Routeing from Farnham to area around Westbury, with a break at Fleet

[Couru]

Hey guys,

I've been trying to find the best, most convenient way to go between the stations listed in the title, and after five or six goes at it I've been on four different routes and still have no idea which is the best.

Outbound:
- Origin: Farnham (FNH).
- Destination: Any of the Somerset/Wiltshire border stations; preferably Westbury (WSB) or Frome (FRO), but Trowbridge, Warminster, Bath Spa, Castle Cary, Dilton Marsh etc all perfectly serviceable.
- Diversions: Must break journey in Fleet.
- Timings: Leave Farnham 0745, arrive Fleet 0845. Leave Fleet 1730, arrive Somerset ASAP.
- Date: This Friday (3rd March 2023).

Return:
- Origin: Any of the Somerset/Wiltshire border stations, as above.
- Destination: Farnham
- Diversions: No restrictions to route, with no need to stop in Fleet.
- Timings: Leave after 1700.
- Date: This Sunday (5th March 2023).

Notes:
- I am looking for the cheapest reasonable route - I am willing to travel for up to 4.5 hours.
- I hold a 16-25 Railcard.
- I am aware of the engineering between Ascot-Reading and Warminster-Salisbury. As much as rail replacement buses suck, it's a necessary evil.
- No preference on TOCs.
- In the past I've tried a multitude of chaotic routes, such as Farnham>Fleet>Woking>Frome, Farnham>Fleet>Reading>Westbury, Farnham>Fleet>Salisbury>Westbury, even Farnham>Ash Vale>North Camp>Ascot>Reading>Westbury - and they all have their own problems. Ideally I'd like one route to default to so that I don't have to spend an hour comparing to/from, destinations, whether to buy the Farnham>Fleet ticket separate, etc.

Thank you all so much for your help!

Couru
(Sidenote: I've only got into trains hobby recently, so please don't assume I know things - I only found out about the Routeing Guide today! Thanks again

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Feb 2023 ==

Quick note - I've spent around £35 per return journey on trips to Somerset in the past, so even a £5 saving is greatly appreciated

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Farnham is my home town. Lived there for over ten years.
I often find fares from Farnborough are often a bit cheaper.

 

[Alex365Dash]

Quick note - I've spent around £35 per return journey on trips to Somerset in the past, so even a £5 saving is greatly appreciated

Here’s your approximately £5 saving!

You’ll need the following tickets for this journey (total £29.90):
- Farnham to Westbury Super Off-Peak Return route VIA SALISBURY w/ 16-25 Railcard (£21.10)
- Farnham to Fleet Anytime Day Single (£8.80, no railcard discount, but you get one in July/August)
Keep in mind these prices will increase on the 5th March.

You‘ll need to use your Farnham to Fleet single to get to Fleet on Friday morning, then use your Farnham to Westbury return in the afternoon to continue to Westbury via Basingstoke & Salisbury and go back to Farnham via Basingstoke and Salisbury on the Sunday afternoon.

In terms of making your journey in the future, you’ll need to go through Salisbury owing to route restrictions on your ticket.

An itinerary would look like the following:

Spoiler: Itinerary

- 07:58 SWR service from Farnham (towards London Waterloo) to Brookwood, arriving 08:16
- 08:25 SWR service from Brookwood (towards Basingstoke) to Fleet, arriving 08:38 at Fleet

After your break:
- 18:04 SWR service from Fleet (towards Southampton Central) to Basingstoke, arriving 18:21
- 18:38 SWR service from Basingstoke (towards Yeovil Pen Mill) to Salisbury, arriving 19:20
- 19:42 GWR service from Salisbury (towards Cardiff Central) to Westbury, arriving 20:11 at Westbury

And for the return:
- 17:05 GWR service from Westbury to Warminster, arriving 17:14
- 17:25 bus service from Warminster to Salisbury, arriving 18:15
- 18:27 SWR service from Salisbury to Basingstoke, arriving 19:03
- 19:11 SWR service from Basingstoke (towards London Waterloo) to Woking, arriving 19:29
- 19:49 SWR service from Woking (towards Alton) to Farnham, arriving 20:15 at Farnham

 

[Watershed]

Hey guys,

I've been trying to find the best, most convenient way to go between the stations listed in the title, and after five or six goes at it I've been on four different routes and still have no idea which is the best.

Outbound:
- Origin: Farnham (FNH).
- Destination: Any of the Somerset/Wiltshire border stations; preferably Westbury (WSB) or Frome (FRO), but Trowbridge, Warminster, Bath Spa, Castle Cary, Dilton Marsh etc all perfectly serviceable.
- Diversions: Must break journey in Fleet.
- Timings: Leave Farnham 0745, arrive Fleet 0845. Leave Fleet 1730, arrive Somerset ASAP.
- Date: This Friday (3rd March 2023).

Return:
- Origin: Any of the Somerset/Wiltshire border stations, as above.
- Destination: Farnham
- Diversions: No restrictions to route, with no need to stop in Fleet.
- Timings: Leave after 1700.
- Date: This Sunday (5th March 2023).

Notes:
- I am looking for the cheapest reasonable route - I am willing to travel for up to 4.5 hours.
- I hold a 16-25 Railcard.
- I am aware of the engineering between Ascot-Reading and Warminster-Salisbury. As much as rail replacement buses suck, it's a necessary evil.
- No preference on TOCs.
- In the past I've tried a multitude of chaotic routes, such as Farnham>Fleet>Woking>Frome, Farnham>Fleet>Reading>Westbury, Farnham>Fleet>Salisbury>Westbury, even Farnham>Ash Vale>North Camp>Ascot>Reading>Westbury - and they all have their own problems. Ideally I'd like one route to default to so that I don't have to spend an hour comparing to/from, destinations, whether to buy the Farnham>Fleet ticket separate, etc.

Thank you all so much for your help!

Couru
(Sidenote: I've only got into trains hobby recently, so please don't assume I know things - I only found out about the Routeing Guide today! Thanks again

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Feb 2023 ==

Quick note - I've spent around £35 per return journey on trips to Somerset in the past, so even a £5 saving is greatly appreciated

Welcome to the forum!

You can see the range of through fares for your journey (assuming a destination of Westbury) here - BR Fares is a very valuable tool, though be aware that you won't necessarily be able to buy every fare that it shows.

As you can see, the cheapest through fare is the Super Off-Peak Return routed via Salisbury. This is valid from 12:00 onwards on Monday-Saturdays, or anytime on Sundays, so would be suitable for all of your travel except for the part from Farnham to Fleet in the early morning.

You might decide to buy an Anytime Day Single (£8.80 - no Railcard discount as it's before 10am and the fare is under £12) for that bit and then simply start late at Fleet on your Super Off-Peak Return.

There may be cheaper options, including buying a combination of tickets, but that seems the most obvious candidate from a quick look.

 

[Couru]

Thanks everyone for the help, and the warm welcome. BR Fares seems like a super tool.

I do have two questions:
- Is one of the restrictions on Super Off Peak Return that I cannot break my journey? The rules around journey breaks are terribly advertised that it took me ages to realise what a break actually meant - I'm unaware of any restrictions around length though.
- For my commute, which I pay £9.90 for, I'm aware I don't get railcard (which is rather grinding but there you go) - @Alex365Dash said "but you get one in July/August"; why would this be? Summer holidays for school, so relaxed prices?

Thank you all again.

 

[Watershed]

- Is one of the restrictions on Super Off Peak Return that I cannot break my journey? The rules around journey breaks are terribly advertised that it took me ages to realise what a break actually meant - I'm unaware of any restrictions around length though.

It's certainly complicated and poorly advertised! The default position is that walk-up tickets such as Super Off-Peak, Off-Peak and Anytime (Day) Single/Returns are valid for a break of journey. However, that may be barred if the restriction code says so - see for example restriction code SK.

Booking sites are supposed to tell you this if you go into the fare details, but most just regurgitate what the industry data says - which is generic based on the ticket type code (e.g. SVR), rather than the restriction code, and is thus often inaccurate.

Advance tickets are never valid for break of journey, and in any event you must travel in line with the itinerary you selected when buying. That being said, some retailers allow you to customise your itinerary (i.e. by adding "unnecessary" changes or additional time at changes) so that you can build in time for a de facto break of journey.

- For my commute, which I pay £9.90 for, I'm aware I don't get railcard (which is rather grinding but there you go) - @Alex365Dash said "but you get one in July/August"; why would this be? Summer holidays for school, so relaxed prices?

One of the conditions of the 16-25 Railcard (which you theoretically read when you bought yours! ) is that 16-25 Railcard discounted tickets that have been discounted to less than £12 cannot be used between 04:30 and 09:59 on Mondays-Fridays. However, there are two exceptions to this - firstly, this does not apply to Advance tickets, and secondly, it does not apply during the months of July and August.

The reason behind the latter 'easement' is that the 16-25 Railcard used to be purely for students (students aged over 25 can still get it). British Rail didn't want students to be able to use their Railcard to get a discount on their commute to college or university - however, they were happy for them to receive the full discount on what would likely be leisure journeys during the months of July and August.

 

[30907]

Thanks everyone for the help, and the warm welcome. BR Fares seems like a super tool.

I do have two questions:
- Is one of the restrictions on Super Off Peak Return that I cannot break my journey? The rules around journey breaks are terribly advertised that it took me ages to realise what a break actually meant - I'm unaware of any restrictions around length though.

No BOJ restriction applies on your particular journey.

- For my commute, which I pay £9.90 for,

Do you do this often enough to justify a season ticket (which you can get issued for a college/school term)?

 

[Couru]

No BOJ restriction applies on your particular journey.

Do you do this often enough to justify a season ticket (which you can get issued for a college/school term)?

Journey into Somerset, no, since that's about twice a month. And my daily commute, whoo boy... getting daily tickets for £9.90 actually comes out cheaper than getting a season ticket. Bit ridiculous to be honest.

 

[Watershed]

Journey into Somerset, no, since that's about twice a month. And my daily commute, whoo boy... getting daily tickets for £9.90 actually comes out cheaper than getting a season ticket. Bit ridiculous to be honest.

If you can provide us with more details on your daily commute, we may be able to identify a cheaper ticket (or combination of tickets).

 

[aifo]

I was going to suggest catching the bus from Farnham to Fleet but it's an even worse service than it was when I used to use it get to Farnham College everyday from Fleet.
Actually, looking closer, it's not even a bus, it's a taxi share supported by the council.

 

[Alex365Dash]

I was going to suggest catching the bus from Farnham to Fleet but it's an even worse service than it was when I used to use it get to Farnham College everyday from Fleet.
Actually, looking closer, it's not even a bus, it's a taxi share supported by the council.

There’s the 7 from Aldershot to Fleet but the times don’t match well, you either arrive Fleet Station at 07:09 (off the 06:16 18 to Aldershot, too early) or 09:39 (off the 08:38 17 to Aldershot, too late).

Although you could get a Blackwater Valley Megarider for cheaper, it doesn’t appear it’s actually worth it.

 

[fandroid]

There is a bus combination that will get you to Fleet at 08.52, if that fits. No idea what the fares would be

 

[Benjwri]

No idea what the fares would be

£3.50 one way if you buy on the bus, £4.00 on the app