Advance tickets. Why do so many ‘&Connections’ require a counted place

[redreni]

Good luck to anyone attempting to create a journey planner that does all that!

You will unfortunately just have to add each leg to your basket individually, as was the case back in the days before automated splitting sites.

Yes, I find it is often the case that products and services I would use either don't come to market at all, or get discontinued in short order because it's basically only me and a couple of other people who buy them!

I do indeed tend to split up my journeys in the way you suggest, which is generally fine as I will have checked that the overall itinerary is valid. It'd just be more convenient, on the whole, to have the tickets issued against a single itinerary (which would then have to be honoured even if there were a dispute about the itinerary's validity, e.g. journeys with a lower MCT when changing between St Pancras International (low level) and Kings Cross issued by Trainline-derived journey planners compared to others).

 

[yorksrob]

The problem isn't so much with journey planners per se, it's more to do with the system requiring all journey legs with reserveable trains to be booked train only.

In any remotely sensible system, only the principle/IC leg would be booked train only.

 

[JonathanH]

The problem isn't so much with journey planners per se, it's more to do with the system requiring all journey legs with reserveable trains to be booked train only.

In any remotely sensible system, only the principle/IC leg would be booked train only.

That doesn't follow other than in the instance of very high frequency connections.

For the average user, the principle of having all the connections specified is the most straightforward and understandable approach as it informs them of all the trains they need to take.

 

[yorksrob]

That doesn't follow other than in the instance of very high frequency connections.

For the average user, the principle of having all the connections specified is the most straightforward and understandable approach as it informs then of all the trains they need to take.

I've never found that personally.

I prefer to focus on the really important IC section of the journey, then be free to get there and out at the other end at my leisure - this for ordinary hourly/half hourly connecting services.

It doesn't in any way whatsoever make it more "straightforward" or "understandable" to be tied to more than one booked train in a series. It makes it more complicated and difficult.

Plus, journey planners are more than capable of providing connection options without booking you onto them.

 

[gnolife]

I've never found that personally.

I prefer to focus on the really important IC section of the journey, then be free to get there and out at the other end at my leisure - this for ordinary hourly/half hourly connecting services.

It doesn't in any way whatsoever make it more "straightforward" or "understandable" to be tied to more than one booked train in a series. It makes it more complicated and difficult.

Plus, journey planners are more than capable of providing connection options without booking you onto them.

So for a journey from, say, Carlisle to Plymouth, which one train do you tie the person to - Carlisle to Birmingham, or Birmingham to Plymouth?

 

[MrJeeves]

So for a journey from, say, Carlisle to Plymouth, which one train do you tie the person to - Carlisle to Birmingham, or Birmingham to Plymouth?

On two intercity services, it'd make sense to keep both as booked train only.

In my opinion what you'd need is some form of intercity/suburban flag where if an IC service is included in an advance, the suburban services do not require reservations...

...but then you end up with issues on long distance suburban trains with perhaps one IC leg on the end, such as Brighton to Grantham. You might get Thameslink all the way to Peterborough, then do one stop on LNER. Does that qualify your Thameslink legs to be unreserved? I don't think it should.

 

[ThisIsSurbiton]

In any remotely sensible system, only the principle/IC leg would be booked train only.

This would be easy to do - there is information in the fares data about which is the "main" TOC for a TOC-specific fare and it would be simple to only require reservations on their legs. I asked RDG about it and they didn't agree, reserve everything

 

[yorksrob]

So for a journey from, say, Carlisle to Plymouth, which one train do you tie the person to - Carlisle to Birmingham, or Birmingham to Plymouth?

They're both long distance journeys in their own right, so I wouldn't have such a problem. If we were looking at shorter journeys like Crewe to Plymouth or Cheltenham to Carlisle, the shorter sections shouldn't be booked train only.

Also, where there is an IC leg and a non IC leg, only the IC leg should be booked train only.

This would be easy to do - there is information in the fares data about which is the "main" TOC for a TOC-specific fare and it would be simple to only require reservations on their legs. I asked RDG about it and they didn't agree, reserve everything

That's interesting, so the railway already has a way of prioritising journey legs, but as usual, the industry prefers to operate the system for its own convenience.

 

[redreni]

This would be easy to do - there is information in the fares data about which is the "main" TOC for a TOC-specific fare and it would be simple to only require reservations on their legs. I asked RDG about it and they didn't agree, reserve everything

Ah, RDG.

Gotta be modern, haven't we?

 

[Deerfold]

That doesn't follow other than in the instance of very high frequency connections.

For the average user, the principle of having all the connections specified is the most straightforward and understandable approach as it informs them of all the trains they need to take.

When my local journey was unreserved, I was still given a time to catch my train, which was the latest train to make a valid connection. I just had the freedom to catch an earlier train if I got to my local station in time (I could even try and catch one with a below minimum connection time, but with the knowledge I was not covered if that made me miss my main train).