Farnborough - Weymouth Weekend Super Off Peak restriction

[FenMan]

When SWT introduced their 2-tier off peak pricing to travel away from London on weekend day trips, many Off Peak fares were re-labelled Super Off Peak and morning travel restrictions were introduced. Presumably this was to manage demand on crush loaded routes such as Farnham to Alton! Sorry, cynicism got the better of me there.

Anyway, some of the SWR Weekend Super Off Peak tickets for longer journeys have no time restrictions e.g. Farnborough to Weymouth. These carry restriction 8A, which states:-

Outward Travel
Break of journey is not permitted except to change trains at an intermediate station or to access station facilities.

I've never come across an outward break of journey restriction on SWR (SWT) before. As it happened, we did break our outward journey and there were no issues (I only found out about the restriction after the event).

Given that 8A has no other restrictions whatsoever, is this a case of the SWT pricing team having to allocate some kind of restriction to these new tickets and plumping for one that is inappropriate? Or an attempt to generate more revenue from the unwary?

The restriction used by Great Northern for similar tickets, FB, would be more appropriate IMO.

 

[30907]

If there are tickets to stations short of Weymouth which ARE time restricted, then 8A serves to prevent people using a cheap Weymouth ticket instead of a more expensive one to Southampton (hypothetical example, I haven't checked).

Using a BOJ outward restriction for this purpose has a long history (many years ago, when I had an NFM on my desk, London to Edinburgh was an example as the London to Newcastle equivalent had a morning restriction - Monthly Return I think, it was 40 years ago).
So it is to protect revenue, but not quite the way you describe.

The FB restriction simply underlines which days the ticket can be used.

BTW restrictions should be advised at the time of booking....

 

[Starmill]

The BoJ restriction is there because some tickets to London from further away are less restricted than tickets from closer stations. They have just taken that and run with it on non-London flows too.

XA is another bizarre one. It prohibits a change of trains...

 

[Hadders]

XA is another bizarre one. It prohibits a change of trains...

Following dialogue with SWR that's now been changed.

 

[FenMan]

If there are tickets to stations short of Weymouth which ARE time restricted, then 8A serves to prevent people using a cheap Weymouth ticket instead of a more expensive one to Southampton (hypothetical example, I haven't checked).

The 8A restriction kicks in for journeys from Farnborough to Brockenhurst and points west.
But there is nothing to be gained by buying a Super Off Peak to Brockenhurst and stopping short. On the contrary, there is a significant price cliff to travel to Brockenhurst and beyond:-

£24.20 Super Off Peak to Brockenhurst
£19.80 Off Peak to preceding station, Beaulieu Road

 

[Starmill]

Following dialogue with SWR that's now been changed.

Oh good. That made absolutely no sense!

 

[30907]

The 8A restriction kicks in for journeys from Farnborough to Brockenhurst and points west.
But there is nothing to be gained by buying a Super Off Peak to Brockenhurst and stopping short. On the contrary, there is a significant price cliff to travel to Brockenhurst and beyond:-

£24.20 Super Off Peak to Brockenhurst
£19.80 Off Peak to preceding station, Beaulieu Road

In which case it doesnt make sense!

 

[Starmill]

In which case it doesnt make sense!

Nope, but then a lot of restriction codes don't!