Thanks for the reply. I'm using a railcard, so would I need a paper ticket from Paddington to Maidenhead, and then travel to Taplow on that same ticket?Not unless you can find a booking engine that will sell you an Anytime Day Single going via Maidenhead.
It's 1 mile and 60 chains from Taplow to Maidenhead, so the double back is 3 miles and 40 chains. Therefore it isn't permitted under the 'shortest route + 3 miles' rule. It's also not a mapped route, as Maidenhead fails the fares check.
As long as you don't exceed the maximum journey time, you could travel via Maidenhead with a contactless card, and you would be charged £11.60 - less than the £12.10 Anytime Day Single to Taplow. That said, the paper ticket is still cheaper if you have a Railcard or other discount.
If you have a PAD-MAI single you can't do PAD-MAI-TAP. Your ticket would have expired when you arrived at MAI.Thanks for the reply. I'm using a railcard, so would I need a paper ticket from Paddington to Maidenhead, and then travel to Taplow on that same ticket?
There are peak hour services that run non-stop to Maidenhead. Up and down trains are often timetabled to cross at Maidenhead to improve connections to the Marlow branch.I can't see any combination that is faster via Maidenhead. Perhaps I am missing something?
Are there any contactless readers on the platforms? This would be potentially of benefit to passengers to or from the Marlow branch.Anytime Single (or Return) ticket with discount for Pad-Mai, then contactless card for the Mai-Tap leg.
I've never seen any installed. Same issue as Greenford, in that you have to go to downstairs to the barriers to touch in.Are there any contactless readers on the platforms? This would be potentially of benefit to passengers to or from the Marlow branch.
Just be careful which platform at Maidenhead is used by the GWR as platform 1 (mainline) doesn't have access to platform 4 without going via barriers. Although I would imagine most will use platform 3. (looking at RTT only the 16:50 Paddington - Didcot & 17:36 Paddington - Penzance are booked to use platform 1)
Someone who was a regular peak hour commuter from Taplow could avoid having to dash to and from the barriers by having a Maidenhead based season. On season tickets, doubling back is automatically permitted.The only feasible trains that make are time difference (according to Google Maps) are the 1650, 1720 and 1820 departures from Paddington.
I'm not 100% sure that I understand that post. Are you saying Season Tickets aren't subject to the routing guide or that you can have diifferent routes with a Season Ticket?On season tickets, doubling back is automatically permitted.
Someone with a Maidenhead to London season travelling from London to Taplow via Maidenhead would not be doubling back, they would simply be making a journey that is permitted by the season ticket allowing unlimited travel between the stated locations.Someone who was a regular peak hour commuter from Taplow could avoid having to dash to and from the barriers by having a Maidenhead based season. On season tickets, doubling back is automatically permitted.
Someone with a Maidenhead to London season travelling from London to Taplow via Maidenhead would not be doubling back, they would simply be making a journey that is permitted by the season ticket allowing unlimited travel between the stated locations.
Season tickets let you go in both directions, so a Paddington to Maidstone season ticket would be valid to go from Paddington to Maidstone and then to Taplow. This is in contrast to a single ticket, which does not allow doubling back, or a return ticket, where you must use the outwards portion first and can only use each portion once.I'm not 100% sure that I understand that post. Are you saying Season Tickets aren't subject to the routing guide or that you can have diifferent routes with a Season Ticket?
Season tickets let you go in both directions, so a Paddington to Maidstone season ticket would be valid to go from Paddington to Maidstone and then to Taplow. This is in contrast to a single ticket, which does not allow doubling back, or a return ticket, where you must use the outwards portion first and can only use each portion once.
Depends on whether you say it's one journey (Paddington to Taplow doubling back from Maidenhead) or two journeys (Paddington to Maidenhead followed by Maidenhead to Taplow). If the latter, I agree that it's not doubling back.Thats really not what doubling back is. That's just using the ticket. Doubling back in this instance would be something like going to Reading on a flyer and catching a stopper from there.
One station from Maidenhead up the line at Twyford, there are separately priced "via Reading" tickets.Doubling back in this instance would be something like going to Reading on a flyer and catching a stopper from there.
For the purposes of claiming delay repay would it not count as one journey?Depends on whether you say it's one journey (Paddington to Taplow doubling back from Maidenhead) or two journeys (Paddington to Maidenhead followed by Maidenhead to Taplow). If the latter, I agree that it's not doubling back.
Yes definitely; I think you can take any route you want as long as you stay within the contactless area and don't go over the maximum journey time. This is the general principle for Oyster and contactless within the London zones and I can't see how it would be different when traveling outside the zones. As the journey under discussion is quite a bit shorter than the usual journey time for Paddington to Taplow, hitting the maximum journey time certainly won't be a problem here!But can you double back when paying contactless?
no way that route's less than three miles longer than the shortest...Maidstone??
If only the routing guide permitted it.no way that route's less than three miles longer than the shortest...