Great Western Coffee Shop

Am I correct in saying that travelling Exeter to Reading/Paddington via Bristol would be a cheaper route than via Westbury.
Please reply shortly.
thanks
DevonTrains2008

P.S there are some direct FGW's via Bristol

The system is so complex that it depends on when you want to travel ... out and back ... and if you can be sure enough of the services that you'll catch to book ahead.

Buy-on-the-day, off peak return fares for returning the same day ...

Exeter - Reading, 54 pounds
Exeter - Bristol + Bristol - Didcot + Didcot - Reading, total 45 pounds 30p
Exeter - Basingstoke + Basingstoke - Reading, total 45 pounds 80p

But remember that to use the latter fares, you must travel on trains that go through (and call at) the intermediate stations.

P.S. ... and it totals 47.90 if you go direct and book Exeter - Westbury, Westbury - Hungerford and Hungerford - Reading ....

P.P.S. Splitting the journey also means that if you're travelling part of the way at peak times, and part off-peak, you may be able to get good savings on a part of the journey.

Ooh ... and I just got 44.80 ... with five steps.  The whole system, frankly, brings disrepute upon itself!

It's probably that the train companies want to get as much money as possible and do not highlight these cheaper fares (e.g Exeter - Bristol - Didcot) If you buy 2 seperate tickets you do not have to get of the train to buy the second leg of the journey - you can buy these tickets at any station UK - wide. I wonder if it would be possible to change in both Temple - Meads or Parkway to reach Didcot. It suprises me that changing in Bristol is cheaper than changing in Basingstoke as the Bristol route uses HST's!
 :)

No for a ticket valid on FGW route the price is the same.  The Exeter - Reading ticket is valid both ways.

You are both right it's a complete nonsense and in my opnion brings the whole industry into disrepute.

I got an advanced fare for 19th Jan of ^10 for single Exter Reading direct but the anytime seems to ^98.

It's "Rip of Britain"

Not in Northern Ireland.

Clearly, (and good luck to them), passengers like to buy tickets in multiple cheap stages rather than one, (often) higher priced item.  Trouble is that many fail to understand that the services concerned must call at the changeover point for each stage.  I recently had a real battle trying to explain to a Paddington bound passenger that she had to change at Reading as she held a ticket to West Drayton, (from where her Freedom Pass? was valid). Whilst West crews can be reasonably flexible, (many of our services call everywhere except Melksham anyway), this is not always the case with travelling RP staff.  If you are challenged by RP staff in such circumstances, you could be treated as travelling without the requisite ticket for at least that stage of the journey.

Is a Freedom Pass not a type of Season Ticket, then?

It's done as west drayton because you can't do a ticket from Boundary Zone 6 for longer distance journeys.
It should be treated as boundary ticket, so no need to change at Reading.

Not if you buy your tickets Exeter - Bristol - Didcot Parkway - Reading!

 ::) ;D

Interesting point Ollie.  You may well have pinpointed a training need here.  (I have searched through my Avantix manuals and can't find any clarification).  Pas was using a West unit travelling to BRI to connect with a HS service to Pad.  Her ticket was perfectly valid for my section of the trip, but she pointed out that the TM on the down service had told her that ticket was not valid as the HST didn't stop at West Drayton.  He had used his discretion and she continued journey.

I have to admit that I and many colleagues thought the 'stop' rule applied to these tickets. 

(Hence the change at Reading to an LTV stopper).  I will mention this to the local RP manager when next I see him and ask for a training update.

For the record, I advised passenger that although I  thought that use of her pass/ticket in this way could cause comment, to continue anyway.

Best way to think of a freedom pass is as an Off Peak Travel Card :)

But it does need to be addressed as information needs to be consistent.