Changes to weekend travel restrictions on SWT

So the new restrictions come into play tomorrow, I bet they will catch a few passengers out for the first few weekends as they haven't really advertised it.

I wonder if the TVM at Grateley will sell me the Super-off peak travelcard tomorrow morning for the 05:59 service (which I believe is a valid train with an arrival into London for 07:20) (that is if the TVM has been fixed)

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Update, issued the travel card with no issues, just two screens with something like "please be aware this ticket isn't valid to arrive into London between X&Y" and "this ticket isn't valid to depart between X & Y".

Although it didn't operate any NR barriers but was fine with LU barriers

I'm trying to get my head around the new restrictions on super-off peak tickets at the weekend.

SWT Website said:

Travel towards London Waterloo:
•Not valid on trains arriving into London Waterloo and any station in London Zones 1-6 between 09:31 and 11:59.

Travel from London Waterloo:
•Not valid if you board a train departing London Waterloo between 04:30 and 10:59 or 16:00 and 18:30; Vauxhall between 04:30 and 11:05 or 16:03 and 18:35; Clapham Junction between 04:30 and 11:05 or 16:09 and 18:40.
•If you have Super Off Peak Day Travelcard, the restrictions above do not apply if you are travelling wholly within the London Zones 1-6 area.

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If read literally the above seems to mean that on travel towards Waterloo, you can't use a Super Off Peak Day Travelcard between 09.31 and 11.59 at all, even for journeys within London. But I'm not aware of such a restriction on these tickets before.

If this is the not the case, is there anything to stop me buying a super-off peak Travelcard and catching a train that arrives at Surbiton before the 09.31 cut off, (say the 08.46 from Farnborough Main) and simply staying on the train until Waterloo?

The coding of this change in the journey planners / fares sites is a shambles.

NRE will not display the SWT-priced Super Off Peak day returns to Waterloo or any London destinations at all on Saturdays or Sundays. Off Peak fares are displayed instead, so unwary customers who are travelling at times when the Super Off Peaks are valid will be suckered into paying too much for their journeys.

The Mixing Desk sites are displaying Super Off Peak fares to Waterloo correctly in line with the new restrictions, but, a big but, they are not showing any Super Off Peak fares to any other station in the Zones.

This is not good enough. The railway industry had several months to prepare for this change and has failed.

FenMan said:

The Mixing Desk sites are displaying Super Off Peak fares to Waterloo correctly in line with the new restrictions, but, a big but, they are not showing any Super Off Peak fares to any other station in the Zones.

This is not good enough. The railway industry had several months to prepare for this change and has failed.

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Are you sure?

I've just checked Surbiton, Clapham Junction and Finsbury Park from Farnborough Main on the SWT Website and they all appear to be selling the correct tickets.

Bill Badger said:

Are you sure?

I've just checked Surbiton, Clapham Junction and Finsbury Park from Farnborough Main on the SWT Website and they all appear to be selling the correct tickets.

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Er..... but Berrylands and Vauxhall only show Off Peak returns at all times.

Dogs Dinner :roll:

Bill Badger said:

Are you sure?

I've just checked Surbiton, Clapham Junction and Finsbury Park from Farnborough Main on the SWT Website and they all appear to be selling the correct tickets.

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Er quite, the SWT site is (mostly) displaying the correct fares. However, I'm talking about the Mixing Desk and NRE sites, neither of which are displaying correct fares.

Bill Badger said:

I'm trying to get my head around the new restrictions on super-off peak tickets at the weekend.



If read literally the above seems to mean that on travel towards Waterloo, you can't use a Super Off Peak Day Travelcard between 09.31 and 11.59 at all, even for journeys within London. But I'm not aware of such a restriction on these tickets before.

If this is the not the case, is there anything to stop me buying a super-off peak Travelcard and catching a train that arrives at Surbiton before the 09.31 cut off, (say the 08.46 from Farnborough Main) and simply staying on the train until Waterloo?

Click to expand...

Sounds like a good plan, switching over to the travelcard portion of the ticket after calling at Surbiton.

On Monday, the travelcard failed to operate any NR ticket gates, but operated LU ticket gates without issue.

Kite159 said:

Sounds like a good plan, switching over to the travelcard portion of the ticket after calling at Surbiton.

On Monday, the travelcard failed to operate any NR ticket gates, but operated LU ticket gates without issue.

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Due to Stagecoach's urge to gouge their customers just like their bus operationsSWT's haste to implement this, some useful splitting opportunities are now available to reduce the pain.

With these new rules only applying to journies east of Brockenhurst on the SWML, a Day Return from Brockenhurst is now cheaper than a Day Return from Southampton Central if you travel in the 'Off Peak' periods.

Albeit on a smaller scale, SWT have now introduced a situation similar to Lancaster/Preston on Virgin West Coast.

Hardly 'fares simplification'.

PhilipW said:

With these new rules only applying to journies east of Brockenhurst on the SWML, a Day Return from Brockenhurst is now cheaper than a Day Return from Southampton Central if you travel in the 'Off Peak' periods.

Albeit on a smaller scale, SWT have now introduced a situation similar to Lancaster/Preston on Virgin West Coast.

Hardly 'fares simplification'.

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I don't understand why this change of policy doesn't apply all the way back to Weymouth / Exeter. Surely it is the long distance services where the overcrowding is most acute, albeit once they are approaching London?

The whole situation is very odd. SWT have been offering a £15 ticket to I think anywhere on their network from January through to April but I think a similar promotion ran during the summer last year and I think for most of autumn/winter too. I seem to recall it was previously weekend only but now seems to apply during the week too (though there are peak restrictions on weekdays, but not at weekends).

In fact it sems the price is now £14. All you seem to have to do is book by midnight the day before (I don't think it's quota controlled). It covers the whole network so you can do e.g. Waterloo to Exeter for £14 return (although good luck trying to book such a fare on their hopeless website now that it does not allow you to specify "via Salisbury). And yet at the same time demand has (supposedly) risen to such an extent that we need more restrictions at weekends.

So on the one hand you have a long running promotion to seemingly encourage more weekend travel whilst at the same time more restrictions on walk up tickets seemingly to discourage more weekend travel!

It sems that now if you want to travel somewhere on SWT (especially a longer distance journey) if you book the day before it is now much cheaper and in some cases a real bargain (worth noting these promotion tickets are not tied to a specific train, unlike an advance).

To compound the confusion if you go onto the 'National rail' website and try and book a ticket, the options between 'Peak' and 'Off Peak' are highly confusing.

For example. A Day Return from Southampton Parkway to Waterloo arriving after 12:00 will show you the Super Off Peak fare (although labelled as 'Off Peak') and will blank out any return train from Waterloo between 16:00 and 18:30 thus giving the impression that you cannot return then. No 'Off Peak' fare option is given, although it does state that you can buy an 'Advance' single instead.

All highly confusing verging on the inaccurate. No wonder the general public finds all these fare options confusing. In this case I think it has reached the stage that the options available are beyond the capabilities of any online ticket system (current or future) to display them in an informative manner.

The SWT website does say that if you buy a Super Off Peak ticket but then decide to return in the Off Peak times, you can upgrade. I hope they don't mean that you have to queue up at the Waterloo ticket office for ages. I don't know whether the Waterloo gates will let an Super Off Peak through in the early evening if the customer wishes to upgrade on the train.

No mention of you being able to get a refund if you buy an Off Peak ticket and find that you have actually travelled back in Super Off Peak times too. No surprise there.

The days of anyone just taking a leisure trip to London and just coming back whenever you feel like it are long since gone if you want to travel for the cheapest (and correct) fare.

I think SWT Users can be forgiven if they remain very sceptical about all this talk about ticket simplification. It's not happening down here.

£14 single...

And IIRC the current £14 single offer isn't valid west of Yeovil Junction

At my local Station (Staines) there is a large poster up in the main entrance, with the words 'Get your weekend mojo back' and advertising 15% savings on selected fares at weekends. However if I travel to London the 'new' Super off-peak ticket does not seem much cheaper than the old one - and in many cases I pay significantly more as it can't be used at certain times of day. I completely understand the rationale for introducing weekend restrictions, but the 'mojo' poster seems a disingenuous way of advertising what most passengers will experience as an increase in their fares.

planetf1 said:

£14 single...

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... which is temporary and which I suspect is a marketing ploy to take the edge off the permanent 20% increase which many people will experience at the weekends.