Islineclear3_1
Established Member
Why are these not available out of London Waterloo before midday on a Saturday?
Could you remind us / advise what an 'SOP' is?It is not surprising that that SOP is time restricted then.
What restriction should they have applied?Why are these not available out of London Waterloo before midday on a Saturday?
The previous poster's own term for an SSR, eg a super off-peak return on the SWR network, such as this one to Bournemouth - https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=WAT&dest=BMH&grpo=1072&tkt=SSRCould you remind us / advise what an 'SOP' is?
The ticket the OP is referring to is not valid for departures 0430-1200 inclusive on a Saturday morning. I'm afraid this statement couldn't be much further from the truth. Services from London Waterloo before 0900 on Saturdays are near-empty. The first and second services of the day sometimes don't carry any passengers from London whatsoever, and typically set off carrying a load of 1-2% of their capacity. These first two services of the day are so early into their destinations that they don't get close to capacity even at the far end of the route. Obviously mid-morning departures are much busier but in general they're still not at capacity. I've got no idea where you've got this fiction from.The SWR mainline can be amazingly busy on a Saturday morning.
One similar to their old Super Off Peak Day for example, which, for Saturdays, restricted mid-morning departures for London but not early-morning ones, and none from London?What restriction should they have applied?
Why don't you explain to us what it's for? The first three to five services leaving London on Saturdays are the lowest-loaded which SWR run all week at any time of day. Why don't you tell us why the cheapest flexible ticket isn't valid on them?Have we forgotten what the whole Anytime, Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak structure was conceived for?
Could you remind us / advise where 'PMH' is?Thank you all for your replies. My train, 09.09 WAT - PMH was not busy
Sorry; London Waterloo (WAT) to Portsmouth Harbour (PMH)Could you remind us / advise where 'PMH' is?
A few unexplained abbreviations in this thread!
SWR renamed most of their Off-Peak tickets into Super Off-Peak or Evening Out tickets and then introduced new Off-Peak tickets at a higher price than before. So the Super Off-Peak/Evening Out tickets are the true Off-Peak fares and there can be no real justification for them having such heavy time restrictions. It's purely a matter of ramping up fares.In my experience, trains heading south from Basingstoke on Saturday mornings are busy, all year round. The level of busyness is fine for Off-Peak fares to apply but, commercially, further discounts aren't justified. Fancy time restriction complications to cover early morning trains on a Saturday aren't justified.
But what about someone travelling from Guildford to Surbtion after 13:00 on an evening out return? The 13:04 is valid but the 13:19 with a change at Woking is not, as the 13:19 gets into Waterloo prior to 14:00, even though your connecting train at Woking does not.In my experience, trains heading south from Basingstoke on Saturday mornings are busy, all year round. The level of busyness is fine for Off-Peak fares to apply but, commercially, further discounts aren't justified. Fancy time restriction complications to cover early morning trains on a Saturday aren't justified.
You're entirely missing the point I'm afraid. The point is that the price has very little to do with how well loaded the train is. They'd far rather some trains run with very low loads and a small number of people paying far more if that's what earns more money. This is why Saturday evening services from London are frequently crush loaded, often to the point of people being left behind at Clapham Junction, but the cheapest ticket is perfectly valid on those services. Same goes for the last train into London in the morning that doesn't take the Off Peak, very lightly loaded and always very expensive with an Advance. Also time restrictions on Sundays have been completely removed despite the much lower capacity on Sundays meaning that Sunday mornings are often more crowded than weekday mornings.In my experience, trains heading south from Basingstoke on Saturday mornings are busy, all year round. The level of busyness is fine for Off-Peak fares to apply but, commercially, further discounts aren't justified. Fancy time restriction complications to cover early morning trains on a Saturday aren't justified.