Reading to London routeing - valid via Basingstoke?

[LexyBoy]

Hi All,

Is a Reading - London ticket (season) valid via Basingstoke? I thought it was - and NRE confirms it (no 'multiple tickets' needed) - but this thread suggests not. Can anyone confirm? And is the fact that NRE shows it as a reasonable route enough - knowing SWT's attitude I'd want to be sure!

Thanks!

 

[Anvil1984]

Routing Guide suggests only routes into Paddington and Waterloo via Feltham as valid and not Basingstoke

 

[LexyBoy]

Thanks Anvil. It does seem logical that BSK wouldn't be valid - it is after all further from London - but I recalled looking it up before. And, as I said, NRE gives the same ticket as for direct to Paddington.

Following on from that, what's the situation if NRE tells you your ticket is valid via X but the RG says otherwise? The average punter can't be expected to check it (or know of its existence for that matter).

 

[John @ home]

Is a Reading - London ticket (season) valid via Basingstoke?

No. Permitted Routes for a ticket between a station in Reading Group Routeing Point (Reading or Reading West) and London Terminals are only those shown on maps RG or WX. This does not include travel via Basingstoke.

But there is a work-round. A Basingstoke - London route Any Permitted season ticket is the same price as Reading - London ticket, and is based on the £84.70 Reading - London weekly season ticket fare. This can be used as a Reading - London via Basingstoke ticket. Avoid the Basingstoke - London route Woking season ticket, based on a £83.80 weekly fare. It's not valid via Reading.

 

[MCR247]

If a website/NRE says it is valid, and you're not sure as it seems odd, take a printout of the itinerary given

 

[John @ home]

what's the situation if NRE tells you your ticket is valid via X but the RG says otherwise?

For this journey, the National Rail Conditions of Carriage cover the issue.

If you make your journey by a route other than those referred to in (a) and (b) above, you will be liable to pay an excess fare. This excess fare will be the difference between the price paid for the ticket you hold and the price of the lowest priced ticket(s) available for immediate travel that would have entitled you to travel by that route.

You would therefore be liable to pay the difference between a Reading - London season ticket (£84.70 a week) and a Basingstoke - London route Any Permitted season ticket (£84.70 a week). You should therefore be issued with a £0.00 Excess Fare ticket on each occasion you make this journey by that route. I suspect that may not always happen.

 

[SWT_USER]

To take this thread slightly on a tangent rather than start a new one; I will probably need to be in Reading on Saturday afternoon. I will be around Paddington in the morning so my question is can I buy a London to Reading return, go out from Paddington then back in towards Waterloo afterwards (getting off at Barnes via Richmond)?

 

[LexyBoy]

can I buy a London to Reading return, go out from Paddington then back in towards Waterloo afterwards (getting off at Barnes via Richmond)?

Yes, no problem since Barnes is on the direct line from Reading to Waterloo. You'll probably have to show it to the chap at the barriers though as they often don't recognise your break of journey (my experience at Twickenham at least).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
@John@Home - Thanks for the info. It's actually my wife doing the journey so to keep it simple will just get a BZ6-SAL ticket, still pretty good value with the network railcard. You'd still have to buy the excess before boarding right? It would be rather a hassle ("you have to do it at a FGW station" etc).

Handy to know if that was a direction we needed to go in more often though. When I was commuting London-Didcot I used to find it quite handy that a London-Oxford season is the same price!

Another thing - Is Reading-Brighton via Basingstoke permitted? We've done this (again, as suggested by NRE) - and had tix checked on both RDG-BSK and BSK-CLJ legs with no problems.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

SWT USER, provided you get the 'rte Any Permitted' fare, yes you can.

John@home, the excess fares rules don't say that as such, infact there is a remarkable absence of information on what happens for a season ticket.

The rules say, you charge the difference between the fare paid and the cheapest available single/return fare.

So we have to work out what the fare paid actually is. Is it....

The price of the season divided by the number of days it is valid for...

The price of the season ticket divided by the number of working days it covers (5 for a weekly, 22 for a month)...

The price of the appropriate return fare for the journey the season ticket covers...

I would suggest the refund proceedures actually hold the key here, they say when refunding a weekly ticket you should account for days at the full standard/first return rate.

I would therefore suggest the excess fare is as follows...

(London-Basingstoke SDR (£37.60) + Basingstoke-Reading SDR (£7)) - London-Reading SDR (£34.30) / 2 = £5.15

Or perhaps we should consider it change of route to a new destination in which case it would be...

Clapham Junc./Virginia Water**-Basingstoke SDS/CDS = Clapham Junc. £15.00, Virginia Water £12.10/12.00

*The 'rte Any Permitted' fare was used
**Depending on the route of the train

 

[PhilipW]

Connected with this, is a Basingstoke to London ticket valid via Reading ?

When I had a Southampton-to-London ticket, I tried to enquire if it was valid via Reading. It would have been useful as it was the Paddington area of London that I was trying to get to. I asked a number of people and got conflicting answers. Even the train ticket collector (SWT) did not know. He tried to look it up but could not get a definitive answer.

Logic and common sense says that it should be valid, the distances can't be much different. But as two train companies are involved (SWT and FGW) I would imagine that they don't want tpo split fares. So the easiest solution is to ban that journey for passengers.

 

[SWT_USER]

I think it is, I've certainly gone from Paddington to Bournemouth changing at Reading before.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Basingstoke-London via Reading is valid on map CS+WR (Paddington) and CS+WX (Waterloo/Victoria).

Southampton-London via Reading is valid on maps MW+WR (Paddington) and MW+WX (Waterloo/Victoria)

 

[wintonian]

BSK - London also valid on maps WW + WX via Richmond/ Hounslow and direct ofcourse.

Have I got it right that Southampton - London is valid via Havant and Guildford using maps CW + PD + SC?

 

[Oracle]

In the past I have travelled from Victoria to Southampton via Hove on a return ticket. I used to go from Swanwick to Waterloo via either Southampton Central or Havant/Guildford. The return Pompey Harbour train often went via Cobham to Guildford thence to Havant which added some variety. Waterloo trains have been diverted via Fareham, Havant and Guildford so Southampton Central to London must be valid at other times?

 

[yorkie]

Connected with this, is a Basingstoke to London ticket valid via Reading ?

Absolutely, that's what the Route Any Permitted ticket is primarily for! I would guess that most people doing Baskingstoke to London would buy a cheaper Route Woking ticket, which is not valid via Reading.

 

[swt_passenger]

Waterloo trains have been diverted via Fareham, Havant and Guildford so Southampton Central to London must be valid at other times?

In the general case a through service via a standard diversionary route (like this one) doesn't automatically make the same route valid for ordinary travel, but Southampton to London via Havant is definitely OK on the any permitted ticket anyway.