TOC Privilege card

[387star]

I wish to travel to Reading but I could go via Havant and Guildford using South West Trains and FGW or via Southampton using XC (I get free travel on Southern)

It is only off the full fare but does this mean I might still pay more for going one way than the other or are all full fares between two stations the same. I think to go via London is generally more expensive but this may only be during peak times which is trains arriving in London before 9:30?

Despite working for a TOC I am not involved in the ticketing sector and at some point hope to gain a better understanding of the tickesting system.

Where is the best information guide to tickets and explaining the differences in cost dependant on route etc

 

[cookiescrumble]

where are you travelling from?

 

[hairyhandedfool]

....It is only off the full fare but does this mean I might still pay more for going one way than the other or are all full fares between two stations the same....

Usually the fares are the same in both directions, but there are cases of the fares being different for some journeys.

....I think to go via London is generally more expensive but this may only be during peak times which is trains arriving in London before 9:30?....

Depends where you are travelling from and to in regard to going via London, however, the Priv discount will always be from the 'Anytime' or 'Anytime Day' fare which has no time restrictions.

....Despite working for a TOC I am not involved in the ticketing sector and at some point hope to gain a better understanding of the tickesting system....

Good luck.

....Where is the best information guide to tickets and explaining the differences in cost dependant on route etc

You can look up the 'Anytime' or 'Anytime Day' fare for the journey you want to make on the National Rail Enquiries website and divide it by 4 for the Priv fare. NRES tells you what the route restriction is, aswell as showing you a selection of routes.

If you want to look up some alternative routes for yourself, look up the Routeing Guide on the ATOC website.

If you ask your employer nicely, they might grant you access to 'The Manual' which holds all the ticketing information that you can't find on NRES.