Rugely Town - Trent Valley

[clagmonster]

Following on from here: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/tfw-fare-errors.205453/
I thought it best to create a new thread as this has nothing to do with Wales.

You can't always be sure, but in the case of Rugeley Trent Valley to Rugeley Town I would be very surprised if the intention had been to sell an Anytime Return for £19.20 between these two stations.

When Rugeley Town was reopened, it was, for the first year, a terminus for trains from Birmingham before the service was extended through to Rugeley Trent Valley and at the time, Stafford. This for around a year, the only way to make the journey between Rugeley Trent Valley and Rugeley Town would be via either Lichfield, Tamworth or Stafford and Birmingham. I suspect the absurdly high fares are a hangover from those days. You will note that it is a cluster based fare, so the same as Redditch - Stafford. Clearly when the service was extended and the now realistic fares were introduced, a different route code was used. Perhaps significantly, the now reasonable fares are managed on behalf of West Mids PTE.

The high fares for this flow should never be sold, so in most cases their existance is a curiosity rather than a problem. However, it is concerning that there is no reasonably priced season between the two. Not sure whether this is a flow for which there would be a commuting demand.

 

[Alex365Dash]

However, it is concerning that there is no reasonably priced season between the two.

The closest thing you might be able to get in future will be a 10 ticket carnet which is listed as a fare, which seems to be for use on the LNR smartcard in future. The only mention of it was quite well hidden!*

For those commuters who don’t buy season tickets, we are accelerating the launch of flexible carnet ticket, essentially a “10 journey ticket” where you pay a reduced rate for 10 return journeys but don’t necessarily need to travel on consecutive days, like a traditional season ticket. This will be launched on our new smart card when the new readers come on-line over the coming weeks.

*under Hemel Hampstead/17th January, compensation for poor performance over last 6 months section

Not sure whether this is a flow for which there would be a commuting demand.

It might help a few people who don't want to walk half an hour to work since a bus service to Rugeley Trent Valley simply doesn't exist (no, not even near the station), but I don't see there being much demand given the little around the station on the Trent Valley (or at least that side of the Trent, anyway).

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Following on from here: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/tfw-fare-errors.205453/
I thought it best to create a new thread as this has nothing to do with Wales.

When Rugeley Town was reopened, it was, for the first year, a terminus for trains from Birmingham before the service was extended through to Rugeley Trent Valley and at the time, Stafford. This for around a year, the only way to make the journey between Rugeley Trent Valley and Rugeley Town would be via either Lichfield, Tamworth or Stafford and Birmingham. I suspect the absurdly high fares are a hangover from those days. You will note that it is a cluster based fare, so the same as Redditch - Stafford. Clearly when the service was extended and the now realistic fares were introduced, a different route code was used. Perhaps significantly, the now reasonable fares are managed on behalf of West Mids PTE.

The high fares for this flow should never be sold, so in most cases their existance is a curiosity rather than a problem. However, it is concerning that there is no reasonably priced season between the two. Not sure whether this is a flow for which there would be a commuting demand.

Thanks for the background. I think you can get n-network season tickets but they are unlikely to be very good value for money. Admittedly, as Ali365Dash says, it's unlikely there are many passengers or commuters between the two. But that doesn't excuse having a bit of a silly fare structure. There are fares and even season tickets from Dockyard to Devonport for instance.