Helsby - South Wirral Stations Easement

[samdod2427]

I was reading the list of routeing guide easements - looking for something else and got distracted when I saw the below...

There is an easement listed (000014) for journeys from/to or via Frodsham for stations between Hooton and Birkenhead Hamilton Sq which allows you to travel via Chester, as opposed to having to wait for one of the once in a blue moon trains to Ellesmere Port (shortest route) and changing there. Seemed odd that this rule didn't apply from/to or through Helsby instead of Frodsham, with it being the last station on the line before it splits.

There's also an easement stating 'Customers travelling from Frodsham or Helsby via Hooton may travel via Chester' (700038), but when I checked on a ticket engine and there are plenty of journey options between Hooton and Frodsham/Runcorn East. However, as per the first easement, only the three journeys a day via Ellesmere Port are offered from Helsby - you have to buy multiple tickets (more expensive and more hassle) to go Helsby-Hooton via Chester.

Was wondering if anyone can think of a reason for the easement only applying north of Frodsham or if it's just an oversight? Or maybe shed some light if I've misunderstood the whole situation completely....

(Helsby is also excluded when Runcorn East and Frodsham are mentioned in 700145)

 

[kieron]

I can't help with the history of those easements, sorry.

You mentioned something about putting something into a ticket engine. I'm not completely sure which ticket you're looking at but, if it's a Helsby-Hooton one, these have a route of "via Ellesmere Port". I believe this was changed from "any permitted" around a year ago.

I suspect this would stymie your attempt to find a valid itinerary via Chester even if the easements were different.

 

[M28361M]

You mentioned something about putting something into a ticket engine. I'm not completely sure which ticket you're looking at but, if it's a Helsby-Hooton one, these have a route of "via Ellesmere Port". I believe this was changed from "any permitted" around a year ago.

Helsby-Hooton is cheaper than the Helsby-Chester fare. Were people buying it and using it to go to Chester to save a few pennies, hence the new restriction? Bit of a pain for anyone who actually wants to go to Hooton though - maybe it would have been better to add a more expensive Any Permitted fare that doesn't undercut the fare to Chester.

As an experiment, I just tried planning a journey from Helsby to Eastham Rake (the next station after Hooton). According to BRFares this ticket is routed "Any Permitted", but the journey planners won't let me go via Chester on this one either. Is the easement not being implemented correctly by booking engines?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Helsby-Hooton is cheaper than the Helsby-Chester fare. Were people buying it and using it to go to Chester to save a few pennies, hence the new restriction? Bit of a pain for anyone who actually wants to go to Hooton though - maybe it would have been better to add a more expensive Any Permitted fare that doesn't undercut the fare to Chester.

Well, quite. This is typical railway - "thou shalt go the way we want". But even worse in this case with the infrequent service, which means what they're actually saying is "get lost, we don't want you".

When will they learn that the right way to go is to respect which route the passenger wishes to take, and simply offer a reasonable fare for them to do so as they wish? Namely in this case adding an Any Permitted at the same as the Chester fare which was causing the issue?

 

[kieron]

Helsby-Hooton is cheaper than the Helsby-Chester fare. Were people buying it and using it to go to Chester to save a few pennies, hence the new restriction?

I don't know. A lot of route restrictions have been changed over the last few years. In some cases, it seems as though they put a station there just because it was on the way. This route could be because of almost anything.

As an experiment, I just tried planning a journey from Helsby to Eastham Rake (the next station after Hooton). According to BRFares this ticket is routed "Any Permitted", but the journey planners won't let me go via Chester on this one either. Is the easement not being implemented correctly by booking engines?

If I look at easement 700038, I notice that it is a "Routeing Point" easement. I don't know how well you know the routeing guide, but what normally happens is something like:

1. Find the set of routeing points associated with the origin.
2. Find the set of routeing points associated with the destination.
3. Do the sets overlap? If so, work out the valid routes using one set of rules.
4. Otherwise, carry out the "fare check" to work out which routeing points in the set are valid for each station.
5. Work out the valid routes using the valid origin & destination routeing points for the journey.

A "Routeing Point" easement means that, if step 4 would forbid a routeing point, it is permitted anyway. Step 4 would normally forbid Chester in this case if it was carried out. Eastham Rake and Helsby are both associated with the Hooton routeing point, so step 3 would mean that you wouldn't normally look at step 4. You could argue that the easement means you should look at step 4 anyway, or that you shouldn't.

Looking at journey planners doesn't clarify things too much. For instance, Chiltern allows Helsby-Eastham Rake via Chester, but doesn't allow Helsby-Birkenhead Hamilton Square that way, even though you would get to step 4 for that if you worked it out yourself. I don't know how it's actually doing things.