Royston Vasey
Established Member
I've been booking some tickets Royston to Manchester this evening for a Friday out, Sunday return trip in October.
Searching the NXEC and FTPE sites, I can separately get a wide range of trains and fares from Royston - Doncaster and Doncaster - Manchester. Can get advance fares from NXEC and FTPE from the separate websites, from as little as £10 something and £3.30 for the two legs (great value both NXEC and FTPE btw, compared to Virgin's complete lack of advance fares for this trip via Euston, even searching weeks ago!)
Anyway, two issues which I'm not impressed with...
The standard Trainline search Piccadilly to Royston departing after 1700 (a not unreasonable time!) with no via specified, brings up only 1 option:
Station Arr Dep Travel by Service Provider
MANCHESTER PICCADILLY 19:45 Train VIRGIN TRAINS
LONDON EUSTON 23:08 23:08 Tube*
FINSBURY PARK 00:12 00:12 Train FIRST CAPITAL CONNECT
ROYSTON 01:13
Looking for earlier trains gives a ridiculous set of services!!
Station Arr Dep Travel by Service Provider
MANCHESTER PICCADILLY 16:07 Train NORTHERN RAIL
SHEFFIELD 17:32 18:02 Train NORTHERN RAIL
RETFORD 18:43 19:37 Train HULL TRAINS
GRANTHAM 19:56 20:58 Train NATIONAL EXPRESS EAST COAST
PETERBOROUGH 21:19 21:45 Train FIRST CAPITAL CONNECT
HITCHIN 22:28 22:47 Train FIRST CAPITAL CONNECT
ROYSTON 23:04
I don't understand this, because via Doncaster or even York should be a valid route for the journey, having done this before... So why doesn't Trainline etc suggest a FTPE service to Doncaster then NXEC to Stevenage with FCC connection?? This route is quicker, with less changes and satisfies my chosen time. Also specifying via Doncaster says no services match my request. :-? If this isn't a valid route in one ticket, then why not offer two separate tickets?
There was a range of trains I could have got that get me home hours before the suggested routes. In the end, booking four separate tickets, two through NXEC and two through FTPE gave a total of £36 (actually I went 1st class all the way £52). If anyone is interested, actual routing is as follows:
Outward:
12:43 Royston - Hitchin 1258 FCC
13:17 Hitchin - Peterborough 14:05 FCC
14:25 Peterborough - Doncaster 15:25 NXEC
15:42 Doncaster - Manchester Piccadilly 17:03 FTPE
Return:
17:!5 Manchester Piccadilly - Doncaster 18:33 FTPE
19:10 Doncaster - Stevenage 20:32 NXEC
20:42 Stevenage - Royston 21:04 FCC
Long post I know, but two questions
1. Why can't Trainline display this through journey and/or sell me multiple tickets if it has to, especially since it can be done cheaper than the off-peak return?? Why do I have to use four different tickets in two different transactions from two different websites?? There are cheaper and more convenient alternatives, using absolutely reasonable routing, and yet Trainline doesn't display them.
2. Why can't the advance fares I bought be sold from one interface?? NXEC's excellent mixing desk wouldn't display anything but the standard single, even via Leeds (i.e. no competition between TOCs) Ok maybe I don't expect NXEC to sell FTPE only tickets, but why can't I even through Trainline?
Fortunately I can be bothered to search different TOC websites and buy 4 separate tickets, but thousands wouldn't!!
Searching the NXEC and FTPE sites, I can separately get a wide range of trains and fares from Royston - Doncaster and Doncaster - Manchester. Can get advance fares from NXEC and FTPE from the separate websites, from as little as £10 something and £3.30 for the two legs (great value both NXEC and FTPE btw, compared to Virgin's complete lack of advance fares for this trip via Euston, even searching weeks ago!)
Anyway, two issues which I'm not impressed with...
The standard Trainline search Piccadilly to Royston departing after 1700 (a not unreasonable time!) with no via specified, brings up only 1 option:
Station Arr Dep Travel by Service Provider
MANCHESTER PICCADILLY 19:45 Train VIRGIN TRAINS
LONDON EUSTON 23:08 23:08 Tube*
FINSBURY PARK 00:12 00:12 Train FIRST CAPITAL CONNECT
ROYSTON 01:13
Looking for earlier trains gives a ridiculous set of services!!
Station Arr Dep Travel by Service Provider
MANCHESTER PICCADILLY 16:07 Train NORTHERN RAIL
SHEFFIELD 17:32 18:02 Train NORTHERN RAIL
RETFORD 18:43 19:37 Train HULL TRAINS
GRANTHAM 19:56 20:58 Train NATIONAL EXPRESS EAST COAST
PETERBOROUGH 21:19 21:45 Train FIRST CAPITAL CONNECT
HITCHIN 22:28 22:47 Train FIRST CAPITAL CONNECT
ROYSTON 23:04
I don't understand this, because via Doncaster or even York should be a valid route for the journey, having done this before... So why doesn't Trainline etc suggest a FTPE service to Doncaster then NXEC to Stevenage with FCC connection?? This route is quicker, with less changes and satisfies my chosen time. Also specifying via Doncaster says no services match my request. :-? If this isn't a valid route in one ticket, then why not offer two separate tickets?
There was a range of trains I could have got that get me home hours before the suggested routes. In the end, booking four separate tickets, two through NXEC and two through FTPE gave a total of £36 (actually I went 1st class all the way £52). If anyone is interested, actual routing is as follows:
Outward:
12:43 Royston - Hitchin 1258 FCC
13:17 Hitchin - Peterborough 14:05 FCC
14:25 Peterborough - Doncaster 15:25 NXEC
15:42 Doncaster - Manchester Piccadilly 17:03 FTPE
Return:
17:!5 Manchester Piccadilly - Doncaster 18:33 FTPE
19:10 Doncaster - Stevenage 20:32 NXEC
20:42 Stevenage - Royston 21:04 FCC
Long post I know, but two questions
1. Why can't Trainline display this through journey and/or sell me multiple tickets if it has to, especially since it can be done cheaper than the off-peak return?? Why do I have to use four different tickets in two different transactions from two different websites?? There are cheaper and more convenient alternatives, using absolutely reasonable routing, and yet Trainline doesn't display them.
2. Why can't the advance fares I bought be sold from one interface?? NXEC's excellent mixing desk wouldn't display anything but the standard single, even via Leeds (i.e. no competition between TOCs) Ok maybe I don't expect NXEC to sell FTPE only tickets, but why can't I even through Trainline?
Fortunately I can be bothered to search different TOC websites and buy 4 separate tickets, but thousands wouldn't!!