Wonder if anyone can tell me the permitted route for a Bedford to West Brompton cheap day return marked route 'West Hampstead' (no maltese cross).
Here is my attempt to explain the operation of the
National Routeing Guide with specific reference to an Off-Peak Day Return (CDR) Bedford - West Brompton route West Hampstead.
The ticket works through the barriers at both West Hampstead tube and West Hampstead overground stations.
We know from
this post in the
London Overground engineering today thread that the ticket operated the barriers at West Hampstead tube on Sunday 20 February when the London Overground line between West Hampstead and Willesden Jn was closed. In the
next post,
Daniel, who works for London Underground, confirmed that London Underground normally accept London Overground tickets during engineering work. What I don't know is whether the ticket would operate the barriers at West Hampstead tube when the London Overground service is running.
In any case, we have had many reports on this forum of valid tickets which fail to operate ticket barriers, and also some of invalid tickets which do operate ticket barriers. This doesn't tell us anything regarding the ticket's validity.
The
steps in this calculation correspond to
Steps 1 - 7 on pages 2 - 5 of the National Routeing Guide
Instructions.
Step 1 - Routeing Point(s) for origin
In Step 1, we use the
Routeing Point Identifier to find the Routeing Point(s) relating to the origin station.
Bedford is a Routeing Point.
Step 2 - Routeing Point(s) for destination
In Step 2, we use the
Routeing Point Identifier to find the Routeing Point(s) relating to the destination station. These are
Clapham Jn,
Hayes & Harlington Group,
Watford Jn and
Willesden Jn.
Step 3 - Common Routeing Point(s)
In Step 3, we consider whether the origin and destination have any Routeing Point(s) in common. There are none.
Step 4 - Appropriate Routeing Point(s)
In Step 4, we seek to identify Appropriate Routeing Point(s) for this journey.
Bedford is the only Routeing Point for the origin.
National Routeing Guide - Instructions page 3 said:
If you are not certain that a particular routeing point for the destination station is the correct one, compare the fare from that routeing point to the origin station with the fare for the throughout journey - it is an appropriate routeing point only if that fare is the same or lower than the fare for the throughout journey from the origin station to the destination station.
http://www.atoc.org/clientfiles/File/RSPDocuments/instructions.pdf
We must compare Single fares, and we're interested in the validity of the Off-Peak Day Return (CDR), so we'll use Off-Peak Day Single (CDS) fares. It may seem logical to compare all the fares
from Bedford. These are:
National Routeing Guide NFM 08 CD said:
Bedford - West Brompton route West Hampstead CDS £16.90
Bedford - Clapham Jn route + Any Permitted CDS £23.90
Bedford - Hayes & Harlington route + Any Permitted CDS £23.90
Bedford - Watford Jn route Any Permitted CDS £18.40
Bedford - Watford Jn route + London: no CDS fare (SDS £28.40)
Bedford - Willesden Jn route + Any Permitted CDS £23.90
Bedford - Willesden Jn route Bletchley CDS £20.50
Bedford - Willesden Jn route West Hampstead CDS £16.90
If that were the correct calculation, then
Willesden Jn would be the only appropriate Routeing Point for the destination.
But the rules quoted above are clear that we must compare the fare
from the destination routeing point
to the origin with the fare for the throughout journey from the origin to the destination. I don't know why the rules insist on this comparison. It gives surprising results:
National Routeing Guide NFM 08 CD said:
Bedford - West Brompton route West Hampstead CDS £16.90
Clapham Jn - Bedford route + Any Permitted CDS £23.90
Hayes & Harlington - Bedford route + Any Permitted CDS £23.90
Watford Jn - Bedford route Any Permitted CDS £18.40
Watford Jn - Bedford route + London: CDS £29.40
Willesden Jn - Bedford route + Any Permitted CDS £23.90
Willesden Jn - Bedford route Bletchley CDS £20.50
Willesden Jn - Bedford route West Hampstead: no CDS fare (SDS £22.50)
From these fares, we can see that all four Routeing Points related to the destination fail the fares check, and we must conclude that
there are no mapped Permitted Routes at all for a £16.90 Off-Peak Day Return (CDR) Bedford - West Brompton route West Hampstead.
We therefore cannot proceed to Steps 5 - 7 of the
Instructions, and must consider what Permitted Routes can be identified for this ticket from other parts of the
National Routeing Guide.
National Routeing Guide - Instructions page 1 said:
Most customers wish to make journeys by through trains or by the shortest route. In both cases they will be travelling on a permitted route, provided the correct fare has been paid to reflect any routeing indicated by the fares manual. You only need refer to the Routeing Guide when a customer is not using an advertised through train or the shortest route. A through train is advertised in the passenger railway timetable as a direct service which offers travel between a customers origin station and final destination, as printed on the ticket for the journey being made. This route may not be a permitted route if a change of train is necessary to complete the journey. The shortest route is calculated by reference to the National Rail Timetable.
http://www.atoc.org/clientfiles/File/RSPDocuments/instructions.pdf
National Routeing Guide in Detail - page F9 said:
Journeys on direct trains or taking the route of shortest distance or a distance longer by no more than 3 miles are always following a permitted route.
http://www.atoc.org/clientfiles/File/RSPDocuments/nrg_detail.pdf
I think it is likely that the shortest route
wholly by National Rail between Bedford and West Brompton, and passing through at least one station in
West Hampstead Group (West Hampstead Thameslink or West Hampstead - see
Instructions page 6 and the list of
Group Stations), is:
Bedford - West Hampstead Thameslink - St Pancras - City Thameslink - Blackfriars - Denmark Hill - Battersea Park - Clapham Jn - West Brompton: 63.25 miles
Distance from
National Rail Timetable
That route, and other routes not more than 3 miles longer, are likely to be Permitted Routes. This would include:
Bedford - West Hampstead Thameslink - St Pancras - City Thameslink - Blackfriars - Tulse Hill - Streatham Hill - Clapham Jn - West Brompton: 63.75 miles
We also know from
this correspondence that sometimes walking between stations is permitted. Indeed, ATOC say it is
required for some journeys. Unfortunately, the only such journey I know to be listed in the public domain is the Watford Jn - Harpenden route St Albans Abbey example in the correspondence, and that example is obvious because it is the only way to go from Watford Jn to Harpenden via St Albans Abbey without doubling back. There is no route wholly by rail.
But for Bedford - West Brompton route West Hampstead, matters are not obvious. The two examples above show that it is perfectly possible to make the journey from Bedford to West Brompton via West Hampstead Group wholly by rail without doubling back.
I think it is very likely that the ticket is valid by the following route, which includes walking between stations:
Bedford - West Hampstead Thameslink - (walk to) - West Hampstead - Willesden Jn - West Brompton: 52.0 miles
But I don't know if you have to make the journey by that route. I don't even know if ATOC believe that you have to do that. And even if they do, neither ATOC nor I know whether they are right.
The reason for this unsatisfactory position lies in the way in which the British railway system was privatised. The first National Routeing Guide was approved by the
Rail Regulator in 1996. Responsibility for approval later passed to the
Strategic Rail Authority, then to the
Department for Transport. ATOC is a trade association whose responsibility is to its members - the train companies. It needs to consult Passenger Focus and obtain appropriate approval before changing the Routeing Guide. We know from responses to Freedom of Information requests that this process fell into disuse between 2003 and 2009. I believe that during this period many tens of thousands of journey opportunities were deleted. I have not seen any proposals to remedy this.
Is this ticket valid only on National Rail (ie. London Overground) services, or is its use permitted on the tube?
I would not expect this ticket to be valid on the Underground, but if the ticket does operate the barriers at both West Hampstead tube and West Brompton every day then the last use will be recorded on the magnetic strip and that could be helpful to any passenger who was accused of travelling off route. Break of journey would not be allowed within the tube system, and I would not expect the concession for passengers with tickets bearing the '+' symbol to apply allowing Zone 1 exit but not re-entry.
does the validity differ after the last LO service has departed on the return leg?
I don't know. Longer routes are sometimes allowed where there is no regular service by the shorter route, but I have not encountered such an
easement where the last train is as late as 22:42.
