TrainSplit/fastjp Forcing Unnecessary Change When Requesting "Stop or Change"

[mikeb42]

As per the title, some while ago this behaviour started manifesting for certain journeys. Having tried again now, I wonder if some "accidental functionality" has crept in?

Specifically: A Network Railcard holder travelling from e.g. Bristol Parkway to e.g. Paddington often wants to be on trains which stop at Didcot in order to split there.

Usually this means changing at Swindon onto a train which stops at Didcot as most of those from Bristol Parkway pass it nonstop.

Setting "Stop or Change at" Didcot in the advanced options* would, until recently, yield the expected result: a single change at Swindon. Now it always seems to force this and an extra redundant change at Didcot.

This is a longwinded way of saying that, for this particular journey at least, it's as though the logic of "Stop or Change at" has morphed into just "Change at".

Here's an example on trainsplit:

Trainsplit Query with Redundant Change

Can anyone spot the obvious mistake I've made?

*Equivalently, just "Stop at" in fastjp.

 

[Farigiraf]

I've had this same issue for a while now, the feature was quite good when it worked as it allowed routing onto slower trains, but now I have to either exclude operators or add extra change time to get the routing I want.
For example, previously (a few months ago) from Waterloo to Salisbury selecting 'stop or change at' with one of the smaller stations on the route always selected the hourly stopper instead of the Exeter service, but now it always forces an hour change at Overton (or Whitchurch or Grateley). This is quite irritating as the Exeter service is the same operator and also passes through the smaller stations, so I've found it difficult to get the journey planner to select this service.
Same with many other routes with a frequent fast service vs a less frequent (but quieter / more comfortable) stopper.

 

[Haywain]

Can anyone spot the obvious mistake I've made?

I don’t know about obvious mistakes but if you want the cheapest/best fare for a Network Railcard holder I would have expected Trainsplit to find it without having to specify the stopping point.

 

[mikeb42]

It did in the past, but now it doesn't.

E.g.

Bristol Parkway to Paddington, Flexible, Cheapest, Network Railcard

(I think you'll have to press the "Cheap" and "Flexible Buttons" to get the £73.92 splits at Swindon and Reading)

It should, and mostly used to, come up with this sort of thing

Same but user force a "Stop or Change" at Didcot.

£63.47 splits at Swindon and Didcot. However the itinerary now has a redundant change at Didcot costing another
10-25 minutes hanging around Didcot for no reason.

From the outside it looks like the underlying reason for all this is fastjp doing something weird when asked to force a Stop at Didcot. (Assuming I've remembered right that fastjp is the underlying planning engine used by trainsplit)

 

[MrJeeves]

From the outside it looks like the underlying reason for all this is fastjp doing something weird when asked to force a Stop at Didcot. (Assuming I've remembered right that fastjp is the underlying planning engine used by trainsplit)

I've noticed some weirdness with via/avoid recently too, and I've been trying to track down some things which might have caused it.

We'll keep looking into it.

 

[Farigiraf]

This appears to be fixed now, thanks to whoever resolved the issue