Starting a trip part-way?

[mjc]

Hello rail forums experts,
Looking for a little advice please. I want to travel Longton, Uttoxeter, Stafford and back to Longton in a day. Uttoxeter and Stafford are in opposite directions (in rail terms) from Longton. Two returns are over £20 but a Stafford-Uttoxeter return less than £14.
I'd only be doing the same rail miles either way but would I be breaking any rules starting and finishing the journey part way (ie at Longton)? None of the stations are barriered but if we had ticket checked on Longton to Uttoxeter and then again between Stafford and Longton would that flag as tickets already used?
Thanks

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@mjc. Reckon you will need a Longton->Uttoxeter Anytime Day Return (£10.10) together with a Longton->Stafford Anytime Day Return (£10.60) to legitimately do what you propose.

 

[mjc]

@mjc. Reckon you will need a Longton->Uttoxeter Anytime Day Return (£10.10) together with a Longton->Stafford Anytime Day Return (£10.60) to legitimately do what you propose.

Thanks, that's what I was afraid of! Got to love the weirdness of rail pricing

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Thanks, that's what I was afraid of! Got to love the weirdness of rail pricing

Not that weird, surely? Single leg pricing might seem a simpler concept, but would, I think, prove to be more expensive at present. Longton->Uttoxeter (Anytime Day Single) is £9.20. Uttoxeter->Stafford (Anytime Day Single) is £12.10. And Stafford->Longton (Anytime Day Single) is £9.90. Total £31.20. Might be cheaper if your itinerary is over a longer period than just the one day, though.

 

[mjc]

Not that weird, surely? Single leg pricing might seem a simpler concept, but would, I think, prove to be more expensive at present. Longton->Uttoxeter (Anytime Day Single) is £9.20. Uttoxeter->Stafford (Anytime Day Single) is £12.10. And Stafford->Longton (Anytime Day Single) is £9.90. Total £31.20. Might be cheaper if your itinerary is over a longer period than just the one day, though.

So three different prices, from £13 to £31, for the same bum on the same seat...how is that not weird?

 

[DelW]

I think you'd be okay to use a Stafford to Uttoxeter return to travel Longton > Uttoxeter > Stafford, but you'd then need to add a Stafford > Longton single to get back to Longton. It isn't usually permitted to use tickets to traverse sectors in the 'wrong' order, as the outbound ticket's validity would expire when you reached Uttoxeter, even though you hadn't used its first leg.

There might not be any saving over the two separate returns though.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

So three different prices, from £13 to £31, for the same bum on the same seat...how is that not weird?

What's £13? If you mean a Stafford to Uttoexter Anytime Day Return at £13.90, it's NOT valid for your proposed itinerary, once you've arrived into Stafford, as that's where its validity ends. You'd need a Stafford to Longton Anytime Day Single at £9.90 to get back to Longton.

 

[mjc]

What's £13? If you mean a Stafford to Uttoexter Anytime Day Return at £13.90, it's NOT valid for your proposed itinerary, once you've arrived into Stafford, as that's where its validity ends. You'd need a Stafford to Longton Anytime Day Single at £9.90 to get back to Longton.

Yes, so the same round trip is somewhere between £13 and £31 depending on where you start and type of ticket you buy.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Yes, so the same round trip is somewhere between £13 and £31 depending on where you start and type of ticket you buy.

Wouldn't advocate misusing the £13.90 Anytime Day Return ticket if starting and finishing at Longton. It's not a day ranger!

 

[Bletchleyite]

You can start short as long as the ticket isn't an Advance and permits Break of Journey, but you can't go back and use part of the outward after you have started use of the return, nor can you use the outward in two parts the wrong way round. Starting use of the return invalidates any validity remaining on the outward, and starting short on any ticket invalidates any part of it you didn't use before where you started.

Or put in a simpler way, you can't use a ticket in the wrong order in any form. Having used any later part invalidates any earlier part.

 

[mjc]

Wouldn't advocate misusing the £13.90 Anytime Day Return ticket if starting and finishing at Longton. It's not a day ranger!

Tha is, that's fine if I can't do it then I can't and won't; I know there are some quirks to the ticketing system which was why I asked. But to be clear I'm not trying to use it as a day ranger, I'd be making just one round trip: Why does it make sense that I can go to Birmingham and Stafford then back home using just a one return ticket but not Uttoxeter then Stafford and back home?

 

[30907]

Why does it make sense that I can go to Birmingham and Stafford then back home using just a one return ticket but not Uttoxeter then Stafford and back home?

Stafford is on the way to Birmingham.
Railways in this country have for decades if not a century offered discounted return tickets.
When fares were strictly "per mile" then there would probably have been less of a difference - ie Uttoxeter to Stafford would have been nearer the cost of the 2 fares from Longton - but that hasn't been the case for 50-60 years.

 

[Haywain]

I'd be making just one round trip: Why does it make sense that I can go to Birmingham and Stafford then back home using just a one return ticket but not Uttoxeter then Stafford and back home?

Because you are talking about using a return trip for a different journey to the one it is sold for.