The question of whether a
BEXHILL - LONDON VICTORIA Route ANY PERMITTED ticket is valid via Battle and London Bridge (and therefore may be used as a Battle - London Bridge ticket) is not straightforward.
The
National Routeing Guide tells us that:
- Journeys on direct trains or taking the route of shortest distance or a distance longer by no more than 3 miles are always following a permitted route.
- Journeys following a route given by the Routeing Guide are following a permitted route
Both these calculations involve some difficulties.
For the shortest route, we are told "
The shortest route is calculated by reference to the National Rail Timetable." Fortunately, a
helpful web site calculates this for us. It uses the distances in the
National Rail Timetable to calculate that the shortest route Bexhill - London Victoria is 66.25 miles via Battle and Herne Hill. It also calculates that none of the routes
longer by no more than 3 miles than the shortest route go through London Bridge.
But the distances in the
National Rail Timetable are not those used by the railway industry's booking engines. These are a set of distances in data files in the Rail Journey Information Service (RJIS). This data has recently been released to the public and, again fortunately, the same
helpful web site calculates these for us too. Using this data, the shortest route does indeed go via Battle and London Bridge, meeting the OP's needs.
According to RJIS, these are the shortest routes:
Shortest route from Bexhill to London Victoria (66.38 miles)
Bexhill 0, St Leonards Warrior Square 3.9, West St Leonards 4.84, Crowhurst 7.97, Battle 10.02, Robertsbridge 16.02, Etchingham 18.17, Stonegate 21.78, Wadhurst 26.33, Frant 28.97, Tunbridge Wells 31.23, High Brooms 32.76, Tonbridge 36.11, Hildenborough 38.61, Sevenoaks 43.52, Dunton Green 45.07, Knockholt 49.1, Chelsfield 50.34, Orpington 51.84, Petts Wood 52.98, Chislehurst 54.42, Elmstead Woods 55.4, Grove Park 56.69, Hither Green 58.48, St Johns (London) 60.08, New Cross 60.82, London Bridge 63.81, London Waterloo 64.86, London Victoria 66.38.
http://www.bukitlawang.com/routes/routes.aspx
This discrepancy raises the question of which set of data is correct, to which the emphatic answer is Neither! Both sets have many errors and omissions.
There are similar inconsistencies in the calculation of mapped Permitted Routes for this journey, particularly over the operation of the fares check.
Given that differing opinions are possible about the validity of this ticket by this route, we can only give our best guess about whether it is suitable for use for commuting Battle - London Bridge.
My guess is that it is likely to be accepted without challenge on more occasions than not, but a passenger is unlikely to go through the whole year without having to explain the validity. Whether it is suitable for the OP's friend depends upon how comfortable that person is explaining a ticket's validity when challenged.
