London Banter

London Banter (https://www.londonbanter.co.uk/forum.php)
-   London Transport (https://www.londonbanter.co.uk/london-transport/)
-   -   Who to complain to about fares? (https://www.londonbanter.co.uk/london-transport/7327-who-complain-about-fares.html)

[email protected] December 5th 08 11:25 AM
Who to complain to about fares?
 

I would like to complain about:

(a) The unavailability of a Super Off Peak fare on a journey Fleet-
Clapham Jn-Shepherds Bush

(b) The inability to buy a ticket with Network Card discount from a LU
ticket office. This was a real pain on Monday on my way back from
Brussels. If they can sell tickets with NR components, why can't they
apply NR discounts?

Anyway: whom do I complain to?

Mr Thant December 5th 08 12:38 PM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
On 5 Dec, 12:25, wrote:
(a) The unavailability of a Super Off Peak fare on a journey Fleet-
Clapham Jn-Shepherds Bush

ATOC or South West Trains.

(b) The inability to buy a ticket with Network Card discount from a LU
ticket office. *This was a real pain on Monday on my way back from
Brussels. *If they can sell tickets with NR components, why can't they
apply NR discounts?

Transport for London. Although they'll tell you NR fares are too
complicated to sell all types and you should be grateful they do them
at all.

U

[email protected] December 5th 08 12:45 PM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
On 5 Dec, 13:38, Mr Thant
wrote:
On 5 Dec, 12:25, wrote:

(a) The unavailability of a Super Off Peak fare on a journey Fleet-
Clapham Jn-Shepherds Bush

ATOC or South West Trains.

(b) The inability to buy a ticket with Network Card discount from a LU
ticket office. *This was a real pain on Monday on my way back from
Brussels. *If they can sell tickets with NR components, why can't they
apply NR discounts?

Transport for London. Although they'll tell you NR fares are too
complicated to sell all types and you should be grateful they do them
at all.

Thx. Although the latter issue wouldn't have been a problem if they
still sold Network Awaybreaks, or if SWT's ticket office had been open
on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning.

Andrew Heenan December 5th 08 12:53 PM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
wrote ...
I would like to complain about:
(a) The unavailability of a Super Off Peak fare on a journey Fleet-
Clapham Jn-Shepherds Bush
(b) The inability to buy a ticket with Network Card discount from a LU
ticket office. This was a real pain on Monday on my way back from
Brussels. If they can sell tickets with NR components, why can't they
apply NR discounts?
Anyway: whom do I complain to?

(a) The local TOC for the station you bought the ticket
(b) TfL

(a) + (b) Your Member of Parliament

On all three counts, I suspect you will be wasting your time.
--

Andrew



Paul Scott December 5th 08 03:09 PM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
wrote:
I would like to complain about:

(a) The unavailability of a Super Off Peak fare on a journey Fleet-
Clapham Jn-Shepherds Bush

SWT only introduced SOPs for journeys from outside the London fare zones, to
stations on line of route towards and including London Terminals (Waterloo
effectively). I think you'll get knocked back - you'll find they won't sell
you an SOP anywhere else on the WLL, they don't come up for Olympia or
Willesden Junction either. I suspect it's basically because the leg beyond
CJ up the WLL is someone elses to price, eg LO, and they don't do SOPs. [Or
in the convoluted manner of the modern railway it could even be SN, LM or
Virgin!]

Looking at your other recent post, I think you have to consider the current
'Off Peak Day', as the replacement for the 'Cheap Day Return'. (This is
certainly the standard translation nationally.) SWT's 'Super Off Peak' is a
further discount on journeys towards Waterloo only, ie not really the
equivalent of a CDR. Going back to when SWT introduced their version of the
SOP in May 2007, this was all discussed at length.

In other words many CDRs at that time were given a massive increase in the
London bound direction only, and the SOP was introduced for those particular
journeys, to encourage later travel. One suggestion at the time was why
didn't they redefine the CDR as an 'arrive London after 1200' ticket, and
introduce a new name for the old CDR, I think we now know that the national
roll out of SOPs was only 18 months away, and SWT could have been out of
step with national ticketing rules had they not done as they did.

For fares in the direction away from London, or for any fare that doesn't
involve 'to London' they don't have an SOP at all, the cheapest[1] fare was
the CDR and is now the 'Off Peak Day'. For examples, Fleet to Surbiton has
an SOP, Fareham to Basingstoke doesn't.

Paul S

[1] ignoring Advance when available...

[email protected] December 5th 08 05:36 PM
Who to complain to about fares?
 

(a) The unavailability of a Super Off Peak fare on a journey Fleet-
Clapham Jn-Shepherds Bush

As the other post says Super off peak was only introduced on flows
where SWT wanted to put the price of the off peak return by a large
amout. where they have not done so then super off peak was not
required.

Thx. *Although the latter issue wouldn't have been a problem if they
still sold Network Awaybreaks, or if SWT's ticket office had been open
on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning.

Your a bit behind the times I am afraid. Network awaybreaks no longer
exists. You need an off peak return which is valid for a month and
which they might sell. If the ticket office is closed and there are
no ticket machines you can buy the ticket on the train. Which station
were you travelling from?

[email protected] December 6th 08 10:52 AM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
On 5 Dec, 18:36, wrote:

Your a bit behind the times I am afraid. *Network awaybreaks no longer
exists.

I know, it's what I meant.

You need an off peak return which is valid for a month and
which they might sell. *If the ticket office is closed and there are
no ticket machines you can buy the ticket on the train. *Which station
were you travelling from?

Fleet. The ticket office times have become very erratic (they are
proposing to cut them and appear to have pre-empted their own
decision) and I don't think SWT machines sell anything other than day
tickets.

In any case I wanted a London Terminals out and a Travelcard coming
back.

[email protected] December 6th 08 10:59 AM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
On 5 Dec, 16:09, "Paul Scott" wrote:

SWT only introduced SOPs for journeys from outside the London fare zones, to
stations on line of route towards and including London Terminals (Waterloo
effectively). *I think you'll get knocked back - you'll find they won't sell
you an SOP anywhere else on the WLL, they don't come up for Olympia or
Willesden Junction either. I suspect it's basically because the leg beyond
CJ up the WLL is someone elses to price, eg LO, and they don't do SOPs. *[Or
in the convoluted manner of the modern railway it could even be SN, LM or
Virgin!]

But according to the NRE website, the WLL doesn't do OP returns
either, the only price given is an Anytime ticket at £1.50 single or
£3.00 return. So why can I get an OP return from Fleet but not an SOP
return? I can obviously buy a ticket where Fleet-CJn is priced as an
OP return and CJn-SB as Anytime, but not a combined SOP/Anytime
ticket.

Thanks for the other info about tickets, its very helpful. Up to June
this yeat I had a Fleet-London Stns Gold Card so I was a bit insulated
from all this: I obviously never needed to by a ticket towards London,
and I got the benefit of daytime and evening discounts.

Mr Thant December 6th 08 11:07 AM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
On 6 Dec, 11:59, wrote:
But according to the NRE website, the WLL doesn't do OP returns
either, the only price given is an Anytime ticket at £1.50 single or
£3.00 return. *So why can I get an OP return from Fleet but not an SOP
return? *I can obviously buy a ticket where Fleet-CJn is priced as an
OP return and CJn-SB as Anytime, but not a combined SOP/Anytime
ticket.

SWT seems to have only created SOP fares for journeys within its own
network as far as I can tell.

(also there's no such thing as a "combined" ticket. Every fare between
every pair of stations is set individually, usually by the "lead
operator" for that route)

U

Paul Scott December 6th 08 11:58 AM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
wrote:
On 5 Dec, 16:09, "Paul Scott" wrote:

SWT only introduced SOPs for journeys from outside the London fare
zones, to stations on line of route towards and including London
Terminals (Waterloo effectively). I think you'll get knocked back -
you'll find they won't sell you an SOP anywhere else on the WLL,
they don't come up for Olympia or Willesden Junction either. I
suspect it's basically because the leg beyond CJ up the WLL is
someone elses to price, eg LO, and they don't do SOPs. [Or in the
convoluted manner of the modern railway it could even be SN, LM or
Virgin!]

But according to the NRE website, the WLL doesn't do OP returns
either, the only price given is an Anytime ticket at £1.50 single or
£3.00 return.

As I suggested above, fares between stations on the WLL are probably priced
by LO, like the NLL, and Euston - Watford, and don't offer the full range of
National Rail fares, but only TfL zonal fares.

So why can I get an OP return from Fleet but not an SOP
return?

Because the OP is a ticket type available for NR to LO journeys generally,
but the SOP isn't. I suggest it's because SWT only sell SOPs for point to
point fares within their own network, starting outside the zonal area,
towards London Terminals, and for associated travelcards. I believe you
won't find an SOP for any fare starting within the zonal area, or for any
through fare to a destination beyond London, or via the WLL. I have tested
this from Fleet for Kenny O, Willesden Jn, Watford Jn, Milton Keynes,
Bedford, Stevenage, Shenfield and Dartford - there are no SOPs showing.

I can obviously buy a ticket where Fleet-CJn is priced as an
OP return and CJn-SB as Anytime, but not a combined SOP/Anytime
ticket.

Seems to be so, but I'm pointing out that the new station at Shepherds Bush
isn't a special case, it is consistent with existing SOP availability.

What you have to do is find out if there is anything unfair or illogical
going on somewhere, in which case it might be worth asking SWT. See if SOPs
are available to any Southern or Southeastern destinations? For example, a
Fleet to Battersea Park is available, but it is on 'line of route' to an
appropriate London Terminal, which the WLL isn't.

Paul S

Neil Williams December 7th 08 05:10 PM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
On Sat, 6 Dec 2008 03:52:41 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

Fleet. The ticket office times have become very erratic (they are
proposing to cut them and appear to have pre-empted their own
decision) and I don't think SWT machines sell anything other than day
tickets.

Do they really not? That's a bit poor, as the software can cope with
the sale of almost anything, as the Virgin and most[1] of the London
Midland ones offer.

[1] For some stupid reason, not at Wolverton. This might be because
most people wanting a long-distance ticket will double-back via MKC
anyway, and thus require 2 tickets.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

Paul Scott December 7th 08 06:27 PM
Who to complain to about fares?
 

"Neil Williams" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 6 Dec 2008 03:52:41 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

Fleet. The ticket office times have become very erratic (they are
proposing to cut them and appear to have pre-empted their own
decision) and I don't think SWT machines sell anything other than day
tickets.

Do they really not? That's a bit poor, as the software can cope with
the sale of almost anything, as the Virgin and most[1] of the London
Midland ones offer.

The OP may be in that odd part of the SE where the only tickets available to
London are singles or day return tickets, but in general SWT machines sell
all the usual range, and after 1500 'tickets for tomorrow' become available.

Internet ticket collection isn't widespread yet though.

Paul



[email protected] December 7th 08 10:50 PM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
On 7 Dec, 19:27, "Paul Scott" wrote:
"Neil Williams" wrote in message

...

On Sat, 6 Dec 2008 03:52:41 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

Fleet. *The ticket office times have become very erratic (they are
proposing to cut them and appear to have pre-empted their own
decision) and I don't think SWT machines sell anything other than day
tickets.

Do they really not? *That's a bit poor, as the software can cope with
the sale of almost anything, as the Virgin and most[1] of the London
Midland ones offer.

The OP may be in that odd part of the SE where the only tickets available to
London are singles or day return tickets, but in general SWT machines sell
all the usual range, and after 1500 'tickets for tomorrow' become available.

Internet ticket collection isn't widespread yet though.

Paul

They only seem to sell singles, day returns and 7 day season tickets
(the website says you can buy monthly seasons but I don't recall
seeing the option on the machine).

After 1500 you can buy tickets for tomorrow, but you can only get
Anytime tickets, and you can't buy discounted tickets. So not much
use at the weekend. See http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SWT...y+your+ticket/

Thanks for the info on ticket pricing. So it looks like, with the
introduction of SOP, I can no longer get the equivalent of the old
cheap day return to stations on other operators' networks. To confuse
matters further, the NRE website no longer seems to show OP and SOP
fares seperately, just OP with two different fares. But a check on a
Fleet-Rochester day return, for example, shows the price stays the
same after 11.00 am, a time when to London I can get an SOP.

Paul Scott December 8th 08 10:29 AM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
wrote:
On 7 Dec, 19:27, "Paul Scott" wrote:
"Neil Williams" wrote in message

...

Do they really not? That's a bit poor, as the software can cope with
the sale of almost anything, as the Virgin and most[1] of the London
Midland ones offer.

The OP may be in that odd part of the SE where the only tickets
available to London are singles or day return tickets, but in
general SWT machines sell all the usual range, and after 1500
'tickets for tomorrow' become available.

Internet ticket collection isn't widespread yet though.

They only seem to sell singles, day returns and 7 day season tickets

What I was attempting to explain is that from Fleet to London (clearly
within the old NSE 50 mile limit) you would only expect Anytime Day and
Offpeak Day and SOP ( a day ticket). The longer period returns equivalent to
the old Opens and 'Savers', (and previously Network Away breaks) are
probably not available to London.

I assure you that returns valid for a month are available from machines
further from London where the fare exists, but you should be able to see
them by selecting a suitable long distance fare.

Another small point - are you looking at the first screen only, because it
only shows the most popular tickets from your station. Sometimes, if you
select your destination using the keyboard, other ticket types that aren't
often sold appear.

After 1500 you can buy tickets for tomorrow, but you can only get
Anytime tickets, and you can't buy discounted tickets. So not much
use at the weekend.

Try checking at a machine, you'll find on a Friday afternoon that all the
offpeak and SOP fares and railcard discounted tickets are available.
Presumably they don't want people buying and attempting to use invalid
tickets on early trains, same as if you use the machine at 0800 on a weekday
morning, Network Card doesn't appear until 1000 for instance.

Thanks for the info on ticket pricing. So it looks like, with the
introduction of SOP, I can no longer get the equivalent of the old
cheap day return to stations on other operators' networks.

Yes you can - 'Offpeak' is the equivalent of CDR as I explained before.

To confuse
matters further, the NRE website no longer seems to show OP and SOP
fares seperately, just OP with two different fares. But a check on a
Fleet-Rochester day return, for example, shows the price stays the
same after 11.00 am, a time when to London I can get an SOP.

That is because SOP is a sub type of Offpeak. Click on 'more fares' next to
the line heading 'Offpeak'. It breaks them into sub types if they are
there...

Paul S

[email protected] December 9th 08 10:50 AM
Who to complain to about fares?
 

What I was attempting to explain is that from Fleet to London (clearly
within the old NSE 50 mile limit) you would only expect Anytime Day and
Offpeak Day and SOP ( a day ticket). The longer period returns equivalent to
the old Opens and 'Savers', (and previously Network Away breaks) are
probably not available to London.

That's annoying, if you're going away from the weekend you can't buy
your ticket from a machine. It was annoying for me because I couldn't
get the ticket I wanted from LUL at St Pancras, and it would have been
even more annoying if I'd had a tight connection to get to Waterloo
and catch a train, or if there had been a serious price differential
between a single-with-tube and single+oyster. Or if you don't have an
oyster. I tried twice to buy a ticket from the ticket office the day
before - but it was closed - neither was it open at 7.45 on a Saturday
morning, not particularly early I wouldn't have thought (it's supposed
to be open at 6.10).

I assure you that returns valid for a month are available from machines
further from London where the fare exists, but you should be able to see
them by selecting a suitable long distance fare.

I will have a play with the machine sometime.

Another small point - are you looking at the first screen only, because it
only shows the most popular tickets from your station. Sometimes, if you
select your destination using the keyboard, other ticket types that aren't
often sold appear.

I often use the "any station" menu option, but again they're mostly
fairly local trips so again I will need to have a play.

After 1500 you can buy tickets for tomorrow, but you can only get
Anytime tickets, and you can't buy discounted tickets. *So not much
use at the weekend.

Try checking at a machine, you'll find on a Friday afternoon that all the
offpeak and SOP fares and railcard discounted tickets are available.
Presumably they don't want people buying and attempting to use invalid
tickets on early trains, same as if you use the machine at 0800 on a weekday
morning, Network Card doesn't appear until 1000 for instance.

I obviously need to check, but the SWT website
http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SWT...y+your+ticket/
does say

As well as at ticket offices, you can buy most tickets from our ticket
vending machines located at most of our stations. Tickets available
include:

7 Day Season Ticket renewals
Monthly Season Ticket renewals
'Tickets for tomorrow’ allowing you to buy Anytime Single and Return
tickets after 15:00 the day before you intend to travel
A wide range of tickets to most UK destinations
London Underground tickets inside London Fare Zones Area
Day Return tickets to London, including One Day Travelcards
Daily car park tickets.

So it looks like you can't.

If you buy a ticket for tomorrow, a screen comes up saying "you can
only use this ticket tomorrow" or words to that effect. So why you
can't buy off peak and discounted tickets with a suitable warning
message I don't know. You can buy them in advance at the station or
(presumably) online, although I haven't yet tried to buy online with a
local ticket as I'm only 5 minutes walk from the station and can't
normally get discounted online tickets for the journeys I do.

Thanks for the info on ticket pricing. *So it looks like, with the
introduction of SOP, I can no longer get the equivalent of the old
cheap day return to stations on other operators' networks.

Yes you can - 'Offpeak' is the equivalent of CDR as I explained before.

I checked a fare from Fleet to Rochester. Before and after 11.00 I
got the same price, where for Fleet-London I would normally pay a
different price due to the OP/SOP differential. So what price am I
paying for the Fleet leg of a Fleet-Rochester ticket?

But thanks for your posts. Having had a season ticket to London for
13 years (and lived in London for 7 of these when I used public
transport fairly heavily) I thought I had some knowledge about how it
works. How on earth are irregular travellers to cope?

Theo Markettos December 9th 08 01:42 PM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
wrote:

What I was attempting to explain is that from Fleet to London (clearly
within the old NSE 50 mile limit) you would only expect Anytime Day and
Offpeak Day and SOP ( a day ticket). The longer period returns
equivalent to the old Opens and 'Savers', (and previously Network Away
breaks) are probably not available to London.

That's annoying, if you're going away from the weekend you can't buy
your ticket from a machine. It was annoying for me because I couldn't
get the ticket I wanted from LUL at St Pancras, and it would have been
even more annoying if I'd had a tight connection to get to Waterloo
and catch a train, or if there had been a serious price differential
between a single-with-tube and single+oyster.

I don't think there /are/ any period returns for distances shorter than
50-ish miles in the south east. So if you wanted to do Fleet-London on a
Friday and back on a Sunday you'd have to buy two singles, whether you did
it from the machine or the office.

(Anyone know if there are cases where it's cheaper to buy a period return to
some faraway station via London than two singles to London?)

If you're travelling by Eurostar or boat-train there are some special
tickets to 'London International', which are valid for two months and on any
train. You'd need to buy these from an office and present your Eurostar
tickets. There may also be some period returns for airports (eg
Cambridge-Stansted has a SVR-equivalent Off-Peak Return, but
Cambridge-Bishop's Stortford doesn't)

Theo

Paul Scott December 9th 08 03:40 PM
Who to complain to about fares?
 

"Theo Markettos" wrote in message
...
wrote:

That's annoying, if you're going away from the weekend you can't buy
your ticket from a machine. It was annoying for me because I couldn't
get the ticket I wanted from LUL at St Pancras, and it would have been
even more annoying if I'd had a tight connection to get to Waterloo
and catch a train, or if there had been a serious price differential
between a single-with-tube and single+oyster.

I don't think there /are/ any period returns for distances shorter than
50-ish miles in the south east. So if you wanted to do Fleet-London on a
Friday and back on a Sunday you'd have to buy two singles, whether you did
it from the machine or the office.

Certainly my understanding, and the intent of my comments so far too. I
think it's important (generally) not to blame ticket machines for not
selling something that ticket offices don't sell...

However in this case, whilst checking to find a station near Fleet, such as
Basingstoke, that might have 'open tickets', when comparing the price from
Fleet I now find the NR OJP shows Fleet (36 miles) to Waterloo has:
Super Off-Peak Day Return - £13.20
Off-Peak Day Return - £16.20
Off Peak Return - £24.20
The latter is the same price as the Anytime Day Return.
Has Philip just not found the ticket on the machine after all, or not
realised that the 'Off-Peak Return' is valid for a month?

As I've implied earlier, the Off-Peak Return may not initially appear if not
many are sold, the top screen on most ticket machines only shows the most
popular tickets bought at a particular location.

Paul S

Neil Williams December 9th 08 08:37 PM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
On Tue, 9 Dec 2008 16:40:03 -0000, "Paul Scott"
wrote:

As I've implied earlier, the Off-Peak Return may not initially appear if not
many are sold, the top screen on most ticket machines only shows the most
popular tickets bought at a particular location.

Bizarrely, at one point the Silverlink-only CDS and CDR from Euston to
MKC were *only* available on the summary screen and not in the station
list.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

Michael R N Dolbear December 9th 08 11:44 PM
Who to complain to about fares?
 

wrote

I checked a fare from Fleet to Rochester. Before and after 11.00 I
got the same price, where for Fleet-London I would normally pay a
different price due to the OP/SOP differential. So what price am I
paying for the Fleet leg of a Fleet-Rochester ticket?

Try pricing it as two tickets ?

Just for another complication, I noted when SOP came out that the
differentials for Reading and Basingstoke were both only 10p (due to a
non-SWT route to London being available) so Fleet-Rochester may have to
figure in via Paddington as possible.

--
Mike D

Phil C December 10th 08 08:20 AM
Who to complain to about fares?
 

Certainly my understanding, and the intent of my comments so far too. I
think it's important (generally) not to blame ticket machines for not
selling something that ticket offices don't sell...

It's a bit of a red herring, as on this occasion I needed a London
Terminals out and a Travelcard single back, it would have had to be
the TO. However, it is another reason for disbeliving SWT's position
that they don't have to open the ticket office because you can buy all
the tickets from the machines. Which is self evidently untrue.

From some time this month you are going to be able to order on line
and collect from the machine, so hopefully that will cut down the lag
in getting the tickets (will you be able to log on, buy tickets, and
collect them 10 minutes later? Somehow I doubt it)

However in this case, whilst checking to find a station near Fleet, such as
Basingstoke, that might have 'open tickets', when comparing the price from
Fleet I now find the NR OJP shows Fleet (36 miles) to Waterloo has:
Super Off-Peak Day Return - £13.20
Off-Peak Day Return - £16.20
Off Peak Return - £24.20
The latter is the same price as the Anytime Day Return.
Has Philip just not found the ticket on the machine after all, or not
realised that the 'Off-Peak Return' is valid for a month?

I haven't found it on the machine, I do plan to spend some time
checking it out. When buying "period returns" from the TO I am fairly
sure I have been sold two singles so I didn't realise it existed.
However I have checked on NRE for going out today and back tomorrow,
and as you say, an Off Peak Return to Waterloo is priced at £24.20
which is cheaper than two singles £25.40).

As I've implied earlier, the Off-Peak Return may not initially appear if not
many are sold, the top screen on most ticket machines only shows the most
popular tickets bought at a particular location.

Tks, I will check

Phil C December 10th 08 08:28 AM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
On 10 Dec, 00:44, "Michael R N Dolbear" wrote:
wrote

I checked a fare from Fleet to Rochester. *Before and after 11.00 I
got the same price, where for Fleet-London I would normally pay a
different price due to the OP/SOP differential. *So what price am I
paying for the Fleet leg of a Fleet-Rochester ticket?

Try pricing it as two tickets ?

Two tickets was more expensive, whatever time of day.

Actually I suspect that I'm getting the Cheap Day Return equivalent as
the day return is much the same price as a single. So I think SWT are
pricing at SOP. However I suspect they do something for "near London"
fares to make sure you can't save money by breaking your journey in
London - so a Fleet-Greenwich ticket is £17 and the Fleet-Shep Bush I
mentioned earlier is £16. So these seem to be based on the OP fare. I
can only presume the national fare structure for two-operator journeys
means SWT has to price at one or the other of OP/SOP and they can't
change the price according to the time of day.

John Salmon[_3_] December 10th 08 09:00 AM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
"Phil C" wrote
I can only presume the national fare structure for two-operator journeys
means SWT has to price at one or the other of OP/SOP and they can't change
the price according to the time of day.

"The national fare structure for two-operator journeys"? Never heard of such
a thing.


Mr Thant December 10th 08 09:09 AM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
On 10 Dec, 10:00, "John Salmon" wrote:
"The national fare structure for two-operator journeys"? Never heard of such
a thing.

It's not actually a bad description of what's happened. As best I can
tell, when SWT introduced SOP they just put up the prices of all the
OP fares they controlled*, including those that overlap into another
operator's territory, but they only introduced SOP fares for journeys
wholly within SWT territory. Whether they did this because the fares
structure forbid them, or because they're arseholes, I can't tell.

U

(* as I said earlier in the thread, each pair of stations is assigned
to a single operator to set fares)

Phil C December 10th 08 05:16 PM
Who to complain to about fares?
 

However in this case, whilst checking to find a station near Fleet, such as
Basingstoke, that might have 'open tickets', when comparing the price from
Fleet I now find the NR OJP shows Fleet (36 miles) to Waterloo has:
Super Off-Peak Day Return - £13.20
Off-Peak Day Return - £16.20
Off Peak Return - £24.20
The latter is the same price as the Anytime Day Return.
Has Philip just not found the ticket on the machine after all, or not
realised that the 'Off-Peak Return' is valid for a month?

I haven't found it on the machine, I do plan to spend some time
checking it out. *When buying "period returns" from the TO I am fairly
sure I have been sold two singles so I didn't realise it existed.
However I have checked on NRE for going out today and back tomorrow,
and as you say, an Off Peak Return to Waterloo is priced at £24.20
which is cheaper than two singles £25.40).

Well, this is annoying.

I can only think that earlier occasions included travel at least one
way at peak time - so two singles was indeed the only option.

I now know that I could have bought an Off Peak Return for travel Sat
AM returning Mon PM, and presumably could have got a Network Card
discount thus paying about £18 in total including two Oyster returns.
Or if I'd heard of a return to London International, an Off Peak
Return to London International is £24 which means with Network Card
reduction I could have got to St Pancras for £15/£16 including Tube.

It would help if an Off Peak Return was called an Off Peak Period
Return or an Off Peak 1-Month Return. Then you'd know what they did.

And it's another reason why SWT should keep ticket offices open and
not rely on machines: the staff can advise you of the best fare.

Paul Scott December 10th 08 06:24 PM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
Phil C wrote:

It would help if an Off Peak Return was called an Off Peak Period
Return or an Off Peak 1-Month Return. Then you'd know what they did.

That of course is a solution to a national problem, not of SWT's making. Too
sensible by far, especially as the validity is a calendar month so there is
no need for debate about a particular number of days...

Paul S



Phil C December 10th 08 10:06 PM
Who to complain to about fares?
 
On 10 Dec, 19:24, "Paul Scott" wrote:
Phil C wrote:
It would help if an Off Peak Return was called an Off Peak Period
Return or an Off Peak 1-Month Return. *Then you'd know what they did.

That of course is a solution to a national problem, not of SWT's making.

True, but is there any reason why they can't amend the name on their
ticket machines or call it Off Peak Return (1 Month). After all, they
had Super Off Peak returns some time before other operators.


All times are GMT. The time now is 01:32 AM.

Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2006 LondonBanter.co.uk