Valid Route Where No Ticket Exists

[ChrisTheRef]

Evening,

Travel between Warrington Bank Quay and Plymouth is valid via - amongst other places - reading, using maps MW+WE.

However, looking at Avantix, the only walk up ticket which exists is "via Bristol".

If I wanted to travel WBQ-BHM-RDG-PLY, how would I go about doing it?

 

[12CSVT]

A few years ago I tried to buy a Clapham Junction to West Hampstead ticket via Willesden Junction, but was told that the only valid routes were via Vauxhall or Waterloo then underground. This was despite the fact that there were some peak hour services that run direct between the two (ie Clapham Junction - Stratford services).

 

[LexyBoy]

Evening,
If I wanted to travel WBQ-BHM-RDG-PLY, how would I go about doing it?

Get a RDG-PLY train which goes via BRI?

More helpfully, you might need to look at splitting - presumably the WBQ-PLY fare is set by XC anyway and thus extortionate. Don't know about north of Birmingham, but splitting at Banbury could work - all trains BHM-RDG stop here so no problems with the split. (Splitting only at Banbury is slightly more expensive, unfortunately).

Maybe buying beyond Plymouth would work? I'm guessing not though as looking for fares to Penzance via Reading causes NRE to have a wobbly, same as for Plymouth.

I'd be interested to hear what some of the knowledgeable routeing bods would say about this - seems an odd one, travelling off-route but where no excess is possible!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Evening,

Travel between Warrington Bank Quay and Plymouth is valid via - amongst other places - reading, using maps MW+WE.

However, looking at Avantix, the only walk up ticket which exists is "via Bristol".

If I wanted to travel WBQ-BHM-RDG-PLY, how would I go about doing it?

Is there a particular reason for going via Reading? You can pick up trains to Plymouth from Birmingham New Street that go via Bristol.

There are services from Reading to Plymouth via Bristol, but you could not use any going via Westbury without purchasing a Reading-Taunton/Tiverton Parkway/Exeter* ticket.

[* Delete as appropriate to where the train stops]

 

[ChrisTheRef]

It's all hypothetical.

 

[Greenback]

But someone, somewhere, might want to combine a trip to Plymouth with visitng a friend or relation in Reading on the way back...

 

[mathmo]

In a case like this, routes that do not meet the criteria specified by available fares are irrelevant. The Routeing Guide is quite clear on this:

If a choice of routes is available and the fare for the
journey is described as "Any Permitted" route or is unrouted, you are free to
choose any of the routes listed in the Guide. Where the fare specifies a
particular route, you may choose only those routes listed in the Guide which
pass through the station shown in the route description.

So if the fare is specified as "via Bristol" then only routes in the Guide passing through Bristol are allowed.