Super off peak fare removal on Great Northern

[Hadders]

The announcement on the Great Northern website, and the notice in the photo linked from entry #1 above, only mentions weekday Super Off-Peak fares being withdrawn, which could be taken to imply that they are still available at weekends, but if you look up a weekend journey on any of the affected routes on the GN site it doesn't advertise a weekend Super Off-Peak Return as such, but it quotes a cheaper Off-Peak Return fare that on weekdays.

For example for Shepreth to King's Cross, the Off-Peak Day Return on weekdays is £31.40, and at weekends it's £21.10, but brfares.com still quotes the £21.10 as a Super Off-Peak Day Return available only at weekends.

Also, for some journeys such as Shepreth to King's Cross, Advance fares are available but the difference in price of two Advances compared to the cheapest return fare is often minimal.

I'm not sure what you're saying here. There were generally five walk-up return fares available on the GN network:

Anytime Day Return
Off Peak Return (return valid for 1 month)
Off Peak Day Return
Super Off Peak Day Return
Super Off Peak Day Return (Weekends only)

The Super Off Peak Day Return (highlighted red above) is the one that has been removed. All of the other fares are still currently sold.

The weekend version of the Super Off Peak Day Return is cheaper than the version that has been removed.

 

[Silver Cobra]

I’d get prepared to see evening peak restrictions unfortunately, think it’s very unlikely they won’t be introduced with the next Oval round

If evening restrictions do come in through Oval, I wonder if that will see an increase in ticket sales from places such as Arlesey for travel on the GN. Right now for instance, the weekend Super Off-Peak Day Return from both Hitchin and Stevenage to Brighton (this probably applies across most stations on the Brighton Main Line, but Brighton specifically is the only one I've checked) is routed 'via City Thameslink', whereas the same ticket from Arlesey is routed 'via any permitted route' and has the Maltese Cross. So the former two can only be used on the direct services from Cambridge, whereas the Arlesey ticket is valid via London Victoria. So in a similar vain, if the restrictions that could come with Oval only affect stations within Oval, it could make spending that small extra amount for tickets from the first station beyond Oval (so Arlesey or Ashwell & Morden) worth doing to get around the restriction; much like what has been happening to get around the LNER 'fares trial'. Once people cotton on to this, it could lead to a big jump in sales of tickets for these stations.

Back on the main topic, I actually only spotted the notice that's been pictured in this thread for the first time today as I was entering Biggleswade station this evening. It does make sense for these tickets to be removed overall, making things a bit simpler. For what little they did save, IMO it wasn't worth having to deal with the evening travel restrictions, so I personally never used them. While it would have been nice to see the price of the remaining Off-Peak Day Returns brought down, I guess it was a bit too much to expect that, with the DfT's push, on behalf of the Treasury, for reducing subsidies for the railways.

 

[OneOfThe48]

It also offers 2 x £10.50 advance singles for certain trains (one each way), the 10p "saving" being scarcely worth the loss of flexibility.

It is though significantly cheaper than the £42 (two Super Off Peak Singles) you would pay if you were having a weekend in London and staying overnight.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I'm not sure what you're saying here. There were generally five walk-up return fares available on the GN network:

Anytime Day Return
Off Peak Return (return valid for 1 month)
Off Peak Day Return
Super Off Peak Day Return
Super Off Peak Day Return (Weekends only)

The Super Off Peak Day Return (highlighted red above) is the one that has been removed. All of the other fares are still currently sold.

The weekend version of the Super Off Peak Day Return is cheaper than the version that has been removed.

The (now withdrawn) version of the Super Off Peak Day Return with midweek validity was priced at £30.90 so was 50p cheaper than the still available and less restrictive Off Peak Day Return.

 

[Haywain]

The (now withdrawn) version of the Super Off Peak Day Return with midweek validity was priced at £30.90 so was 50p cheaper than the still available and less restrictive Off Peak Day Return.

Yes, the differentials were quite small on the GN side. They are more significant on the MML side.

 

[Hadders]

The (now withdrawn) version of the Super Off Peak Day Return with midweek validity was priced at £30.90 so was 50p cheaper than the still available and less restrictive Off Peak Day Return.

Indeed. From Stevenage the difference with a railcard was just 20p so it is sensible that this ticket has been removed.

BUT

When the fared are Ovalled there will be evening restrictions out of London so I'm surprised they didn't remove the Off Peak Day Return (that has no evening restrictions), leaving the Super Off Peak Return in place with its evening restrictions.

Project Oval will see a significant increase for anyone travelling to London after 09:30 and returning in the evening peak. Using Stevenage to London as an example, someone currently making this journey would buy an Off Peak Day Return costing £22.80. Under Oval, you'll get charged an Off Peak fare to London in the morning costing £11.40 with a Peak fare for the return in the evening costing £14.40 giving a total cost of £25.80 or a 13.2% increase.