Thanks for taking the time to try to understand the routeing guide. A lot of rail staff don't, and some don't even know if its existence, even though it forms the basis of the contract formed with the passenger. So it's good to see you looking at it.
1) Goring by Sea is not a routeing point. The applicable routeing points are BRIGHTON GROUP and FORD GROUP
Correct-ish. Those are the two possible routeing points. Whether they are appropriate or not depends on the fares check rule. To be appropriate, the single fare from the routeing point must be the same or less than the single fare from the origin.
In the case of Goring by Sea to Horsham, this allows Ford Group but blocks Brighton Group. So the only appropriate routeing point is Ford Group.
2) Horsham is a routeing point
It is indeed. So no fares check is need in the reverse direction.
3) For a journey from Goring by Sea to Horsham there are no common routeing points between the origin and the destination.
Correct
So it is necessary to invent one.
The obvious point is somewhere like Pulborough as the route via the Arun Valley is a lot shorter (29.75 miles versus 40.50 miles) and has a reasonable service
No - you can't "invent" routeing points. All routeing points are defined by the National Rail Routeing Guide and those are the only ones you can use. In this case we have already worked out that the only appropriate routeing point is Ford Group.
4) Barnham can be used as an interchange point in preference to Ford as both are in the same routeing group (despite the doubling back)
It can, but not for that reason. Barnham is NOT a member of the Ford Group, so you can't double back between them like you normally would within a routeing group.
Instead we rely on easement 30141:
Customer travelling via Ford may doubleback via Barnham. This easement applies in both directions.
This allows travel via Barnham, overriding the double back which occurs.
5) By using an alternative destination the routeings might be different. However unless Faygate or Littlehaven are chosen the fare may be higher eg Crawley or Three Bridges to Goring by Sea is £52 per week (7DS) instead of £49.60
Yes. But as you say, the permitted routes may change so you need to calculate them for every combination of stations you try.
6) For Littlehaven or Faygate there are two routeing points Three Bridges and Horsham. The mileage is however still longer via Three Bridges than via Horsham (33.00 miles via Horsham 38.25 miles via Three Bridges to Faygate)
This is also the case for Crawley and Ifield. However, mileage doesn't come into this unless it's within 3 miles of the shortest route. So you must apply the fares check from Goring by Sea to Three Bridges and Goring by Sea to Horsham against the price of a single to any of these stations to see if you can travel that way.
7) Another alternative would be Durrington to Faygate (also priced at £49.60) In this case the mileage is still more via Three Bridges but there is only 3.75m in it compared to Horsham (33.75 miles via Horsham and 37.50 miles via Three Bridges to Faygate). Faygate also allows the easement via Gatwick Airport.
This would technically NOT be permitted by Brighton since it fails the fares check rule. The first station along that line that would be allowed to Faygate is West Worthing. But that is a lot more expensive.
As far as i can see there is no entitlement to travel via Hove (or Brighton) but this isn't something Southern would be seeking to enforce and as i said if you have any trouble please let us know. Southern is trying to simplify all this so it will be easier for people to figure out what fare to buy without needing to be a specialist and any suggestions that might help would be very welcome
I'm glad to hear that. I'm sure the OP of this thread would appreciate the first part of that in writing from you.
To get some more depth of understanding and to allow us to make suggestions, may I suggest that you think about attending one of our free fares workshops. They are often advertised on the forum and go into the routeing guide in some depth.
Message to jimmy030470
I'm sorry that this is so confusing. Unfortunately the routeing guide IS confusing.
If you buy the
Goring by Sea to
Crawley ticket you will be fine going both ways.