Many thanks for all the replies.  I know a lot more about FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s fare structures now!  I've contacted their customer services dept but I'm not holding my breath.

Great forum BTW^▸ ('by the way')!

Yes, absolutely.  I can guarantee you though that the on the trips I make capacity isn't an issue!  I'd say the carriages are well under 25% capacity - about as quiet as train journeys get.

Wow.  Thanks for explaining the system.  So it seems they are able to do more or less what they like with these fares.

Even so, I can't believe that they feel able to increase these advance fares across the board by over 30% and not be answerable to anyone.  I can't think of any other service that would get away with that sort of increase without there being an outcry.

Thanks both for the replies!


So it looks like the ^13 fares still exist but instead of being able to book them up to a few days in advance, they would now have to be booked almost 3 months ahead?

I originally thought that this could be a result of a large decrease of allocation (meaning the very few available are snapped up quickly), but the more journeys I checked the more it became apparent that the ^13 fares aren't available on ANY journeys less than 2 months in advance.  The chances of this being a result of the all the advance fares having been bought already is so slim as to rule it out.

This would seem to suggest that there has been a change in allocation policy rather than a just a reduced allocation.  Whatever the reason, an increase of over 30% is really hard to take and would sadly make it impossible for me to make this journey so often.

What are the chances of getting FGW^▸ (First Great Western) to explain what's going on here?

Once a month I make a return trip from Paddington to Chippenham to visit my elderly mother, outward on Saturday morning at 7am and returning Monday 13.55.

For the last few years the fare was ^11.50 each way, rising to ^13 last year,  for advance tickets.  There was never any problem with availability - I could often leave booking until the week of travel.

I was therefore staggered when I tried to book exactly the same trip last week.  The cheapest fares for these journeys is now ^18.50 each way.  I was trying to book 2 weeks in advance so there should have been no problem with availability.  Just to check I looked at the same times 3, 4 and even 5 weeks in advance.  No ^13 advance fares available on any trip - only the ^18.50 cheapest.

What the hell is going on!  This is over a 30% increase in ticket price.  I thought these advance off-peak fares were Government regulated?

Just to be clear, the journey times I travel are when the trains are virtually empty - never more than a handful of people on each coach.  In other words, precisely when advance fares should (and always have been) available.

Does anyone have the faintest idea what has suddenly changed in the last 3 weeks that would have lead to this?