Season Ticket Route

[Deafdoggie]

Hi, apologies if this is really a very simple basic question. But I may be starting to work in Birmingham, so want season ticket advice. Some days it is easier to travel from/to Stoke-on-Trent, and other days Crewe. If I purchase a Crewe-Birmingham season, is the route valid via Stoke?

many thanks in advance for your help

 

[bb21]

Yes, it is. It would be daft if it weren't.

Actually, scratch that. It looks like it is not permitted. WTF?

 

[robbeech]

That's rather silly. You'd be ok on the 0547 and 0635 in the morning it seems as that is a direct train, likely there are some in the evening too?

Is it historically valid does anyone know, is this another one of those that have vanished recently?

 

[OwlMan]

A Crewe to Tyseley ticket is valid via Stoke and is the same price

 

[Deafdoggie]

A Crewe to Tyseley ticket is valid via Stoke and is the same price

That seems like the solution then! There is one London Midland return in the evening, but no XC service. But I guess a Birmingham-Crewe ticket could not be used to board/alight at Stoke anyway?

 

[bb21]

I doubt any guard would really care but the Tyseley ticket is a good workaround.

It really is stupid.

 

[Deafdoggie]

What about if the ticket was to Bordesley?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

That seems like the solution then! There is one London Midland return in the evening, but no XC service. But I guess a Birmingham-Crewe ticket could not be used to board/alight at Stoke anyway?

That seems like the solution then! There is one London Midland return in the evening, but no XC service. But I guess a Birmingham-Crewe ticket could not be used to board/alight at Stoke anyway?

If I have read this thread correctly

- you want to travel from Crewe or Stoke to Birmingham New Street, using a season ticket
- a Crewe - Birmingham New Street season ticket is not valid via Stoke
- but a Crewe - Tyseley season ticket is valid via Stoke, AS WELL AS the validity of the Crewe - Birmingham New Street season (and, obviously but irrelevantly for your purposes, beyond Birmingham New Street to Tyseley)
- you now wish to know if you can use a Crewe - Birmingham New Street season to travel Stoke - Birmingham New Street

The National Conditions of Travel help you here:

36.2 A Season Ticket gives you the right to unlimited travel between specific stations or within specific geographic zones during the period up to and including the Season Ticket’s expiry date. This includes the right to start, break or resume your journey, as described in Condition 16.4.
​

And Condition 16.4 says:

16.4 Generally, you may start, or break and resume, a journey (in either direction in the case of a return Ticket) at any intermediate station, as long as the Ticket you hold is valid for the trains you want to use. However, this may not be the case with some through services that take an indirect route. You may also end your journey (in either direction in the case of a return Ticket) before the destination shown on the Ticket.​

So taking these together, yes - you can use your Crewe - Tyseley season ticket to travel Stoke-on-Trent to Birmingham New Street.

As an added benefit, I think (per http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/Gold Card Dgm Key.pdf - the Gold Card map) that Brum is now in the Gold Card area. So if I have understood what has been said on this forum, if you buy your season ticket in the Gold Card area (i.e. south of Stafford) and if you get an annual ticket, you should be able to claim the Gold Card benefits.

 

[Deafdoggie]

As an added benefit, I think (per http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/Gold Card Dgm Key.pdf - the Gold Card map) that Brum is now in the Gold Card area. So if I have understood what has been said on this forum, if you buy your season ticket in the Gold Card area (i.e. south of Stafford) and if you get an annual ticket, you should be able to claim the Gold Card benefits.

I hadn't thought of that! Thank you very much for that added bonus!

 

[kieron]

What about if the ticket was to Bordesley?

That's fine. A Crewe-Bordesley season has the same validity as a Crewe-Tyseley one.

 

[A Challenge]

Isn't Bordesley part of the Birmingham Group which is what we are trying to avoid, but Tysley is its own routing point so it is different (maps RJ not BJ, same with Walsall) and is valid via XC to Nuneaton or Tamwork (and LM viia Lichfield and Rugeley) and north up the Trent Valley (including not via Stafford to Stoke)

Actually, scratch that. It looks like it is not permitted. WTF?

 

[Andrew1395]

Fares checking will determine if the Bordesley destination Routeing point is Tyseley of Birmingham Group. From memory I don't think Bordesley is a member of the Birmingham Group, which had in addition to Birmingham New Street, Snow Hill and Moor Street, Aston and Duddeston(?)

 

[A Challenge]

I misread it as Duddeston, sorry!

 

[kieron]

The only thing about Bordesley is the limited service. The easiest way to show someone that a route is valid is usually to bring it up on a journey planner. You can bring up a Bordesley-Crewe* route via Stoke up on nationalrail.co.uk, for example (or Crewe-Bordesley*, for that matter), but it's not as easy as plugging the stations into a web site and pressing "go".

* You may need to delete any nationalrail.co.uk cookies you have for this URL to load correctly.

 

[iainbhx]

As the possessor of a Spring Road - Crewe season I can confirm that you can use it via Stoke and it is the same price as a Birmingham-Crewe season, I used it quite a bit during the Stoke by-election.

However, it didn't work the barriers at Stoke and if you use it on the Crewe-Stoke dogbox, you can get some questions from the EM grippers.

Mind you, twice I've had very silly questions from Virgin train managers, one of which thought it was only valid via Smethwick Galton Bridge and the other of which thought it was a LM only ticket.

 

[mikeg]

It would appear maps tv+bj have been added to the yellow pages of the routeing guide. This means crewe to brummie via Stoke duck appears to be valid, but nre.co.uk fails to give an itinerary without suggesting two tickets.

 

[Merseysider]

Yes, mikeg.

Crewe - Birmingham is again valid via Stoke.

Thanks to whoever reads these threads for getting this fixed.