When do Day Rovers and Rangers end?

[Coventrian]

I have recently started to travel regularly by rail again and have used a couple of day ranger and rover tickets for some days out. When reading about them on the NRE website I could not find anything that says when the day ends for this type of ticket. As a newbie passenger I assumed initially that it would be at midnight, but on asking a couple of guards/ticket inspectors they did not appear to know and then I read somewhere that the railway day ends at 04:29 or somesuch time.

So what are the rules for day rangers and rovers? Can I travel beyond midnight and do you have to complete your last journey by whatever the end time is or are you ok if you start before that time and the journey ends afterwards?

 

[yorkie]

Yes 0429 is the cutoff.

In practice if you boarded a train before that time, you would generally be OK to remain on the train.

It is definitely not midnight!

...but on asking a couple of guards/ticket inspectors they did not appear to know...

This is unsurprising. The UK railway industry generally tends not to bother providing front line staff much training in this area.

 

[Coventrian]

Thanks, Yorkie. Way beyond my bedtime then, or more to the point way beyond when my car would be locked in the Park and Ride carpark I usually use! Some good scope for planning some marathon day-trips in the Summer months though.

 

[Solent&Wessex]

Yes 0429 is the cutoff.



It is definitely not midnight!

Some PTE tickets have different times. The GM Rail Ranger is 0230, for example. https://www.tfgm.com/tickets-and-passes/train-rail-ranger-adult and I seem to think that the West Yorkshire Day Rover used to be midnight, although that detail is no longer on their website, it just says "all day" or "from 6.30pm" as the time.

This is unsurprising. The UK railway industry generally tends not to bother providing front line staff much training in this area.

Very true.

 

[yorkie]

Some PTE tickets have different times. The GM Rail Ranger is 0230, for example.

I wonder if that is intentional to be more restrictive than the standard railway day or simply a remnant of the old rule that wasn't updated.

Without checking, I doubt there are many services on which this would be applicable anyway.

 

[Coventrian]

As Solent&Wessex says there is a train only Greater Manchester Rail Ranger valid until 02:30. Confusingly this is not shown on the NRE site, but they have train/bus/tram or train/tram options and they are valid until 04:00. At least these give a specific end time and I guess if one is not given then the default is 04:29 at the end of the railway day.

 

[kieron]

I wonder if that is intentional to be more restrictive than the standard railway day or simply a remnant of the old rule that wasn't updated.

Without checking, I doubt there are many services on which this would be applicable anyway.

There are a few Airport trains, but that may be it.