Advance availability differing along same branch

[JohnGeddes]

Can anyone help me understand why a search for tickets from the Buxton line to Windermere shows no Advance tickets from stations Buxton to Furness Vale, but Advance tickets available on the same train from Disley onwards? (Sample journey: to arrive at 1556 on 21/4/15).

I can't imagine there is a quota on middle-of-the-day Buxton-Manchester trains at all - and if there were, it seems odd to apply it part-way along the line, away from any obvious boundary point (Disley is just outside the GMPTE boundary). And if it were a distance criterion, surely it would apply to withhold Advance tickets for the shorter distances.

If there is any logic behind this, it would be good to know, as a starting point for future searches. Suggestions?

John Geddes

 

[Deerfold]

Can anyone help me understand why a search for tickets from the Buxton line to Windermere shows no Advance tickets from stations Buxton to Furness Vale, but Advance tickets available on the same train from Disley onwards? (Sample journey: to arrive at 1556 on 21/4/15).

I can't imagine there is a quota on middle-of-the-day Buxton-Manchester trains at all - and if there were, it seems odd to apply it part-way along the line, away from any obvious boundary point (Disley is just outside the GMPTE boundary). And if it were a distance criterion, surely it would apply to withhold Advance tickets for the shorter distances.

If there is any logic behind this, it would be good to know, as a starting point for future searches. Suggestions?

John Geddes

There are some, but on far fewer trains (I can see them on the 1802 from Buxton, interestingly at the fairly low tier of £9).

Pehaps Virgin think that people within the PTE are more likely to travel by train anyway?

 

[Paul Kelly]

The problem is not one of quotas but of clustering. For longer distance fares, Furness Vale will tend to be included in the same station cluster as Buxton whereas Disley will tend to be included with Stockport, resulting in a wider availability of fares - in particular TPE advances.

 

[JohnGeddes]

Thanks for the explanation. Is there any published documentation on how stations are clustered?

John

 

[John @ home]

Stations are clustered differently for different combinations of origin and destination, and sometimes differently for different ticket types. For any journey, the appropriate clusters can by viewed by entering origin and destination at brfares.com and choosing "Expert mode".