Marylebone to Oxford - Permitted Routes

[JB_B]

I'm thinking about going to Oxford from London on Chiltern.

Oddly, map GC ( on http://data.atoc.org/routeing-map ) shows the route to Oxford diverging at Princes Risborough and avoiding Bicester (almost as if the via Cowley route still existed).

Is this intentional? Direct services will be valid anyway but does this mean eg that Marylebone->Bicester North (walk) Bicester Village->Oxford isn't permitted?

 

[Richard_B]

NRE as far as I can tell wants you to buy two tickets.

 

[PermitToTravel]

That's only because they've forgotten to break the link at Bicester - it's intended to be valid and you won't have trouble using it

 

[Paul Kelly]

Bicester isn't a routeing point so there is no need for it to be shown on the routeing map. When following that map, you can take any route between Princes Risborough and Oxford that doesn't go via any other routeing points nor doubleback anywhere.

 

[Paul Kelly]

However Bicester North to Bicester Village is not shown as a valid walking link in the timetable data used by booking engines. I'd say it's probably permitted, but you won't be able to get a booking engine to show you an itinerary.

 

[PeterY]

I intend to try the new route to Oxford in January. Can I request a return from Hemel Hempstead to Oxford via Marylebone, or is it two tickets?

I've checked national rail enquires and it always keeps sending me via Paddington.

 

[centraluser]

Select that you want to travel Via High Wycombe and you should get an itinerary from Marylebone.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Select that you want to travel Via High Wycombe and you should get an itinerary from Marylebone.

Though only half the trains between Marylebone and Oxford stop at High Wycombe. A better option is to specify Bicester Village (BIT) as the via point.

Note, however, that there are no "via High Wycombe" fares for the flow, so the OP would be paying the same price as they would to travel via Paddington, and there don't appear to be any obvious splits to make it cheaper.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Validity is better on Chiltern, though - no evening peak restrictions - so for many journey opportunities it's cheaper from Marylebone.

 

[didcotdean]

There are some fare anomalies for various journeys around Paddington-Oxford-Marylebone 'loop' where a longer journey has a cheaper ticket available than a shorter journey contained within it (eg A-C via B is cheaper than B-C), mainly related to whether a not via London fare is available and in general they also permit travel via Banbury as well. They have always been there, but the shorter route makes them more visible.

 

[swt_passenger]

There are some fare anomalies for various journeys around Paddington-Oxford-Marylebone 'loop' where a longer journey has a cheaper ticket available than a shorter journey contained within it (eg A-C via B is cheaper than B-C), mainly related to whether a not via London fare is available and in general they also permit travel via Banbury as well. They have always been there, but the shorter route makes them more visible.

It wouldn't be the railway we know if they didn't completely ignore the possibility of fares anomalies introduced or 'exaggerated' by a new service.

Until sometime later when some odd fares suddenly become popular...

 

[didcotdean]

Splits at Oxford are also worth investigating - not if like the OP it is your final destination of course.

 

[kieron]

However Bicester North to Bicester Village is not shown as a valid walking link in the timetable data used by booking engines. I'd say it's probably permitted, but you won't be able to get a booking engine to show you an itinerary.

I'd put it a bit more strongly than "probably permitted", given that the page on NRE which lists non-rail interchanges (here) lists a transfer from Bicester North to Bicester Town (sic) as taking 30 minutes, and that this figure was also listed in the national timetable which was in force until a week ago.

It probably isn't worth doing for someone coming from the London direction, though.

 

[JB_B]

Bicester isn't a routeing point so there is no need for it to be shown on the routeing map. When following that map, you can take any route between Princes Risborough and Oxford that doesn't go via any other routeing points nor doubleback anywhere.

Thanks - that makes sense - I'd naively assumed that Bicester would now be a routeing point (or routeing point group) without checking first.

Slightly surprised there's no fares group for Bicester.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Slightly surprised there's no fares group for Bicester.

That's primarily for historical reasons...Namely prior to the construction of the chord linking the two routes there was really no reason to have one given the journey time between Bicester North and Marylebone was shorter than that from Bicester Town to Paddington via Oxford.

Having said that, a "Bicester Nth/Vil" location (NLC 7934) has been created, but it currently has no flows defined using it as an origin or destination. Until that's rectified, Chiltern have a local easement in place to the effect that tickets to one Bicester station will be accepted at the other.

Just to confuse matters, however, tickets to Bicester Village aren't valid on the shuttle bus between Bicester North and Bicester Village. To use the bus, you need a ticket to Bicester Village Bus (NLC H921).