Marylebone to Princes Risborough via Aylesbury

[bspahh]

I have a day return from Marylebone to Oxford. I also want to go on the Marylebone-Aylesbury line and then Aylesbury-Princes Risborough. I will then carry on to Oxford. From the forum tickets site I did a search for Marylebone to Princes Risborough via Amersham for today:

Marylebone 09:27 Aylesbury 10:25
Aylesbury 10:34 Princes Risborough 10:50

I bought a £13.30 Anytime Day Single with a Network card.

The ticket says the Route is "Valid only via High Wycombe"

I've got the email with the itinerary via Aylesbury, so I assume I will be fine.

================

I also looked for prices from Liverpool Street to Princes Risborough via Amersham, and it gave me a route starting at 8.42 at Liverpool Street to Tottenham Hale, the tube to Highbury & Islington, train to Moorgate and tube to Marylebone to get the 10.27 from Marylebone, rather than taking the Metropolitan.

I then tried from Tottenham Hale to Princes Risborough via Amersham, and it gave an intinerary from Tottenham Hale to Liverpool Street, and then the tube to Marylebone. Why doesn't it give me the Liverpool Street-tube-Marylebone itinerary when I start from Liverpool Street?

 

[JB_B]

...

The ticket says the Route is "Valid only via High Wycombe"

I've got the email with the itinerary via Aylesbury, so I assume I will be fine.
....

It's fine - see fare route easement 030039.

"Journeys priced on routes (00305) VIA HIGH WYCOMBE, (00362) VIA HIGH WYC&SHR,(00363) VIA HWYC & BHM, (00364) CH & TFW ONLY, (00402) CH & CONNECTIONS,(00432) CH & CON VIA SHR and (00435) AP CH AND TFW ONLY may travel via Aylesbury"

http://iblocks-rg-publication.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/easement_text.pdf#page=2

 

[bspahh]

It's fine - see fare route easement 030039.

"Journeys priced on routes (00305) VIA HIGH WYCOMBE, (00362) VIA HIGH WYC&SHR,(00363) VIA HWYC & BHM, (00364) CH & TFW ONLY, (00402) CH & CONNECTIONS,(00432) CH & CON VIA SHR and (00435) AP CH AND TFW ONLY may travel via Aylesbury"

http://iblocks-rg-publication.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/easement_text.pdf#page=2

Thanks

I took the 9.27 from Marylebone and got off at Wendover for an hour. The next train after that was a bit late, so I arrived in Aylesbury after the train to Princes Risborough had left. I had 50 minutes to wait, so I went into town. When I scanned the ticket, it didn't open the barrier when I came back in.

The ticket office and supervisor thought the ticket was wrong, and that the easement was for when there was engineering work, an event at Wembley. They let me through after a 5 minute discussion.

One of the people at the ticket office asked where I had bought the ticket, and said that a 3rd party vendor might have sold a ticket that I wouldn't have got from a TOC. I just tried at www.chilternrailways.co.uk and it would sell me the same ticket.

 

[Watershed]

One of the people at the ticket office asked where I had bought the ticket, and said that a 3rd party vendor might have sold a ticket that I wouldn't have got from a TOC. I just tried at www.chilternrailways.co.uk and it would sell me the same ticket.

Ah, this old chestnut again... They say this dismissively, not realising that those "third party vendors" are the very same companies that tend to develop the apps and websites used by TOCs!

And in any event, it doesn't matter whether you used a third party site or not. Those third parties are accredited retailers and thus authorised agents of the railway; they accordingly bind the train companies in the information they provide.

If the train companies have a problem with a ticket a third party retailer has sold, they should take it up with RDG to raise it as an accreditation issue. They should not be penalising the innocent customer who is caught in the 'crossfire'!

 

[CyrusWuff]

The ticket office and supervisor thought the ticket was wrong, and that the easement was for when there was engineering work, an event at Wembley. They let me through after a 5 minute discussion.

Whilst that may be the intended use of the easement (replacement buses from Aylesbury Vale Parkway being a frequent occurrence when the High Wycombe line is closed), that it's undated doesn't preclude its use at other times.

No doubt Chiltern will now try to do something to "fix" it, likely breaking something else in the process.

 

[kieron]

If the train companies have a problem with a ticket a third party retailer has sold, they should take it up with RDG to raise it as an accreditation issue. They should not be penalising the innocent customer who is caught in the 'crossfire'!

Chiltern created an easement in August which said:

701251 (Doubleback) Fare route easement 030039 permits Journeys priced on routes (00305) VIA HIGH WYCOMBE ... to travel via Aylesbury. This easement will overcome journey planners finding a doubleback at Princes Risborough on some itineraries using these routes.​

In other words, you can travel via Aylesbury even if you use a London-Aylesbury train which goes through High Wycombe (and thereby pass through Princes Risborough a second time on your way to Bicester or wherever). They wouldn't do that if they only really wanted you to go that way when the line through High Wycombe is shut.

I think the things bspahh reports being told may just be the truth according to a couple of members of staff with inadequate supervision.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Chiltern created an easement in August which said:

701251 (Doubleback) Fare route easement 030039 permits Journeys priced on routes (00305) VIA HIGH WYCOMBE ... to travel via Aylesbury. This easement will overcome journey planners finding a doubleback at Princes Risborough on some itineraries using these routes.​

In other words, you can travel via Aylesbury even if you use a London-Aylesbury train which goes through High Wycombe (and thereby pass through Princes Risborough a second time on your way to Bicester or wherever). They wouldn't do that if they only really wanted you to go that way when the line through High Wycombe is shut.

Or it's just a badly worded interpretation of the electronic data.

Doing a bit of Googling, Chiltern had buses North of High Wycombe at the end of August, so I suspect some journey planners were producing unexpected results.

Presumably Princes Risborough is mentioned as it's the appropriate Routeing Point for Wycombe when heading North.

 

[OscarH]

Chiltern's backoffice staff are one of the best to deal with, and they're usually very competent, so I'm not too worried about them breaking things.

One of the people at the ticket office asked where I had bought the ticket, and said that a 3rd party vendor might have sold a ticket that I wouldn't have got from a TOC. I just tried at www.chilternrailways.co.uk and it would sell me the same ticket.

Their station staff on the other hand frequently leave rather a lot to be desired. The usual straight up lies based on their own political opinion

 

[bspahh]

It's fine - see fare route easement 030039.

"Journeys priced on routes (00305) VIA HIGH WYCOMBE, (00362) VIA HIGH WYC&SHR,(00363) VIA HWYC & BHM, (00364) CH & TFW ONLY, (00402) CH & CONNECTIONS,(00432) CH & CON VIA SHR and (00435) AP CH AND TFW ONLY may travel via Aylesbury"

http://iblocks-rg-publication.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/easement_text.pdf#page=2

That easement has now got some date restrictions to only cover engineering work

Journeys priced on routes (00267) VIA BANBURY, (00305) VIA HIGH WYCOMBE, (00362) VIA HIGH WYC&SHR, (00363) VIA HWYC & BHM, (00364) CH & TFW ONLY, (00402) AP HIGH WYCOMBE, (00432) AP H WYC & SHREW and (00435) AP CH AND TFW ONLY may travel via Aylesbury during engineering work closures on 04/01/2025, 05/01/2025, 11/01/2025, 12/01/2025, 08/02/2025, 09/02/2025, 16/02/2025, 02/03/2025, 29/03/2025 and 30/03/2025. This Fare route easement will apply in both directions