOCs can disallow this excess.