Travelling between London and Exeter (and points west thereof), 20th-24th March?

[whole diary]

[PhilWakely]

Are you likely to be travelling (in either direction) between London Paddington and Exeter (or points west thereof) next week [Monday 20th thru Thursday 24th March]?

The line will be closed in the Taunton area, so through trains will be diverted between Exeter St Davids and Castle Cary, via Honiton and Yeovil Junction and take longer. Fares to London Terminals, marked 'via Honiton' are generally much cheaper than the 'traditional route' via Taunton and will be valid during the period of the diversions.

Booking engines do not appear to offer this 'via Honiton' fare, so please visit your nearest manned ticket office and request the 'via Honiton' fare.

*** edited to correct grammatical error ***

[grahame]

Booking engines do not appear to offer this 'via Honiton' fare, so please visit your nearest manned ticket office and request the 'via Honiton' fare.

So ... to arrive Exeter St Davids at around a quarter past 9 in the evening. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) site offers:

This week: 19:04 from PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) to EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains) (21:15) - £59.90 Super Off Peak Single

Next week: 18:04 from PAD to EXD (21:36) - £149.50 Anytime Day Single
Astonishing  offer - that's a "via Taunton" ticket so is not even valid on that train, is it?

I would have expected a fare of £85.20 ("via Honiton") to be offered automatically, and it would be honourable of the rail industry to continue to offer fares for a mid-evening arrival into Exeter at the regular price if they choose for their own (legitimate) purposes to slow the journeys down and make people leave London earlier.

[edit] - I have just checked what "via" means in more detail - example quoted for Stockport, but I think Taunton is the same. "It means (in the absense of any easements) you have to travel via Stockport, the train does not have to stop there but it does have to pass through."  So the "via Honiton" ticket IS valid next week, but the "via Taunton" is not.  So why is GWR selling the wrong ticket?

[IndustryInsider]

So why is GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) selling the wrong ticket?

Due to the limitations of ‘the system’.  ‘Via Honiton’ tickets are presumably set by SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) as that’s their normal route.  The fares engines won’t be clever enough to realise a diverted GWR service will be going that way and not stopping, so it won’t be offered.

Not ideal by any means, but the logic behind it is clear.  What I’m not clear on is how easy it would be to manually intervene and change the system for each train affected, and indeed whether it is possible at all?

[grahame]

So why is GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) selling the wrong ticket?

Due to the limitations of ‘the system’.  ....

Oh, I would 100% agree - which begs the wider question of "how have we ended up with a system like this ...".    If anyone wants to attempt a full answer, please let me know and I'll buy some more web space to host your answer 

[PhilWakely]

So why is GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) selling the wrong ticket?

Due to the limitations of ‘the system’.  ‘Via Honiton’ tickets are presumably set by SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) as that’s their normal route.  The fares engines won’t be clever enough to realise a diverted GWR service will be going that way and not stopping, so it won’t be offered.

Not ideal by any means, but the logic behind it is clear.  What I’m not clear on is how easy it would be to manually intervene and change the system for each train affected, and indeed whether it is possible at all?

Look at the 09:28 Newton Abbot to London Paddington, returning on the 16:04 ex-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains). Both services are advertised as stopping at Honiton, yet it still only offers the 'via Taunton' ticket at £113.20 instead of the £91 'via Honiton' ticket.

[PhilWakely]

So why is GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) selling the wrong ticket?

Due to the limitations of ‘the system’.  ‘Via Honiton’ tickets are presumably set by SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) as that’s their normal route.  The fares engines won’t be clever enough to realise a diverted GWR service will be going that way and not stopping, so it won’t be offered.

Not ideal by any means, but the logic behind it is clear.  What I’m not clear on is how easy it would be to manually intervene and change the system for each train affected, and indeed whether it is possible at all?

Therein lies the beauty of manned ticket offices! 

[ChrisB]

The fares manual is hard coded to each service - it doesn't interrogate each service every time a journey planner search finds that service to check its routing before assigning the appropriate fares.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) would have to change the fares applicable to each service manually to apply different fares.

[PhilWakely]

The fares manual is hard coded to each service - it doesn't interrogate each service every time a journey planner search finds that service to check its routing before assigning the appropriate fares.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) would have to change the fares applicable to each service manually to apply different fares.

Again, I refer you to reply #5 above 

[ChrisB]

Seriously, you think ticket office staff know their way around the fares manual? They don't even have a copy these days

[bobm]

There’s a bloke at Newton Abbot who’s pretty good at it. 

[ChrisB]

Soon to get sorted, with any luck

[Trowres]

From the latest issue of routeing guide easements:

Due to engineering works between Exeter and Taunton from 20 to 23 March 2023,
tickets priced on (00842) VIA TAUNTON, (00700) NOT VIA LONDON, (00411) AP
SLOUGH, (00820) GW^▸ (Great Western) ONLY, (00810) NOT VIA READING, (00000) ANY PERMITTED,
(00203) GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) SLEEPER & GWR and (00840) VIA HONITON will be valid for Travel on
Great Western trains via Honiton, Yeovil and Castle Cary. This map easement will not
apply to journeys that include travel via Brockenhurst or Salisbury. This map easement
applies in both directions

Indicates the intention was honourable, even if implementation wasn't right at the first attempt.

[trainbuff]

So why is GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) selling the wrong ticket?

Due to the limitations of ‘the system’.  ....

Oh, I would 100% agree - which begs the wider question of "how have we ended up with a system like this ...".    If anyone wants to attempt a full answer, please let me know and I'll buy some more web space to host your answer 

And what happens if all the ticket offices close? Asking for a friend

[DaveHarries]

So ... to arrive Exeter St Davids at around a quarter past 9 in the evening. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) site offers:

This week: 19:04 from PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) to EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains) (21:15) - £59.90 Super Off Peak Single

Next week: 18:04 from PAD to EXD (21:36) - £149.50 Anytime Day Single
Astonishing  offer - that's a "via Taunton" ticket so is not even valid on that train, is it?

I would have expected a fare of £85.20 ("via Honiton") to be offered automatically, and it would be honourable of the rail industry to continue to offer fares for a mid-evening arrival into Exeter at the regular price if they choose for their own (legitimate) purposes to slow the journeys down and make people leave London earlier.

Decided to run a query on my phone for trains between Waterloo and Exeter St. Davids for 22nd March departing at 1800.
1723 London Waterloo - Exeter St. Davids, arr. 2102 came up at £40.00 single with no change of train en-route.

The app I use is not one provided by an operator though.

Dave

[stuving]

That £40 single is an SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)-only advance, so couldn't be offered for a diverted GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) train.

I tried NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s OJP^▸ (Online Journey Planner) and, apart from that SWR advance, it would only offer GWR's "via Taunton" fares for any routing, even on dates with no line closure. As for their cheap fare finder, when asked to find a fare EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains)-WAT it crashed. So I suspect there's a problem with the data feeds.