Westbury to Taunton routes

[Quakers Yard]

Does any permitted mean via Bristol?

 

[maniacmartin]

The only permitted route is via Castle Cary I'm afraid.

 

[yorkie]

Does any permitted mean via Bristol?

Any Permitted means routes shown in the Routeing Guide.

Many people struggle to understand the Guide, but fortunately there is a website which makes the process easier: http://trainscanbecheaper.info/ (select What are the Permitted Routes between the two stations?) and in this case, simply entering the two station names reveals the only valid map is map WE.

We also have a section of our Fares & Ticketing Guide dedicated to routeing:

RailUK Fares & Ticketing Guide - Section 3 - Routeing

 

[maniacmartin]

Any Permitted means routes shown in the Routeing Guide.

You can also use the routes that are directly specified in the NRCoC, namely direct through trains and the shortest route, neither of which are via Bristol

 

[yorkie]

You can also use the routes that are directly specified in the NRCoC, namely direct through trains and the shortest route, neither of which are via Bristol

Indeed - it's 25 miles longer!

The Routeing Guide does refer to the shortest route rule, and the through trains rule, but I agree you don't have to refer to the Routeing Guide for those (which has certain uses ) as they are both stated in the NRCoC, but this is all described in our RailUK Fares & Ticketing Guide - Section 3 - Routeing so I recommend anyone keen to learn more has a read of that.

 

[kieron]

So, essentially, "any permitted" means £20/wk extra for nothing. This isn't that rare. Flint-Crewe has something similar, with the only permitted route going through Chester.

There are plenty of options for if you want to travel from Westbury to Taunton via Bristol, but we'd need some more detail first.

 

[maniacmartin]

So, essentially, "any permitted" means £20/wk extra for nothing.

Yes, in this case both season tickets appear to have the same validity. This is probably due to clustering the ticket prices with other nearby stations.

 

[greatkingrat]

Looking at an old copy of the Routeing Guide (from Aug 2010), Westbury - Taunton was shown as map CE or WE, thus allowing travel via Bristol.

At some point map CE was removed as an option, leading to the current situation where both the Any Permitted and Not Via Bristol tickets have exactly the same validity.

I suspect that in practice, an Any Permitted ticket would be accepted via Bristol though as that is clearly the intention of the fare.

 

[Eagle]

I suspect that in practice, an Any Permitted ticket would be accepted via Bristol though as that is clearly the intention of the fare.

Is it? That's highly subjective.

 

[bb21]

Can always go down the disputed route procedure.

 

[greatkingrat]

Is it? That's highly subjective.

Well why would you have a Not Via Bristol fare if the Any Permitted fare wasn't valid via Bristol anyway?

 

[yorkie]

Perhaps someone could FOI the DfT asking when, and why, permission was given for the removal of validity via Bristol?

Also the same FOI request to Passenger Focus, asking if they supported or objected to the change, and what their comments were...

Don't forget, legally the DfT must give approval, and PF must be consulted, otherwise it's an illegal change! I am sure ATOC will have ensured the change was above board, so let's see what DfT/PF say....