Quick Ticket Query

[adambro]

As an example, if I ask for tickets for a journey from Leeds to Sheffield on National Rail, I get two SDS prices, £7.50 and £9.60. I've purchased a Leeds to Sheffield ticket in the past and it had Route: NOT DONCASTER, and think that was the cheaper price. At a guess, the more expensive one would be ANY PERMITTED. Is there any way of finding out what routes the prices apply to from the website?

I don't mean what routes are valid, rather what the ROUTE printed on the ticket would be if you paid the higher price and how I can find this.

Thanks.
Adam

 

[yorkie]

On thetrainline (or most of the TOC-equivalents), use the link at "There may be alternative, slower routes with cheaper tickets. Click here for more information." (note this link is not shown on the GNER-branded site*).

STANDARD DAY SINGLE NOT DONCASTER 7.50 GBP
STANDARD DAY SINGLE ANY PERMITTED 9.60 GBP

Micklefield is the same price, and valid via York (only on the "Any Permitted" though).

An SDS "Route Leeds" to South Milford would be valid via Donny, for £8.60. (Sheffield-Donny-Leeds-South Milford), so you can save £1 if you wanna go via Donny.

* You can still get to it by pasting http://www.gnertickets.co.uk/Buy_Tickets/matrix/Advanced_Search.asp in your address bar, when you are at the display_matrix.asp page.

 

[adambro]

Aha! Thanks very much, just what I was looking for.

How Joe Public is supposed to understand rail tickets I have no idea.

Thanks again, you've been a great help.

 

[CallySleeper]

Joe Public would generally by default want to go direct.

 

[yorkie]

Joe Public would generally by default want to go direct.

but what is direct? The most direct route? (e.g. Glasgow to London is via S&C then GNER from Leeds) or direct trains (not always available, and sometimes slow/impractical e.g. Poppleton to Leeds)?

"Not Doncaster" can be "direct", and I once witnessed someone be told off for using such a ticket on a through train, although he wasn't charged the (roughly £1) excess.

It's a common belief that direct is what people want to do, but IMO there are 3 groups of people, 1) those that want the cheapest, 2) those that wan't the fastest, and 3) those who want to go some unusual route for some reason (e.g. visit friends/family on the way, or for some other reason).

And, while we're on the subject of 'Direct', some tickets are routed 'Direct', yet there is no clarification of what exactly that means in the Routeing Guide. One example is Hartlepool to York. No direct trains since the NT/TP split, and the shortest route is technically avoiding Thornaby, but obviously you have to go via Thornaby. But can you then go into Middlesbrough (permitted as Thornaby is a member of Middlesbrough Group)? Arguably, yes. The ticket probably should be routed "Not Darlington" to avoid confusion. Also, one (former) guard claimed that such a ticket is not valid for a GNER train between York and Northallerton, which I fail to see why - as Northallerton is on the direct route. I think there is a strong case to say that "Direct" means anything permtted in the RG except for mapped routes (ie, direct trains, the shortest route + routes within 3 miles of shortest), but it'd be useful if they clarified it!

 

[CallySleeper]

It's a common belief that direct is what people want to do, but IMO there are 3 groups of people, 1) those that want the cheapest, 2) those that wan't the fastest, and 3) those who want to go some unusual route for some reason (e.g. visit friends/family on the way, or for some other reason).

For non-TOC specific tickets direct would mean in most cases the first two groups of people. In this case, "Not Doncaster" would be direct.

 

[yorkie]

For non-TOC specific tickets direct would mean in most cases the first two groups of people. In this case, "Not Doncaster" would be direct.

Yeah but via Donny is direct for some trains

The point is, joe public usually has to go out of their way to go via Donny, yet on the occasion I witnessed someone was told off for getting the most convenient, direct, train at the time.

 

[Coxster]

I suspect a lot of passengers won't know muich about routing and will buy the cheapest ticket and board a train that says it's going to their destination regardless. For example on holiday we were getting a train from Edinburgh to Glasgow. I knew the trains to Queen Street were the ones you would want to get, however Dad insisted we get the next train for Glasgow which was, as you may have guessed, via Shotts to Glasgow Central and took around twice as long IIRC. It was good for my route mileage map but Mum didn't look too impressed!