Ranger / rover reform

[A S Leib]

Which rangers and rovers would you change the boundaries of / introduce (/ abolish) if you could? Preferably within reason, so no changing the boundaries of a St. Ives Bay Line Ranger so that you can get from Penzance to Aberdeen for £4.

I'd

- make the Thameslink Day Ranger valid on all Thameslink routes (and actually make it available to buy for most of its potential customers to begin with) (I think £25 would be a fair price going off of the Southern DaySave, maybe £30 if including Great Northern to Cambridge, Hertford and Moorgate as well)

- introduce a Chilterns ranger / rover (Marylebone - Aylesbury Vale Parkway / Oxford / Leamington Spa (£30 for a day, £48 for three days)

- introduce a South Coast ranger (Weymouth - Thanet and Winchester, Haslemere, Gatwick and Canterbury); 1 day (£40) / 3 in 7 (£60) / 7 days (£90)

- add more zones to the Anglia Plus rover; move the boundary of the Norfolk zone to Ely and include the Kings Lynn line, include Ely - Peterborough in the Cambridge(shire) zone, introduce a North Essex zone (Harwich, Colchester, Sudbury, Clacton / Walton, and buses from Clacton to Harwich / Walton and from Braintree to Marks Tey / Colchester) and a South East Essex zone (Marks Tey - Shenfield - Southminster / Southend Victoria) (£40 for the day ranger, £80 for the 3 in 7, keep the ability to just buy the existing Cambridge - Ipswich - Norwich - Ely one as well)

- an Essex 3 in 7 / 7 Day Rover covering Greater Anglia services up to Great Chesterford and Manningtree, associated branches (including Overground Lea Valley / Romford - Upminster), c2c, the Tilbury and Harwich ferries, the aforementioned bus services and bus services from Basildon and Stansted to Chelmsford (£50 for 3 in 7, £80 for 7 Days)

- extend the East Yorkshire Round Robin to Doncaster and Leeds (only via Selby / Goole, not permitting York - Leeds via Cross Gates, Leeds - Doncaster via Wakefield or York - Doncaster directly), and from Doncaster to Cleethorpes including the Barton line and Barton - Hull bus (£40, keep the ability to buy one without Doncaster, Leeds and Cleethorpes)

- When buying day rangers for the same or consecutive days with at least one common station (/ other station in a group), 35% off the price of the cheapest one(s) (so a Derbyshire Wayfarer on one day, South Yorkshire Connect+ on the next and a West Yorkshire DaySaver Train on the third day would be £19.63 instead of £31.20)

- Bring back the Strathclyde daytripper

- And, as I suspect this would otherwise be largely pointless, advertise rangers and rovers a lot more

 

[randyrippley]

Lakes Day Ranger
needs a couple of Stagecoach buses adding:
755 Morecambe-Kendal
5 Overton-Morecambe-Carnforth (for connections with rail and the 555 Lancaster-Keswick which IS included)

also the independent buses need adding
e.g. the Kirkby Lonsdale services around Silverdale
and whoever has (or had) the contract for the Ulverston-Coniston service (if it still runs)

 

[Chiltern006]

Lincolnshire Day ranger covering the ECML between Grantham and Peterborough. Also make it available on Saturdays in July and August

Tyne and Tees Day Ranger cover the mainline between Northallerton and Darlington

Create a Coastway day ranger - effectively a ranger that stretches from Bognor Regis to Eastbourne. £10

Create a freedom of the south east. All the South east rail services. £100 for a 3 in 7 day

Create them into an e-ticket version (this i really want, i only use paper tickets for rovers and rangers)

 

[Basil Jet]

Rovers should not be based around counties, but around the rail network, especially loops. For instance, the Devon day ranger takes you to Tiverton and Axminster, but once you've got to either you have to go back, so you're paying for something that isn't that useful. I'd rather it was cheaper and ended at the Exmouth - Barnstaple line, and make Exeter - Castle Cary (both routes) a different rover. There was even one in the Cotswolds somewhere that had IIRC bits of three disconnected lines - what's the point of that?

 

[A S Leib]

Rovers should not be based around counties, but around the rail network, especially loops. For instance, the Devon day ranger takes you to Tiverton and Axminster, but once you've got to either you have to go back, so you're paying for something that isn't that useful. I'd rather it was cheaper and ended at the Exmouth - Barnstaple line, and make Exeter - Castle Cary (both routes) a different rover. There was even one in the Cotswolds somewhere that had IIRC bits of three disconnected lines - what's the point of that?

Quite a few of the ones named after counties already extend outside of the county to make interchange easier - Cumbria to Lancaster and Long Preston, East Yorkshire to Scarborough and Selby, Lincolnshire to Nottingham (there are still some cases where it would make more sense to chop off / add bits on eg. Sevenoaks / Swanley - Bromley South for the Kent Rover, with Gravesend being a dead end unless it's made valid on HS1 to Ashford).

Create them into an e-ticket version (this i really want, i only use paper tickets for rovers and rangers)

And make them available on smartcards; I think it's only some of the PTE ones which that's currently possible for.

 

[Peter0124]

Have another version of the Strathclyde Roundabout ticket which covers all of the places on the map rather than just the white shaded area. However the current Roundabout ticket should still be retained, and preferably have 16/25 railcard discounts on both of them.

 

[S&CLER]

The Coasts and Peaks Rover could include Wigan- Southport and Sandhills-Southport.

 

[geoffk]

Greater Manchester Wayfarer to include Wigan NW to Warrington BQ.

 

[TheBigD]

Back in the 1980s, the Anglia day rover was valid, Ely to Peterborough, Peterborough to Hitchin, Hitchin to Cambridge, Cambridge to Bishop Stortford, and Ely to Kings Lynn in addition to the current area. Pretty sure it also I used Harwich Parkston Quay as well.

 

[py_megapixel]

I'd stop having both of the terms "ranger" and "rover". Pick one or the other!

 

[mrcheek]

For entirely selfish reasons, I would change the boundary between the Devon and Cornwall Rover, and Severn and Solent Rover, back to where it used to be, at my home station of Weston-super-Mare.

To be honest, I suppose it does make more sense for it to be at Tiverton. Im probably the only person who is inconvenienced by it.

I would also like to see the boundaries of the South West and Thames Valley Rovers meet up at either Didcot or Swindon, rather than there being a gap in coverage.

I would also abolish the "before 10am" restriction of the All Line Rover at Birmingham New Street. I can see why it was done, but since the reduction in Cross Country services, it has made things very awkward to plan.

 

[ainsworth74]

I'd change the ALR to a product that's valid for say 7 in 14 days and 14 in 28 days. Putting aside the price, the main issue I've always had with the ALR is the need to use it for so many consecutive days. After three or four days in a row having a day or two at home is nice opportunity to recharge but of course wastes a day.

I'd stop having both of the terms "ranger" and "rover". Pick one or the other!

Well there was a proper distinction originally. Assuming I've got it the right way round, a Rover was a ticket valid for one day and a Ranger was a ticket valid for multiple days. Has rather broken down over the years I believe!

 

[43096]

I'd change the ALR to a product that's valid for say 7 in 14 days and 14 in 28 days. Putting aside the price, the main issue I've always had with the ALR is the need to use it for so many consecutive days. After three or four days in a row having a day or two at home is nice opportunity to recharge but of course wastes a day.





Well there was a proper distinction originally. Assuming I've got it the right way round, a Rover was a ticket valid for one day and a Ranger was a ticket valid for multiple days. Has rather broken down over the years I believe!

Other way round: all line rover being a good example!

 

[miklcct]

I would like to introduce the following Rovers, valid from Friday 09:30 to Monday 04:29 (extended to cover bank holidays next to the weekend such that the validity starts from 09:30 before the bank holiday weekend to 04:29 to the day afterwards):

London Zone 1-9 Weekend Travelcard: £25 (railcard discountable)
Weekend suburban rover: £50 (railcard discountable), cover up to where outer suburban trains go or the second station of long distance trains out of London such as Milton Keynes, Didcot Pathway, Basingstoke, Haslemere, Brighton & Hove
Weekend Network South East rover: £90 (railcard discountable) - valid for the whole of Network Railcard area.

All the above can be discounted by a Network Railcard, with the last one deliberately priced at the level which are to be sold as £60 with railcard, or £90 rover + railcard package.

 

[ainsworth74]

Other way round: all line rover being a good example!

Oh yeah...

 

[JonathanH]

Weekend Network South East rover: £90 (railcard discountable) - valid for the whole of Network Railcard area.

Too much for almost any journey someone would want to make aside from niche cases. Too little for the longer distance routes.

 

[miklcct]

Too much for almost any journey someone would want to make aside from niche cases. Too little for the longer distance routes.

This is designed for people making 2 day trips on both Saturday and Sunday, with additional validity covering Friday evening as well.

 

[Peter0124]

Why can't we have customised rover tickets (Eg an unlimited travel off-peak ticket between two stations and break of journey valid aswell). For 1.5x the price of the off-peak return?

Eg if I were to buy an off-peak ROVER return between Glasgow and Motherwell, it would allow an UNLIMITED number of journeys in the day between the two stations and on the various routes permitted, with the option of getting off at each station in-between.

Currently there's only the option of doing that ONCE per day, why not UNLIMITED? for 1.5x the price for example? Similar to all day bus fares.

 

[py_megapixel]

Why can't we have customised rover tickets (Eg an unlimited travel off-peak ticket between two stations and break of journey valid aswell). For 1.5x the price of the off-peak return?

Eg if I were to buy an off-peak ROVER return between Glasgow and Motherwell, it would allow an UNLIMITED number of journeys in the day between the two stations and on the various routes permitted, with the option of getting off at each station in-between.

I suppose that's approximately what TfL contactless capping achieves

 

[Kite159]

Bring back the SPT day tripper ranger, maybe even the "Edinburgh Days Out" 2 day ranger to allow people to explore more of Scotland.

New ranger, an "Essex Branches" ranger, covering the Essex Branches (Southend, Southminster, Braintree etc) and on the mainline between Manningtree & Shenfield.

 

[JonathanH]

New ranger, an "Essex Branches" ranger, covering the Essex Branches (Southend, Southminster, Braintree etc) and on the mainline between Manningtree & Shenfield.

Twenty years ago, the branches (Wickford to Southminster, Witham to Braintree
Colchester to Clacton / Walton, Manningtree to Harwich) were all included in the 'Sunday Rover'. Unfortunately those days are long gone.

 

[liamf656]

I’ve always wondered why the East Midlands day ranger doesn’t cover more of Lincolnshire! Although the 3 in 7 rover is generous in the fact it includes this as well as the WCML from Bletchley all the way to Stoke on Trent!

 

[Chiltern006]

because the lincolnshire ranger does that!

with the recent announcement of closure of ticket offices, e versions really can’t come soon enough!

 

[Kite159]

Twenty years ago, the branches (Wickford to Southminster, Witham to Braintree
Colchester to Clacton / Walton, Manningtree to Harwich) were all included in the 'Sunday Rover'. Unfortunately those days are long gone.

It's one of those things the local rail community partnership could try and push for, a similar ticket to the Thames branches ticket.
Maybe set at the price of a day return between Southend & Harwich plus an extra £2

 

[317 forever]

As I am due in September to travel Crewe - Nottingham - Sleaford - Lincoln, I wish there were an EMR Day Ranger to cover that whole itinerary.

 

[SeanG]

I think the biggest reform that needs to happen is the availability to buy these products online either as an e-ticket to show on a phone or to print at home (which I always have as a back up for I am paranoid of my phone dying). I am all for using a ticket office but in reality that isn't the way any more.

Plus, on a practical note, the very nature of rovers/rangers means that you will be making multiple journeys and so a physical ticket will have to be taken in/out of a wallet/put through ticket barriers etc. more often and so is more liable to wearing out

 

[ChrisC]

The Coasts and Peaks Rover could include Wigan- Southport and Sandhills-Southport.

It could, but I think more importantly it ought to include Sheffield to Derby. Derby and the Matlock line are so much out on a limb from the rest of the area covered.

I also think that as the South Pennines Day Ranger includes Dronfield it should be extended a few miles south to include Chesterfield. Chesterfield would be a more useful location for people using the ticket from North Derbyshire as it has a ticket office, although as others have said the real way forward would be to sell them online or from a TVM.

 

[mrcheek]

Why can't we have customised rover tickets (Eg an unlimited travel off-peak ticket between two stations and break of journey valid aswell). For 1.5x the price of the off-peak return?

Eg if I were to buy an off-peak ROVER return between Glasgow and Motherwell, it would allow an UNLIMITED number of journeys in the day between the two stations and on the various routes permitted, with the option of getting off at each station in-between.

Currently there's only the option of doing that ONCE per day, why not UNLIMITED? for 1.5x the price for example? Similar to all day bus fares.

I actually though of an idea like this many years back. It would be lovely if you could simply go to the NR website, design your own boundary map, choose what days you are travelling, and an algorithm could quote an appropriate price. Somewhat a niche product though.

 

[TheSel]

...
and whoever has (or had) the contract for the Ulverston-Coniston service (if it still runs)

Yes it still runs - three journeys, Monday to Friday. Operated by 'Blueworks'. Timetable attached.

 

[SwindonBert]

I'd join the 2 parts of the Cotswolds Discoverer up, in the East you can go from Yate to Ashchurch then south to Swindon. In the West, from Moreton in Marsh to Oxford, but can't use it from Swindon to Oxford. I'd understand it would need to be via Didcot not Reading, but could join it up