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Season ticket different destinations

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ajdunlop

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I suspect I already know the answer to this question, but just in case...

I have a season ticket from Huddersfield to Salford Crescent. I take a bike to complete my journey from there. As season tickets are valid to any pair of stations between the origin and destination I can go via Victoria or Piccadilly or cut my trip short at any of the inner Manchester stations and complete my journey by bike.
I have realised today that another option would be to go to Eccles and cycle from there.
However Eccles is not between the origin and destination stations on my ticket. I have checked and the price of a season ticket to there is identical.
Is there any way I can use my current ticket for this (as the price is the same) or is the system just not that flexible? It occurs to me that there must be other examples of two close together stations on different lines where people live or work between them and would want the flexibility.
On option I considered was a season ticket to the Greater Manchester boundary and a System One county card which would allow me on any train in GM. But this combination would be more expensive and doesn't cover trams for some reason (if it did I would get one as when without bike I take the tram).
 
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PermitToTravel

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You can change your season ticket for one to Eccles and pay only the difference in price :)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Although as far as I'm aware, neither ticket has any validity on the Metrolink
 

Bookd

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The answer would be to have tickets (season or otherwise) from station A valid to any station at a single fare of £x from that station. When LU had graded fares tickets generally showed the origin and fare but not the destination.
Such a system might be convenient but the problem would be that to check the ticket on arrival the person or machine would need to access the complete fairs manual.
 

DaiGog

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South West Trains and GWR have a range of season tickets which are valid to one of two destinations, with routes beginning with 'AAA' (meaning 'Also Available At'). For example for London to Newbury, besides the Any Permitted there is an 'AAA Pangbourne', 'AAA Didcot Pkwy' and 'AAA Whitchurch Hants'. Prices are a modest amount higher than Any Permitted.

Northern and TPE do not do these as far as I am aware, so the OP might like to suggest it to them?
 

Romilly

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If you switched to a Huddersfield-Eccles season ticket (but not one limited to travelling via Hebden Bridge), so far as I can see it is permitted to make the journey via the following route: Huddersfield-Piccadilly-Salford Crescent-Victoria-Eccles. On that basis, the Huddersfield-Eccles season ticket would also be valid to stop short at Salford Crescent.
 

Haywain

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The answer would be to have tickets (season or otherwise) from station A valid to any station at a single fare of £x from that station. When LU had graded fares tickets generally showed the origin and fare but not the destination.
Such a system might be convenient but the problem would be that to check the ticket on arrival the person or machine would need to access the complete fairs manual.
That is never going to work if you think about it. To demonstrate, consider that a season ticket between Warrington and Manchester costs £42.30 for 7 days. If that ticket is then valid to any station where the fare is cheaper it is also valid to Liverpool because the fare is £37.80 for 7 days. Thus you have a season ticket from Liverpool to Manchester at considerably less than the fare for the whole journey (£74.70).
 

ajdunlop

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If you switched to a Huddersfield-Eccles season ticket (but not one limited to travelling via Hebden Bridge), so far as I can see it is permitted to make the journey via the following route: Huddersfield-Piccadilly-Salford Crescent-Victoria-Eccles. On that basis, the Huddersfield-Eccles season ticket would also be valid to stop short at Salford Crescent.


How likely do you think that that will be questioned?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
It also occurs to me that that route could potentially be removed when the Ordsall Chord is built as there will be a direct connection between Picc and Vic.
 

kieron

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How likely do you think that that will be questioned?
How often does anyone look at your ticket at Salford Crescent, or between there and a Manchester station?

Probably the most useful thing to do, though, is to know what you'd say or do if anyone does ask about it. NRE (for example) is happy to show the route Romilly described as being valid, so in this situation I would probably start by explaining this.

You can't rely on journey planners to be correct in all ways, though. For instance, they tend not to show an "any permitted" Huddersfield-Eccles as being valid on the line through Hedben Bridge. They are valid this way because a cheaper "via Hebden Bridge" ticket exists and the routeing guide instructions say an "any permitted" ticket ticket "can be used on any route not listed in the Routeing Guide for which a lower priced route specific fare exists". I don't think any journey planner incorporates this logic, though.

You would lose some validity if you switched to a Huddersfield-Eccles season ticket, but it's mostly the sort of route which will attract a lot more attention than a Huddersfield-Eccles ticket at Salford Crescent.
It also occurs to me that that route could potentially be removed when the Ordsall Chord is built as there will be a direct connection between Picc and Vic.
I don't know what the plans are with the Ordsall Chord. One advantage of being able to change your season ticket is that it means you don't have to choose a ticket now based on what you expect to happen next month, much less what might happen next year.
 
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