SPT Roundabout Ticket (Glasgow area) Validity Query

[Tram203]

Hello all,

Hopefully a quick and simple one to resolve - having visited Glasgow earlier in the week and made good use of one of these excellent value tickets, I noticed earlier today that the map on the SPT website showing the ticket's area of validity suggests it is not valid between Airbles and Hamilton Central. Between these stations, the route exits and re-enters the shaded area of validity.

I am aware it is not valid beyond Hamilton Central to any of the stations on the branch to Larkhall (only accessible from the Hamilton Central direction), but for it to not be valid around the entire Hamilton loop seems very illogical to me.

Can anyone advise if it is valid and there is simply an error on said map, or is it genuinely not valid between Airbles and Hamilton Central?

Thanks in advance for any clarification.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I would say that its just Chatelherault, Merryton and Larkhall that's intended to be beyond the Roundabout ticket's boundary in that particular area. Anyone concur?

 

[Watershed]

It seems reasonably clear to me that the intention is to include the line between Airbles and Hamilton Central, but you could contact SPT or ScotRail to clarify.

 

[Nottingham59]

The caption refers to "110 rail stations in the white shaded area of the map". So shaded area applies to stations, not the line between them.

To check the logic, think about someone on a train from Chatelheraut to Hamilton Central. A Roundabout ticket would not magically become valid once they'd passed the junction with the line from Airbles, putting them into the white area of the map.

 

[cadder toad]

Ticket valid at station A and also valid at station B, the next stop down the line. Surely valid for that journey. If not it would require a journey in the wrong direction of a few miles and then a change of train to one heading to your STARTING station but via a different route

 

[The exile]

Although various experts on here have insisted that the Bristol Freedom pass (which includes Pilning quite clearly in the area) cannot be used for journeys from Bristol to Pilning as that requires travel via Newport.

 

[Tram203]

Thanks for all replies.

With apologies to @Nottingham59 if I'm being dense, I'm not sure what the relevance of thinking about someone on a train from the Larkhall branch to Hamilton is, as the ticket clearly isn't valid beyond Hamilton on Larkhall trains.

This seems identical to a thread I saw a few years ago (on this forum I believe) regarding the validity of zone 6 travelcards on the Cannon Street circular services via Sidcup / Barnehurst / Crayford - those 3 stations are all within the zone, but some zonal maps had been published showing the various loops and curves linking them as outside of zone 6 (erroeously it was concluded).

 

[redreni]

Thanks for all replies.

With apologies to @Nottingham59 if I'm being dense, I'm not sure what the relevance of thinking about someone on a train from the Larkhall branch to Hamilton is, as the ticket clearly isn't valid beyond Hamilton on Larkhall trains.

This seems identical to a thread I saw a few years ago (on this forum I believe) regarding the validity of zone 6 travelcards on the Cannon Street circular services via Sidcup / Barnehurst / Crayford - those 3 stations are all within the zone, but some zonal maps had been published showing the various loops and curves linking them as outside of zone 6 (erroeously it was concluded).

Yes, and judging from how TfL implemented the re-zoning of Shoreditch High Street, they presumably concluded that they couldn't really get away with just making a short stretch of the line North of Whitechapel (but none of the stations on the line) part of zone 1.

The caption refers to "110 rail stations in the white shaded area of the map". So shaded area applies to stations, not the line between them.

To check the logic, think about someone on a train from Chatelheraut to Hamilton Central. A Roundabout ticket would not magically become valid once they'd passed the junction with the line from Airbles, putting them into the white area of the map.

No, it wouldn't magically become valid half way between stations, but that's because it's a fair assumption that passengers do not (or certainly should not) board or alight other than at stations. So anyone whose ticket is checked before Hamilton Central can be assumed to have boarded at or before Chatelheraut and really has no sensible argument against that assumption. None of that applies in the case of travel between Airbles and Hamilton Central.

 

[cadder toad]

The caption refers to "110 rail stations in the white shaded area of the map". So shaded area applies to stations, not the line between them.

The full caption reads, "The Roundabout ticket offers unlimited travel... to over 110 stations in the white area of the map"
It's clearly valid to Airbles and to Hamilton Central, which are both in the white area.

Why would it not be valid for a journey between the two?
And of course there's another question. We know where it's valid to but where is it valid from? What stops it being used FROM Chatelheraut TO Airbles?

 

[Tram203]

I think some posters (probably myself included despite what the map shows) are at risk of overthinking this, hence I have sent an enquiry email to SPT simply asking if the Roundabout ticket is valid for travel between Airbles and Hamilton Central. I will update the thread when I get a response, which I now expect would be on Monday at the earliest.

I would refer @cadder toad to my opening post of the thread, regarding why I am questioning if the ticket is valid between Airbles and Hamilton Central.

Any stations outside the shaded area of validity on the map or further afield such that they are not shown on the map at all I don't see as having any relevance.

 

[Watershed]

Although various experts on here have insisted that the Bristol Freedom pass (which includes Pilning quite clearly in the area) cannot be used for journeys from Bristol to Pilning as that requires travel via Newport.

That is different, because you would be travelling via a station outwith the ticket's area of validity. Pilning is in a very unique situation being served only in one direction.

 

[Tram203]

Regarding my question posed in the opening post of the thread, I have today received an email reply from SPT confirming that travel between Airbles and Hamilton Central is permitted with a Roundabout ticket.

I've copied & pasted below in italics the key sentence from their response (note the map referred to is the one on the SPT website showing the area of validity of the Roundabout ticket):

A journey from Airbles station to Hamilton Central would be a valid trip to make using a Roundabout ticket (Airbles and Hamilton Central stations are both located within the white shaded area of the map).

It would appear, therefore, that the route between these 2 stations exiting and re-entering the white shaded area of validity on the map is either irrelevant, or a shading error on the map.

 

[TUC]

What has long made little sense to me is how the validity of the Roundabout ticket excludes a small number of stations at the ends of several lines-Dalmuir-Balloch/Helensburgh in the North West and Larkhall/Lanark in the South East.

Yes, there would be a marginal cost in extending validity, but excluding them, aside from being illogical, surely gives the wrong messages about SPT also having responsibility for these areas?