London Banter - View Single Post - Off-Peak Return tickets Cambridge-London

Peter Smyth · November 6th 09, 06:25 PM posted to cam.transport,uk.transport.london

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at
11:09:36 on Fri, 6 Nov 2009, remarked:
I was told by the Cambridge ticket office clerk yesterday that I
couldn't use an Off-Peak Return ticket to travel on the 09:20 but
that I could use an Off-Peak Day Return. The clerk insisted even
though I said as far as I knew the off-peak rule for at least the
last 40 years has been "no arrival in London before 10".

How does the 09:20 "arrive in London before 10"? Is there some kind
of boundary line used for this purpose, as I always assumed it was
"arrive at a station in London" which in this case would be KGX at
10:13 or so?

It doesn't "arrive in London before 10". It arrives after 10 and is
therefore outwith the long-standing restriction. The change Barry
Salter
refers to also seems to have escaped NXEA Customer Relations in
Norwich.

It's pretty clear that what they really ought to do (rather than have
several mystic algorithms) is colour in a timetable showing which
trains which tickets are available on. Thameslink used to have one,
I'm not sure if it's carried over to FCC-Bedpan.

That is exactly what they do. The problem is that the various
restriction codes in the NFM do not match exactly with the pretty
colours in the timetable.

Peter Smyth