Compulsory reservations and walk-up tickets

[JBuchananGB]

I am considering a trip as follows: 6 Sep Southport to Wylde Green, 8 Sep Wylde Green to Birmingham International and then to Southport. Senior Railcard Off Peak return fare applies. I suppose I will need a Day Return Birmingham New Street to Birmingham International as well. I could just buy the Southport to Wylde Green ticket at the Merseyrail ticket office at Southport on the day, but I am concerned about the issue of compulsory reservations, which are mentioned when I look online at TOC site to sell the tickets. If I just walk up and buy the tickets before travel, what's the situation with reservations? If I buy online and request reservations, what is my position when I board the 14.55 at Birmingham International, heading for Wigan, when any reservation I might have will start from New Street?

 

[Watershed]

You don't need reservations on any of those services. In fact the only operators insisting on reservations are Caledonian Sleeper and Grand Central, neither of which you'll be taking.

The reason that booking engines will be telling you that you 'must' have a reservation is that the timetable data isn't very granular. There's no way for TOCs to set it so booking engines are forced to issue a reservation (so they can monitor the number of people intending to travel on a given service) without booking engines interpreting this as meaning that reservations are compulsory for that service.

 

[sonic2009]

I am considering a trip as follows: 6 Sep Southport to Wylde Green, 8 Sep Wylde Green to Birmingham International and then to Southport. Senior Railcard Off Peak return fare applies. I suppose I will need a Day Return Birmingham New Street to Birmingham International as well. I could just buy the Southport to Wylde Green ticket at the Merseyrail ticket office at Southport on the day, but I am concerned about the issue of compulsory reservations, which are mentioned when I look online at TOC site to sell the tickets. If I just walk up and buy the tickets before travel, what's the situation with reservations? If I buy online and request reservations, what is my position when I board the 14.55 at Birmingham International, heading for Wigan, when any reservation I might have will start from New Street?

Split your ticket at Crewe to save £3.90 vs purchasing a Southport to Wylde Green SVR at £37.35.

	Price	Description
Southport to Crewe Anytime Short Distance Return (SHR) (Senior Railcard)	£13.65	Travel is allowed via any permitted route. Valid at any time - click for details
Crewe to Wylde Green Off-Peak Return (SVR) (Senior Railcard)	£19.80	Travel is allowed via any permitted route. Restriction CS applies - click for details

Purchasing the above also means you can leave Southport earlier than 0900 with the Anytime ticket to Crewe, as long as your train from Crewe leaves after 0900.

 

[JBuchananGB]

Thank you for the split ticketing advice. I wonder how the folks at Merseyrail will handle that when I rock up at their ticket office!

 

[sonic2009]

Thank you for the split ticketing advice. I wonder how the folks at Merseyrail will handle that when I rock up at their ticket office!

Shouldn't be an issue, just ask for those tickets.

Just to let you know the splits are valid via either Liverpool or Wigan depending on which way you decide to travel.

 

[JBuchananGB]

No problem obtaining the tickets. Encountered a problem on the return part of the journey when inserting the return portion of the Anytime Short Distance return into the barrier at Wigan Wallgate. Rejected with code 113. Ticket clearly marked valid from 6-Sep to 5-Oct. Gateline staff allowed me through. Also rejected when exiting at Southport with same code. Gateline staff let me through and I let them keep the ticket.