Guildford to Bath via Salisbury missing fare

[infobleep]

When I put in Guildford to Bath Spa via Salisbury day return, departing next firday morning at 7:37, it gives a return price of £236.60.

The times are as follows:
07:37 Guildford to Woking
08:16 Woking to Salisbury
09:40 Salisbury is Bath Spa

Return:
20:37 Bath Soa to Salisbury
21.42 Salisbury to Woking
22:55 Woking to Guildford

However the single ticket prices for both those journeys is £40.40 each.

It turns out the route via Warminster, set by South Western Railway, is missing a standard anytime day return and National Rail Enquiries App is showing the return price of the any permitted route by default, even if two singles are cheaper via the Warminster roite!

I doubt many people would want to get to Bath Spa via Salisbury but I did it once.

I only noticed this whilst researching the most expensive standard class fare from Guildford to only places South Western Railway run to when there isn't a pandemic on.

 

[JonathanH]

In theory, there is a standard "Anytime Open Return" from Guildford to Bath Spa routed Warminster-Salisbury at £80.80 but it is ticket type "OR2" rather than "Anytime Return" which is ticket type "SOR".
http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=GLD&dest=BTH&rte=800&tkt=OR2

However, it doesn't show up in the fares data used by booking engines.

There are two Anytime Returns from Guildford to Bath Spa
SOR: Any Permitted + is £236.60
SOR: Not via London is £167.60.

The difference between the "OR2" and the "SOR" is that the outward portion of the former is only valid on the day of travel, rather than for five days.

Not sure why the "OR2" fare (or indeed the "Not via London" fare) isn't showing.

This seems to all be part of the muddle created when SWR changed its fare types in January.

 

[embers25]

When I put in Guildford to Bath Spa via Salisbury day return, departing next firday morning at 7:37, it gives a return price of £236.60.

The times are as follows:
07:37 Guildford to Woking
08:16 Woking to Salisbury
09:40 Salisbury is Bath Spa

Return:
20:37 Bath Soa to Salisbury
21.42 Salisbury to Woking
22:55 Woking to Guildford

However the single ticket prices for both those journeys is £40.40 each.

It turns out the route via Warminster, set by South Western Railway, is missing a standard anytime day return and National Rail Enquiries App is showing the return price of the any permitted route by default, even if two singles are cheaper via the Warminster roite!

I doubt many people would want to get to Bath Spa via Salisbury but I did it once.

I only noticed this whilst researching the most expensive standard class fare from Guildford to only places South Western Railway run to when there isn't a pandemic on.

There would never be any reason to buy the £80.80 return fare as there is a MUCH cheaper (£50.80) option, or if you want to return on the faster route Via Reading to Guildford that would only be £53.95 (if you can can someone to issue the upgrade correctly). 99% of the time, tickets from Guildford should never be pruchased as there will be cheaper options available. Similarly this usually applies for Woking and Bath too.

 

[infobleep]

There would never be any reason to buy the £80.80 return fare as there is a MUCH cheaper (£50.80) option, or if you want to return on the faster route Via Reading to Guildford that would only be £53.95 (if you can can someone to issue the upgrade correctly). 99% of the time, tickets from Guildford should never be pruchased as there will be cheaper options available. Similarly this usually applies for Woking and Bath too.

I'm sure there is a much cheaper options.

In my perticular circumstances I have some free tickets to use on South Western Railway and I was looking for the most expensive route to take, to get the best value out of them. So in this case cheaper or even faster options don't matter as much to me. It's about greatest value out of the free ticket.

Bath is a good value destination for the day, as is Exter. As long as you start early and don't mind getting home late.

I've done Axminster, Pool and Dorchester, as well as Winchester using the free tickets but the latter wasn't perticularly high value.

 

[Paul Kelly]

I was looking for the most expensive route to take, to get the best value out of them

That is such a Rail UK forums answer!

 

[kieron]

It turns out the route via Warminster, set by South Western Railway, is missing a standard anytime day return and National Rail Enquiries App is showing the return price of the any permitted route by default, even if two singles are cheaper via the Warminster roite!

What I'd like to know is why the NRE app thinks an "any permitted" ticket would be suitable for that route. I can think of two possibilites.

1. An "any permitted" ticket is valid via London. Guildford-Woking-London is valid on maps PU+EF, and London-Woking-Salisbury-Bath on WX. If you miss out the Woking-London-Woking section from this, you get the route you suggested. Does the NRE app do anything like this?

2. An "any permitted" ticket can be used on any route not listed in the Routeing Guide for which a lower priced route specific fare exists. The NRE web site offers "via Warminster/Salisbury" single fares, but the only standard class return fare it offers for those trains is the £236.60 one. Does it consider "via Warminster/Salisbury" to be a lower priced route regardless?

For what it's worth, the SWR web site can sell the "via Warminster/Salisbury" anytime return tickets. Someone knows what they are, at least.

 

[Paul Kelly]

My random guess would be your option 2. Perhaps NRE has applied some filter to the underlying Silverrail journey planner to stop it showing the OR2 fare, but it's still considering it behind the scenes and considering it as equivalent to the SOR for the purpose of the
An "any permitted" ticket [...] can be used on any route not listed in the Routeing Guide for which a lower priced route specific fare exists.
rule, although I disagree with that interpretation; I think it only applies with the same ticket type.

 

[infobleep]

I agree with option 2. I wouldn't have thought it would need to suppress the fare though as it only shows the cheapest one it thinks is available, if my logic is right on this.

I'm no expert but it fascinates me. I have been using thr SWR Web Site today but I can't see how to add a via point. Same with their app. I am using my mobile but that's what many people use these days. One good thing though is I can click on feedback, select a part of the web page and give feedback. That is a welcomed surprise. I digress.

It seems you can add a via point using their full desktop site but that's not so easy to navigate on a mobile but not impossible at least.

Having now looked up the fares, I hadsuspected it is showing the combined price of both single tickets rather than an actual return fare. However if you go to the next page it shows it to be an anytime open return. I wonder what the tickets would be off issued. I don't want to buy £88.80 to find out though! Im interested but not that interested!