Great Western Coffee Shop

Quick question: With the new SWT Salisbury-Weymouth via Yeovil due to start soon on summer Saturday's, will 'via Yeovil' fares on the Heart of Wessex line be valid on this service if say travelling from Bristol/Bath down to Salisbury then picking up the SWT service?

My thinking is you are still travelling via Yeovil so it should be valid, but I'm willing to be corrected if I'm wrong.

I know there is a 'via Salisbury' fare to Weymouth but that was assuming you were travelling to Weymouth changing at Southampton.

Thanks in advance.

Using the GW accessible booking engine and asking for Westbury to Weymouth routed via Tisbury, I'm offered the "via Yeovil" fares - at the time I selected using the bus from Junction to Pen Mill.  So based on that - yes - you're proposing a valid route.  The ticket is not "X operator only" so fine on SWT through their new stations of Thornford, Chetnole, Yetminster, Maiden Newton and Dorchester West. 

Interesting, in December I sent an Email to SWT on 16th December 2015, as follows:

Good afternoon,

I am very pleased that you are running new services from Yeovil Junction, calling at Frome, however I am very disappointed with the fare for the journey, a single ticket from Yeovil Junction costing ^11 more than one from Yeovil Pen Mill. This means you are charging ^11 for a five minute journey, this must be the most expensive rail journey in the world! I hope you can do a better deal soon.

Best wishes and Happy Christmas,

Alan Pettitt,
Axminster
( a traveller every day on your services).

I received a reply from SWT stating that the fares were set by Great Western so they would forward my email to them.

I then, eventually, received an email from GWR in January stating that they were sorry that I was complaining about the fare increase but these were set by the government.

Not a problem for me, I have learnt to split!

I pointed out a number of fares effects or conflicts with this 'new route' in the SWT part of the forum a while ago:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=15428.msg187113#msg187113

It seems quite obvious that no-one is tasked to investigate the effects on fares on opening new 'rail connections', you can see this if you enquire about a single journey Waterloo to 'Yeovil' (i.e. both stations) on NRES.   What you see here is the fallout caused by GW pricing off-peak singles at rates much less than SWT.   It is far cheaper to travel to Yeovil Jn from Waterloo on 'any permitted' Yeovil Pen Mill ticket, rather than a 'via Salisbury' Yeovil Jn ticket.

Why isn't there a suitable question in the track access application pro-forma?

Of course we are talking here about a railway that hasn't yet addressed the various pricing anomalies on local journeys around Southampton area from Romsey, totally confused by the opening of the Chandlers Ford route in 2003.   Just saying that no-one should ever buy a ticket from Romsey to Eastleigh...

Paul

Indeed. Romsey to Southampton Central instead, using the Routeing Guide's 'direct train' rule, and the ability with most ticket types to start/end one's journey short.

 ;D  ... and it's a whole opportunity for new anomalies and games - especially where it's on the edge of two franchise