Great Western Coffee Shop

A friend pointed me to a new publication from First (West of England) about bus fares on their services in the Bristol, Bath and surrounding area.  He told me it was 30 pages long (!) even though the front cover says (!!) "simple":

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

Of course, much as I love my friends, I don't always believe everything that say and I checked to see if it really was 30 pages long.  It wasn't - it was / is 40 pages.  Download a copy ((here)) (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/J13039_Ticket_Guide_AW2.pdf) if you have the time!

Simple - REALLY simple - fares has always been a sort of holy grail - something the man in the street should be able to understand (and that by dumbing down the fares, not by providing degree courses in ticketing to the general public).   I have a copy of the National Fares Manual from around 25 years ago - this is just the one for our part of the country ... a typical page and you can see how thick the book is.

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

Even the introductory pages seem complex - this sort of marketing where I feel there might just be a few too many ticket types:

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

What IS a Network Stayaway ticket anyway?  Is it one to be purchased by persons just served with court order instructing them NOT to go to certain places, for journeys away from that place when the order has just been served?   Or am I reading more into the name than I should??

IIRC a Network Stayaway was some sort of 5 day period return. No doubt hedged with certain conditions. I doubt it was promoted for any great length of time.

I remember these ticket types well from my student days. Network Awaybreak was the walk-up off-peak 5 day return in the former Network South East (NSE) area, launched some time in the 80s. NSE later introduced the Network Stayaway for longer distance flows (e.g. Waterloo - Exeter and Weymouth lines), which was similar but allowed return travel within one month. A bit like the old InterCity saver product. I don't know how long these products lasted beyond privatisation.

After privatisation, Network AwayBreak fares became Supersaver or Saver fares, which had a 30-day return validity anyway. So the Network Stayaway was surplus to requirements. This was the late 90s I think, can't remember exactly when.

Network Awaybreak and Network Stayaway largely survived privatisation but disappeared when we got Fares Simplification in September 2008. Such 'Network' fares that were still available at that time were converted to Off Peak and Super Off Peak Returns.