Taplow Exeter Day Returns

[whole diary]

[eightf48544]

When I look up Taplow Exeter I get 4 Off Peak Fares! With Senior Railcard

Looking at 9th august as you ahve to give a date.

I get 2 Super Off Peak and 2 Off Peak Return fares!

The ^40.25 Super Off Peak there's a ^61 Super Off Peak one as well which seems to  give me the same trains.

There are also two Off Peaks ^48.85 and ^74 which give me the 08:51 instead of the 09:51 as my first train.

 Advanced singles are ^31.70 Std most trains but ^29.50 1st out and ^24:10 fter 18:00 back.

Although if I go out on the 06:54 and back on the 19:54 it's ^16.15 both ways Std.

This is straight fares from Chiltern website. I like giving them 9%, before any splits.

Can anyone give a logical explananation?

Confused of Taplow

[super tm]

This is because of the network area.  There are two sensible routes for this journey.  Either go to reading and then via the berks and hants via Tauntonto exeter  or reading then basingstoke salisbury honiton to exeter.

As the network railcard only covers the via honiton option you need one fare for that route and another fare for the via taunton option.  Has always been this way.  London to Exeter tickets also have via Taunton and via Honiton options.

If there had never been a network area most likely there would be only one ticket.

The super off peak return via honiton is actually only a day return.

[JayMac]

Sorry, that's not correct, super tm.

The fares quoted by eightf, are all for the route: Reading not London. No mention was made of a Network Railcard.

When using a railcard on a WebTIS based booking engine such as Chiltern's, the fares options given include both the discounted and undiscounted fares. If you roll your mouse over each fare box you will see that some have the pop up text "...: 1 Senior Railcard" whilst others don't.

^40.25 Super Off Peak Return is the railcard discounted ^61 fare.
^48.85 Off Peak Return is the railcard discounted ^74 fare.

[eightf48544]

Thanks bignosemac, very neat feature, but how many people know to roll teh mouse over the fares?

Any viable splits?

[JayMac]

Are you coming back the same day or do you need the period return?

[eightf48544]

It would be a day return, however, it's now just another fares puzzle as we'll probably drive down later in the month.

Just to add to the confusion I got a print out from the station yesterday called Journey Planner Basket which purports to show a ^5.50 LEIADVPROMO ticket available today (5/8) Out on the 09:51 Taplow Reading 10:33 Reading Exeter.

I was not able to find it even on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website.

However, when you read the samll print at the bottom it says "Fares shown are subject to Availability". Presumably all the tickets at this price have been sold, so my question is  why does the FGW internal system produce such a misleading print out? It only adds to the confusion and could be considered misleading.

[JayMac]

Those LEIADVPROMO (Leisure Advance Promotion) fares are in the Fares Manual, but they aren't available to purchase.

A promotional fare that is in the database should FGW^▸ (First Great Western) decide to run a promotion. I'm not aware of these being sold in the recent past.

The Super Off Peak Return (^40.25 Railcard) is probably your best bet if you want to travel the quickest way via the Berks & Hants. First train it is valid on, on a weekday, is the 0951 from Taplow, change at Reading onto the 1033 Penzance train, which is non-stop to Exeter St Davids, arriving 1208. On the Berks & Hants there aren't really any good splitting points because of the irregular calling patterns trains to the west have.

If you want cheaper, and as it's a day return you are looking at, you can go via Bristol, splitting your tickets at Didcot, Bristol and Taunton. Longer journey time but a few quid saved.

Taplow - Didcot Parkway Off Peak Day Return (CDR^▸ (Off Peak Day Return [ticket type] (formerly 'Cheap Day'))) ^7.00. Valid after 0900
Didcot Parkway - Bristol Temple Meads CDR ^13.15
Bristol Temple Meads - Taunton CDR ^7.25
Taunton - Exeter St Davids CDR ^6.60

Total ^34.00.

Weekday outward you can catch the 0913 from Taplow, change at Reading onto the 0957 to Bristol Temple Meads Then the 1144 XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) from Bristol Temple Meads to Exeter St Davids arriving 1243.