Great Western Coffee Shop

I like to make first class advance ticket journeys on FGW but I've noticed the Worcester/Hereford route never seems to have any available - weekdays or weekends.  Is that correct and if so is it really the case that all the services run close to capacity?

Advance fares are not available on the Cotswold line.

Which leads on to my second point - are the services really all close to capacity?  I travel a lot for leisure using First Class Advance but never go on the Coltswold line because there are no bargain tickets.

In many cases not - if you take a look through some of the threads already on the Cotswold Line board there are various discussions there about how many previously HST-operated services are now formed of Turbo stock, due at least in part I suppose to loadings not justifying an HST. Weekday peak services and Sunday afternoon can be very busy, outside those times my impression is that capacity generally is not an issue.

There are no advance tickets on Cotswold Line flows essentially for historical reasons: it's not that there are advance fares in the database that aren't made available because the trains are too busy, it's simply that advance fares don't exist. The other side of this argument is that the Cotswold Line enjoys "walk-up" fares that are far cheaper mile-for-mile than other flows over a similar distance.

Nevertheless - welcome to the Coffee Shop forum, bobm!

Chris.  ;)

I must admit I havent seen them.  I regularly can travel from Reading to Cheltenham Spa for ^15 first class single.  I'd just like to go to Worcester or Hereford sometimes!

Thanks - should have registered ages ago!

If you just want to do the trip up the Cotswold Line and don't have a specific purpose/appointment in mind, travel on a Saturday or Sunday using weekend first on an HST-worked service. Lots of space. I've sometimes had almost an entire coach to myself, both into and out of Paddington on Saturday journeys. This is despite standard being jammed full between London and Oxford both ways - it's only a fiver to do that leg on weekend first but people just don't seem to want to pay it.

And Network Card fares apply all the way out to Worcester.

I commuted for 6 years from WOS to PAD - almost daily - and can say there was never advance fares

HOWEVER

I was happy to pay the FC fare - so much so that now I live in Bristol I cry at the FC fare and am gradually de sensitizing myself to cattle class

Other than the student special to / from Oxford, are there Advance fares to anywhere within the old NSE area?.....

There are advance fares from Waterloo to Weymouth and Exeter with SWT.

London Midland offer advances to Northampton.

Southern offer advances to many destinations on their network.

Chiltern offer advances along their routes.

Sorry, I meant on FGW.....

The only advance fares in the LTV area are on PAD<>OXF standard class only.

At the weekend/bank holiday splitting at Oxford and combining with Weekend First can make the fare a bit more agreeable to/from Worcester or Hereford.

As an example, travelling this Saturday on the 1213 HST from Hereford:

HFD-OXF Off Peak Day Single ^19.80
OXF-PAD Standard Advance ^4.00
Weekend First upgrade ^15.00

Total: ^38.80.

That's only a fiver more than the through Standard fare and half the price of the through First Class fare.

Although technically, I believe you can't Weekend First a Standard Advance?

Yes you can. From FGW website (http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=3973):

ok, thanks! Is FGW the only TOC on which you can?....

CrossCountry, Virgin and SWT do not allow Standard Advance holders to upgrade.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/promotions/pr3744bcc35ce7410024862c7ece4649/details.html

You can upgrade standard advance tickets with Virgin as I have done so many times.

PS ATOC need to ruddy well update the above page as its very out of date.

There are lots of errors and omissions on the NRE website. Trouble is some work in the passengers favour.....

Unless you absolutely must travel first class, quite frankly, you might just as well go on one of the weekday HSTs out to Hereford. There's always lots of room on them in standard west of Oxford, even unoccupied table seats. Those ^4 fares can be found from mid-morning on weekdays and it only tends to go up to ^5 for afternoon peak services heading into London from Oxford. You can also get ^6.50 advance singles to Oxford from Paddington on the 17.22, 17.50 and 18.22 if you're booking far enough ahead, a heck of a saving on the ^17.15 anytime single.

And if you have one, using a Network Railcard for Oxford to Worcester Foregate Street and buying a Wof-Hereford ticket would trim another ^1.95 off the example above.

^7.80 Wof-Hfd
^10.05 Wof-oxf using railcard
^4 oxf-pad
^15 weekend first
=^36.85

And if you don't mind doing some of the run on Arriva, FGW will sell you an ^11.50 advance single for some weekday off-peak journeys between London and Hereford via Newport.

Quick question. Can you buy a weekend first upgrade for the complete journey with split tickets like the examples shown above?

I've never had a problem buying Weekend First with split tickets. Done it numerous times on FGW, a couple of times with Virgin and once with TPE. The upgrade should be for the journey being made, not the tickets held.