Great Western Coffee Shop

From Chippenham yesterday ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/peaktickets.jpg)

What is a "Peak ticket"?  I have bought an "Any Time" ticket ... can I use that?  ;D - a sad case of multiple names to confuse the customer, I fear.   And I understood a move to simplify tickets.  I know what they mean, but does everyone?

Noting the new gap of 41 minutes in Chippenham to Swindon service, in what was a half hourly service with extras prior to last December.  Is that a fair compromise reduction to in the boost for frequency and speed for London?

That is utterly confusing, in what is already a very confusing picture. Super off-peak, off peak, anytime and peak, and seemingly no hard and fast rules as to which apply when.

Two things immediately struck me from looking at that screen:

1. Why is the non-stop to Paddington service being run 11 minutes after the stopping service? Surely it makes more sense for the non-stop service to leave before the stopping service. Otherwise, which service should a Paddington-bound passenger catch? Presumably either may get there first? If the stopping service ran afterwards, then a Paddington-bound passenger at least knows there is another service soon if they miss the non-stop one, and more local journeys would have a more even timetable.

2. The 08.56 'off peak to Reading and beyond'. If it can be off-peak for those stations (and which are they? Does 'beyond' mean Paddington?) why cannot it be off-peak to get to Swindon or Didcot? I know what the answer to that is - that it arrives at those before 09.30 - but I doubt that the numbers wishing to get to Didcot and Reading using this service justify what appears to be an artificial discrimination against them, which is how it feels to a potential passenger.

The non-stop service is scheduled to overtake the "stopping" service - Swindon, Didcot and Reading - at Reading and arrive in Paddington 2 minutes earlier (09:28 rather than 09:30). I have not yet tried it; these days, I have to look after my pennies and there are better value ways of getting to London - price over speed for me.  If I should end up doing a number of trips to London in a one week period meriting a season ticket, I would probably make a point of trying it out several times!  ;D

Now I don't see it that way at all.

As you say the rule (seen as much in the breach as the observance) is that off peak tickets are valid after 0930. It will of course depend on the actual restriction code for each journey, but most passengers won't know about that (even I didn't until an argument at Paddington some years ago about whether my off peak return CPM to Hitchin was valid for return in the evening peak  ;D )

The wording says "off peak to Reading and beyond" and that is exactly what it should say. Whilst it is true that the train in question only stops at Paddington after Reading, there may be passengers changing at Reading to go somewhere else (eg Henley, Maidenhead, Slough, Windsor, Guildford - its a long list) who are also permited to use that train.

As regards Peak versus Anytime, I wouldn't like to draw a conclusion one way or the other. I've never liked "Anytime," preferring the good old fashioned "ordinary return." It is possible that some passengers don't know what anytime means whilst alll they have to do is look at their ticket, and if it says "off peak" on it they ought to be able to fathom they can't use that train.

I suppose to cater for the less railway-savvy it is best to use the term "peak" rather than anytime, because there is always the chance that some 'erbert might think his season ticket or all line rail rover isn't valid because it doesn't say anytime on it...

and your 'erbert might conclude that if it says 'Peak' it has to be used for peak services whilst 'Anytime' means just that.  You cannot win.