Why offer advanced ONLY on the train with an unreliable connection?

grahame

Administrator
Hero Member

Posts: 43862

Why offer advanced ONLY on the train with an unreliable connection?

« on: November 20, 2012, 08:39:05 »

It wasn't the first time last night ... delays to the 17:45 off Paddington to Swansea, and the TransWilts connection, which is allowed 8 minutes, misses at Swindon. For passengers to Trowbridge, Westbury and Warminster, this typically results in a late arrival (assuming everything else is on time) of around half an hour. For Dilton Marsh, you're looking at 2 hours, and for Melkskam there's no other connection, and you end up with a taxi or a wait for the late bus.

Question ... why on earth are advanced fares to Melksham ONLY offered on the 17:45? It's a tight change at Swindon which results in frequent missed connections at great expense. Why not offer advanced fares on the 17:30?
*) Much better change - Chippenham (Same Platform) rather than Swindon
*) Much less likely to fail to connect, so saves First on taxi fares
*) Much less stressful for the traveller
*) For people for whom a short journey is critical, there's better fare differentiation. Cheaper is a bit slower (and that's not going to worry people who are price-driven)


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Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member

stationstop

Jr. Member

Posts: 21

Re: Why offer advanced ONLY on the train with an unreliable connection?

« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2012, 10:39:42 »

Grahame,

It might be possible to do that combination on an earlier train. It's possibily a limitation of the booking software. Have you tried forcing a longer connection time?

Very often this produces results.


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Trowres

Transport Scholar
Hero Member

Posts: 821

Re: Why offer advanced ONLY on the train with an unreliable connection?

« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2012, 13:47:30 »

Hmm, on the Nationalrail site, allowing extra interchange time has a minimum half-hour increment, so it puts one on an even earlier train than desired. However, using the "Exclude interchange" option to avoid SWI^» worked (and also showed the alternative route via Westbury).

Whether or not the TOC^▸ booking engines replicate this I haven't the time to check. Sad


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JayMac

Data Manager
Hero Member

Posts: 19304

Re: Why offer advanced ONLY on the train with an unreliable connection?

« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2012, 15:55:32 »

Using the 'text only' versions of WebTIS booking engines, which now include FGW^▸ 's, allows you to specify 'extended station change times'.

http://tickets.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/gw/en/JourneyPlanning/Wizard/StationSelect

Looking at a specimen journey from Paddington to Melksham on 27th November I was able to get the booking engine to offer me an Advance Purchase fare on the 1730 changing at Chippenham.


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