Off Peak to Norwich

[ASharpe]

Hello,

I'm a bit confused about what time peak tickets are required from Guildford to Norwich and hoping someone on here can clarify. I emailed Greater Anglia but haven't heard back yet.

NRE, East Coast and Greater Anglia's websites don't allow off peak travel if arriving in London on the first leg before 10am. And the first part of the restriction on BRFares agrees with that and says:

OUTWARD TRAVEL
Morning Peak.
By any train scheduled to
arrive at London Terminals
before 0430 and at or after
1000

However Norwich is outside of the Network area so I thought it should only be the London to Norwich leg that was restricted.

Off-Peak tickets for journeys
starting within the Network
Area to destinations outside
the Network Area with travel
via London are valid by any
train to London, to connect
with trains from London.

So which is right?

 

[bb21]

Yes, the Network Area rule takes precedence. NRE was incorrectly applying restrictions on the Guildford - London leg.

You may not leave Liverpool Street before 0930 however.

 

[ASharpe]

Thanks bb21,

Following this forum is helping me a lot to understand the complexity of the fares system - and saving me a lot of money.

But little things like that keep coming up and confusing me.

 

[Hadders]

Journey planners are notorious for not implementing the Network Area Rule correctly. I had a 'discussion' with East Coast last year about this following a complaint I made about their website not showing departures on a Stevenage-Manchester off-peak return until over an hour later than they are actually allowed.

Nothing's been done about it. I wonder how much extra passengers are unwittingly paying.

 

[globetrotter]

If I am understanding this correctly, the fare conditions (7B in this case) are inappropriate.

One can choose travel from so many starting points within the Network South East area and destinations outside the network area and end up with the same or similar restrictions.

Should there not be a different restriction code?

Not restriction 7B but some other restriction allowing travel into London at any time on both outward and return legs; restricting onward travel from London to off-peak hours (or trains)?

If correct, this affects not just Guildford - Norwich but a huge range of off peak fares offered for travel out of the Network South East area from many different stations across the whole area.

 

[Hadders]

There's nothing wrong with the ticket restriction but it has to be read in conjunction with the Network Area Rule. The problem is that the on-line journey planners often (but not always) misinterpret the rule. This must result in passengers paying for an Anytime ticket when an off-peak would do, usually at a huge difference in cost.

Network Area Rule
The 'Network area' is defined as the area in which the Network railcard is valid. For details see Network Railcard map.

Off-Peak tickets for journeys starting within the Network Area to destinations outside the Network Area with travel via London are valid by any train to London, to connect with trains from London.

Off-Peak tickets for journeys starting outside the Network Area for travel via London use restrictions from the origin station to London and return. Unless shown otherwise, they are unrestricted between London and the destination station, and return.