Hi,
The season ticket for Chester to Manchester is £77/week for all routes. I was wondering what this means in practice i.e. from Chester, I can go to Manchester via Liverpool, Crewe, Mid-cheshire line, Fast line through warrington, line through to Victoria. Taking it too extreme, I can travel via Euston !.
Does anyone know what 'all routes' actually means?
If you have a ticket routed "Any Permitted" then you can take:
1) Any direct train;
2) Any train(s) along the shortest rail-only route, or any route no more than 3 miles longer than this; and
3) Any train(s) along the "mapped routes".
For the first, that's pretty self-explanatory.
For the second, the shortest rail-only route is via Warrington Bank Quay and Earlestown, at 40.69 miles (to Piccadilly, that is - the mileage to Victoria etc. is different, but it is the shortest route for all Manchester Stations). However, it is
shorter than this to take the route via Warrington Bank Quay, walk to Central, and then onto Manchester via Irlam, so that is also a permitted route. There are no other routes I can see that are within 3 miles of this length.
For the third, the mapped routes are broadly speaking via Warrington Bank Quay and Earlestown, via Warrington Bank Quay and Central, via Altrincham and Stockport, via Crewe and East Didsbury (whether via Manchester Airport or not), and via Crewe and Stockport.
The easiest way to find out whether a route you want to take is a permitted route, is to try to get the route up on National Rail Enquiries and to see whether you're offered
one through ticket with the same route (Any Permitted) as the ticket you hold. If you are offered this then it is a permitted route. Note that for some non-permitted routes, National Rail Enquiries will offer a combination of tickets. In almost all cases, this means that it is
not a permitted route for a through ticket.
