Strange fare routes from BML to West Coastway

[MrJeeves]

I was looking on BRFares, for stations on the BML between Hassocks and (at least) Redhill to Portsmouth.

There are fares routed both "via Barnham" and "Not via London", but the only possible valid route as per the Routeing Guide is via Barnham no matter what you choose. (Edit: as per post #2 and #3, tickets from Redhill and Earlswood are valid via Guildford due to the shortest route rule.)

Not via London is consistently priced higher (and also has equal off-peak and anytime pricing?) than the equivalent Via Barnham fares.

My assumption is that the "Not via London" fare is intended for use via North Downs Line to Guildford, then SWR to Portsmouth as well as via Clapham Junction.

Looking at the Yellow Pages, it seems that for all the stations in this section, the only maps are CW (+LB where applicable) and/or LP, both require travelling via Barnham and then either (CW) across to Hove/Brighton and up the BML, or (LP) via Horsham and Three Bridges.

These extra fares add no additional validity, and simply serve to confuse passengers or overcharge them.

Here's an example of the fares from Wivelsfield to Portsmouth & Southsea:



And the Yellow Pages extract:


And the map in question (cropped):

 

[Jan Mayen]

The Not London route from Redhill to Portsmouth would allow via Guildford I believe, as that is the shorter route.

 

[MrJeeves]

The Not London route from Redhill to Portsmouth would allow via Guildford I believe, as that is the shorter route.

Yes, it would! Good spot.

This also applies to Earlswood as it's within 3 miles of the shortest (Barnham) route at 64.68 miles vs 64.08 mi.

For every station south of Earlswood, however, this doesn't apply as, via Dorking Deepdene, they're all >3 miles of the shortest route (Barnham).

(Salfords is ~4 miles longer via Dorking Deepdene and Guildford)

 

[HurdyGurdy]

Earlswood, as well. The route via Guildford is within 3 miles of the shortest, which is via Horsham.

 

[blelic]

The not via London fares from Brighton to Southampton at least are valid via Clapham Junction (have used this ticket and journey before), so I would have assumed that the same would apply for BML stations to Portsmouth.

I believe ‘not via London’ refers specifically to London Terminals.

 

[MrJeeves]

The not via London fares from Brighton to Southampton at least are valid via Clapham Junction (have used this ticket and journey before), so I would have assumed that the same would apply for BML stations to Portsmouth.

I had initially assumed that perhaps they added the same fares to both without realising, but Southampton's fares (at last currently) appear to be "Clapham Junction Not Via London" rather than just "Not Via London".

That's the same assumption I made, and the same assumption that could get you a PF/TIR!

 

[JonathanH]

These extra fares add no additional validity, and simply serve to confuse passengers or overcharge them.

The Not via London fares existed before the via Barnham fares. Southern basically applied a full set of via Barnham fares at a standardised price across their network on top of what already existed.

At some point it is likely that there was additional validity via, for example, Clapham Junction or Guildford in some cases for some of the Not via London fares - eg as there is for Brighton to Southampton not via London.