Fare's not so Fair!!

[whole diary]

[mjones]

Also, it isn't unknown for people travelling west from Didcot to split at Swindon, so perhaps it is Swindon that is being given the over generous service. 

[ChrisB]

Bristol Parkway surely? Can you gain from Didcot, splitting at Swindon? The journey between the two is one if the most expensuve on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) fir the time/distance!

[JayMac]

A day return trip from Didcot Parkway to Cardiff Central will set you back ^44 for the cheapest through ticket; a Super Off Peak Return.

Splitting at Swindon brings that down to ^27.30. DID^▸ (Didcot Parkway)-SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) Off Peak Day Return ^9.40 plus SWI-CDF^» (Cardiff - next trains) Off Peak Day Return ^17.90.

If you were to split at Bristol Parkway the total would be ^30.60

Same goes for most journeys (day return) from Didcot to South Wales, best to split at Swindon.

[ChrisB]

I was thinking more of an Anytime ticket(s). Still the same?

[JayMac]

For my specific example of Cardiff it is just slightly cheaper to split at Bristol rather than Swindon when wanting fully flexible Anytime (return up to one month) tickets from Didcot. Go beyond Cardiff and it again is cheaper to split at Swindon.

For Off Peak (return up to one month) again it is cheaper to split at Swindon. For Super Off Peak there is no saving to be had by splitting.

[LiskeardRich]

could we not have a ticketing service where all fares are worked out in the same manner.
Perhaps a pence per mile charge,
Not sure what would be a good price, but looking a Paddington to Falmouth for example
a super off peak single is ^51,
Paddington to Falmouth is approx 300 miles (by road, quickest route)
so this is 17p a mile,
Plymouth to Falmouth is ^9.60 off peak single and around 65 miles. so about 14p a mile.

So we could have a flat single ticket cost of:
15p a mile off peak
30p a mile peak,
for a return jouney perhaps multiply the single fare by 1.5, (so my london example above would be ^75 approx)
perhaps double it for first class travel.

Such a ticket structure would get people out of their cars as it would be so much easier for them to see that train travel makes more economical sense. At the moment a lot of fares look like they are just random costings pulled out of a hat!