All these fares are valid to start short from Leeds aren't they
Absolutely, yes.
But no itinerary could be produced on any booking site. I expect some staff members would make up rules that do not exist to argue it's not valid.
But the process is this: are you travelling on a permitted route? If yes, are you travelling on TPE? If yes, are you permitted to start/finish short? If yes, then there is nothing to invalidate it.
But why have they only done this now?
Because it was posted here, probably; that's the usual way pricing anomalies reach the attention of the relevant people.
It doesn't suggest they're very good at advance planning, does it?
That they've done
something (albeit executed poorly) within a few weeks of the operation starting is actually pretty good by TOC pricing standards!
There has been an update on fares on these new services:
A poor set of fares; expensive, and routing them via TPE only presents a few issues:
- Restricting by TOC, makes it harder for passengers to be re-routed via Leeds, during disruptive incidents (ticket acceptance is not always in place and, even where it is in place, not always advertised)
- There is no way to pay an appropriate price to travel via Sherburn in one direction and via Leeds in the other; had they been restricted by geographical route, this would have been possible.
- Restricting by TOC provides a loophole for passengers travelling between Leeds and York, as there is no rule that actually invalidates the use of the tickets for a journey starting/finishing short at Leeds.
Another issue I have is that:
- The price is still not good value for money; the fact it is cheaper than York - Leeds doesn't say much, given that route is incredibly overpriced.
What TPE have done is in line with my expectations, given I wouldn't expect them to get this right, so I am not surprised they've made a poor job of it. I would have been very surprised if they had got it right.
What TPE should do, but probably won't, is re-route the fares to either "via Sherburn" or "Not via Leeds", and reduce the fares by a couple of quid apiece.
Needless to say, I have no plans to purchase any of these ridiculous fares!