FOSS and FOSW validity - some quirks

[whole diary]

[grahame]

I can guess the answers but can some ticket expert confirm please ...

Available after 09:00 (Mondays-Fridays) or when Off-Peak Day Return is valid (whichever is earlier). Additionally valid on the 08:26 Westbury to Penzance service.

Available all day Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.

Not available on bus or ferry links or any other rail routes not shown on the map.

a) There is no 08:26 Westbury to Penzance service but there IS an 08:20  Westbury to Paignton, on which off peak [period] returns to places like Tiverton are valid but I can's find any off peak  day returns valid on it.  Would an FOSS^▸ (Freedom of Severn & Solent rover ticket) / FOSW^▸ (Freedom of (the) South West Rover) be accepted on this train?

b) As FOSS and FOSW are "not available on bus", does this mean that the tickets are not accepted on buses that are run to replace trains?

c) The accompanying map shows only the FOSS (not the FOSW) valid from Romsey to Eastleigh via Chandlers Ford and from Brockenhurst to Lymington, and only the FOSW (not the FOSS) valid from Bristol Parkway direct to Newport.

As the quote and map are from the official National Rail web site, is it fair to assume these exclusions?

[LiskeardRich]

Bus or ferry links covers where you can buy a through ticket from train to bus.

There is for example a melksham to Padstow (PDT) ticket off peak single £63.70. The freedom of Southwest ticket isn’t valid for the bus link from Bodmin parkway to Padstow. Screen shot of itinerary

This is not intended to exclude rail replacement

[grahame]

Why do "Freedom" tickets always (it seems) fail to operate station barriers?  And why are some staff so helpful and friendly with passengers using them, and others come across as agressive (almost the sort of behaviour which they announce will not be tolerated to staff - but it's OK for staff to make customers feel REALLY small!).

The explanation I have been offered (of the barriers) is that it's a two part ticket and they have to check the write-in section (and they sometimes do check it) but surely with gates so common these days, their systems could monitor the number of days the ticket has been used anyway, and catch people on their 4th day on a 3-of-7 or 9th day on an 8-of-15. Want a bit more than that?  Print a scan code onto the ticket!

[ChrisB]

The 'QR^▸ (QR Code - Quick Response code (2D bar code)) code style ticket could be programmed to work, but the magstrip tickets have only 8 bytes of data storage on them & writing used dates isn't possible in that space

[grahame]

The 'QR^▸ (QR Code - Quick Response code (2D bar code)) code style ticket could be programmed to work, but the magstrip tickets have only 8 bytes of data storage on them & writing used dates isn't possible in that space

Is that the limit of what the ticket barriers can write or a total storage limit?   

[ChrisB]

I don't know - but is a figure I was quoted when I raised a similar query a few years ago

[froome]

I don't know - but is a figure I was quoted when I raised a similar query a few years ago

But strangely, the tickets do work in a minority of barriers. When I have had FOSS^▸ (Freedom of Severn & Solent rover ticket) tickets, I have found that each time at least a couple of different stations have had barriers which accepted them quite happily.

[ChrisB]

Incorrect programming in those gates?