What counts as PM off peak?

[whole diary]

[stuving]

It passed me on to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).com to buy it, where I saw:

We're sorry but this ticket is no longer available. Choose a different time or date of travel and search again.

I had that the other day - picked a route on NRE^‡(resolve), when it went through to GWR it said it was not available. Went back to NRE, selected GA^▸ (Greater Anglia) and purchased it from them no problem what so ever.

When I tried to pick the route myself on GWR rather than on NRE, it refused to offer it to me. When I selected something close, it insisted on me having a Single Advance rather than the Return I wanted - stuffed if I could work out how to get the return. The GWR site really is absolute shite.

Can any regular users of the GWR.com JP/booking engine confirm that this is a new issue? I don't recall it being mentioned before the timetable change (or perhaps the more recent ticketing change with PAYG^▸ (Pay as you go)/contactless from Reading).

[ChrisB]

Yes, I've had this problem, but can't remember whether it was before or after the timetable change. I'm pretty certainl that it was before the fares increase date though.

I took it up with NRE^‡(resolve) twitter & tweeted them a couple of screenshots & they said it would be investigated. I suggest those able to do the same as the Rail Delivery Group that run both the NRE website/twitter feed and the data table that the OJP^▸ (Online Journey Planner) is looking up. The more queries they gwet, the more likely that something will be done

[Timmer]

The GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) site really is absolute shite.

Glad it’s not just me who thinks this when it comes to buying tickets on the GWR website. So much so that I will use any other TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) websites to buy tickets now. It’s a horrible interface.

I too have had an issue with GWR advance fares appearing on other ticket sites but not on the GWR website.

Somethings not right there. That and the issue I had with not receiving Nectar points which I have finally received after numerous emails between me and GWR Customer services 

[stuving]

I too have had an issue with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) advance fares appearing on other ticket sites but not on the GWR website.

The current issue isn't with Advance fares - it's possible, though undesirable, for those to appear differently on different search engines due to timing of their running our and latencies. The same can happen with air tickets, after all. But this time it's off-peak fares that GWR.com is saying are not available (because not valid) when NRE^‡(resolve) says they are. That should never happen.

[Marlburian]

... Leaflet 641894 shows 12 Tfl and 5 GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) departures from Paddington to Reading as off peak (OP^▸ (Original Poster / topic starter)). The TfL^» (Transport for London - about)'s all take between 57 and 61 minutes, the GWR trains 27 to 48 minutes...

A couple of days ago, someone on www.reading-forum.co.uk posted about such a leaflet and later made another post: "Here's the Flyer", which I took to be his attempt to provide a hyperlink. Only it isn't one. I'm not registered with the Forum, so I can't nudge him. I spent a few minutes looking for one on the GWR website and by Googling, and only got something relating to 2014.

I suspect that I could note down the trains from a timetable for myself (just five GWR services plus any TFL^▸ (Transport for London) train). And I may have time to kill at Reading Station tomorrow and, if so, I shall ask for the leaflet.

Marlburian

[stuving]

Back in December, onthecushions cited leaflet 641894 and lamented its absence from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s web site. I recently got hold of one, and have posted its picture here. Having peered intently at it for a while, I can see a couple of differences from the printed versions, both trains not allowed on the leaflet:

17:27 semifast - as the leaflet says it's for "departures to Reading", then they are right as this one only goes to Maidenhead. However, these evening restrictions (as in timetable T10) are now the same for all destinations short of Reading, so perhaps they should have changed that wording.

19:18 to Swansea - in this case the PDF on the website (TS) has been altered to show this as a peak service.

There wasn't a little card version as there used to be, though it would be easy enough to shorten the list by simply saying "all TfL^» (Transport for London - about) Rail trains are OK". Or would this be easier to remember?
GWR trains are not off-peak from 16:00 until:
17:30 for trains calling at Slough
18:30 for trains calling at Twyford
19:25 for any train

[Marlburian]

Thanks for that, Stuving. Handy, as my first visit to London since the new timetable was introduced is next week. My business will be completed by around 1700, so it's a choice between catching one of the very few semi-fast trains listed or killing time - something I can do in the summer wandering around parks and Olde London, but not so pleasant in February.

But that's a strange cluster of FGW^▸ (First Great Western) trains: 1849, another seven minutes later and a third 11 minutes after that.

I wonder how many "off-peak" people will get on other trains unwittingly or trying their luck. On the 125s there never seemed to be a ticket check.

[froome]

There wasn't a little card version as there used to be, though it would be easy enough to shorten the list by simply saying "all TfL^» (Transport for London - about) Rail trains are OK". Or would this be easier to remember?
GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trains are not off-peak from 16:00 until:
17:30 for trains calling at Slough
18:30 for trains calling at Twyford
19:25 for any train

The 19.02 train to Temple Meads via Bath Spa is off peak, so presumably that should read any train after 19.00?

[stuving]

There wasn't a little card version as there used to be, though it would be easy enough to shorten the list by simply saying "all TfL^» (Transport for London - about) Rail trains are OK". Or would this be easier to remember?
GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trains are not off-peak from 16:00 until:
17:30 for trains calling at Slough
18:30 for trains calling at Twyford
19:25 for any train

The 19.02 train to Temple Meads via Bath Spa is off peak, so presumably that should read any train after 19.00?

That may be so going to BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains), but not to RDG^‡(resolve) which is what the leaflet was about. Indeed, it's super off-peak, and there are other off-peak ones before that.

[froome]

There wasn't a little card version as there used to be, though it would be easy enough to shorten the list by simply saying "all TfL^» (Transport for London - about) Rail trains are OK". Or would this be easier to remember?
GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trains are not off-peak from 16:00 until:
17:30 for trains calling at Slough
18:30 for trains calling at Twyford
19:25 for any train

The 19.02 train to Temple Meads via Bath Spa is off peak, so presumably that should read any train after 19.00?

That may be so going to BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains), but not to RDG^‡(resolve) which is what the leaflet was about. Indeed, it's super off-peak, and there are other off-peak ones before that.

Ah yes, I should have read the thread in more detail. 

The announcements on that train are slightly confusing, as they says that super off-peak tickets are not valid, and then add afterwards that they are valid if travelling to Swindon or beyond (by which time some people will have switched off from hearing it).

[Gaz]

I get the train to Trowbridge from Chippenham before 9:00am and this is always off peak. I presume all TranWilts journeys are off peak regardless of time? Curiously when using the self service machine there is an on peak option which is double the price! It's not very clear. The ticket barriers won't let me in though but the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) staff always let me through

[stuving]

I get the train to Trowbridge from Chippenham before 9:00am and this is always off peak. I presume all TranWilts journeys are off peak regardless of time? Curiously when using the self service machine there is an on peak option which is double the price! It's not very clear. The ticket barriers won't let me in though but the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) staff always let me through

In that direction, the restriction on a day return for both legs is:

Not valid on trains timed to depart after 04:29 and before 08:44.

Starting at Trowbridge, the cut-off time is 9:30.

I'm sure that makes perfect sense, really.

[grahame]

I get the train to Trowbridge from Chippenham before 9:00am and this is always off peak. I presume all TranWilts journeys are off peak regardless of time? Curiously when using the self service machine there is an on peak option which is double the price! It's not very clear. The ticket barriers won't let me in though but the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) staff always let me through

No - from Chippenham the 06:27 train to Trowbridge is a peak train, and the 05:23, 07:09 and 07:42 from Trowbridge to Melksham are also peak trains.

There are three day return fares from Chippenham to Trowbridge
1.  The any permitted route, any time ticket at £10.20
2.  The via Melksham, any time ticket at £6.90
3.  The via Melksham, off peak ticket valid on any train timed to depart after 08:44, at £5.90

In that direction, the restriction on a day return for both legs is:

Not valid on trains timed to depart after 04:29 and before 08:44.

Starting at Trowbridge, the cut-off time is 9:30.

I'm sure that makes perfect sense, really.

Lovely.

[grahame]

To add ... Gaz, your train leaves Swindon at 08:44 and for anyone travelling from Swindon that is still - just - off peak, as the same restrictions on off peak apply from Swindon.  There was a bit of adjustment before the December timetable change to ensure that running it earlier (it used to be 08:53) didn't hike up all the fares when the next train isn't until after 11 O'Clock.

[Gaz]

Ah okay, thanks... makes sense! It's been FREE this week, because the train hasn't arrived