Hypothetical Season Ticket validity question

If your season ticket route passes a short branch line inbetween your origin and destination, is that branch line included?

Eg: Stockport to Sheffield. Is Rose Hill Marple included?
Eg: Banbury to London Terminals. Are Henley, Marlow, Windsor included?
Eg: Cardiff Central to Bridgend. Are Penarth and Barry Island included?

Any other interesting examples I've not mentioned that are allowed or not allowed?

Seasons are no different from other tickets in terms of routeing validity. There’s no reason that any of these stations would be included unless the trip there and back from the main route is less than 3 miles. Even then I think you’d struggle with acceptance in at least some cases.

I would defer to fares experts (a little knowledge is a dangerous thing), but I would say generally not; however, it does occur to me to wonder if the 3 mile rule helps here. If the branch line is less than 1.5 miles long, AND the branch junction station is on the shortest route between the origin and destination of the ticket, could one argue that the route origin–junction–branch terminus–junction–destination is a valid route, on the basis of being less than 3 miles longer than that shortest route?

In my case, I’m interested in applying the theory to the Stansted Airport [SSD] spur. I hold a Cambridge [CBG]–London season and wondered if it would be valid to do the journey by Cross-Country CBG–SSD and change to the Stansted Express. I doubt there is anywhere in the timetable where this would be an optimal choice – but I wonder if it would be a possibility if the direct CBG–Liverpool Street trains were disrupted? I have to confess also that I haven’t checked the length of the spur, so it may be the case that, whether or not my theorising is correct, it doesn’t apply here.

alistairlees said:

*snip* unless the trip there and back from the main route is less than 3 miles. Even then I think you’d struggle with acceptance in at least some cases.

Click to expand...

Ah, crossed posts. What alistairlees says here seems to agree with what I just suggested. Is this widely accepted (at least on this forum, if not in real life!) to be correct?

eljajo95 said:

I would defer to fares experts (a little knowledge is a dangerous thing), but I would say generally not; however, it does occur to me to wonder if the 3 mile rule helps here. If the branch line is less than 1.5 miles long, AND the branch junction station is on the shortest route between the origin and destination of the ticket, could one argue that the route origin–junction–branch terminus–junction–destination is a valid route, on the basis of being less than 3 miles longer than that shortest route?

Click to expand...

Technically yes, but in practise it may be problematic.

eljajo95 said:

Ah, crossed posts. What alistairlees says here seems to agree with what I just suggested. Is this widely accepted (at least on this forum, if not in real life!) to be correct?

Click to expand...

It is correct.

eljajo95 said:

In my case, I’m interested in applying the theory to the Stansted Airport [SSD] spur. I hold a Cambridge [CBG]–London season and wondered if it would be valid to do the journey by Cross-Country CBG–SSD and change to the Stansted Express. I doubt there is anywhere in the timetable where this would be an optimal choice – but I wonder if it would be a possibility if the direct CBG–Liverpool Street trains were disrupted? I have to confess also that I haven’t checked the length of the spur, so it may be the case that, whether or not my theorising is correct, it doesn’t apply here.

Click to expand...

That's absolutely valid anyway; there is no need to check the length of the spur.

Stansted (Routeing) Group is on a mapped route between Cambridge and London.

yorkie said:

*snip*
That's absolutely valid anyway; there is no need to check the length of the spur.

Stansted (Routeing) Group is on a mapped route between Cambridge and London.

Click to expand...

Ah yes – of course! What I said about a little knowledge...

Come to think of it, I would guess the same point about a Routeing Group probably applies to lots of similar short branches. Say, Colchester Town, Wrexham Central, even Newhaven Marine (!), ...?