Hemel Hempstead to Euston direct or via Tring - £15.10 or £22.70?

[strawbrick]

Anyone any thoughts on how or why the £22.70 fare is on the National Rail Journey Planner but not on the LNW site?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Because it's a split. NRE shows these when there isn't a through ticket via that route. You can identify them by it saying "Ticket valid for this service only" and it's not an Advance.

The reason the normal ticket isn't valid is because it's a double back. You get the same thing for Bletchley to Euston via MKC coming up occasionally.

 

[strawbrick]

I thought the idea of a split was to travel the much the same route for less money, here you travel north to Tring catch a southbound train to Euston which passes through Hemel (without stopping), it takes19 minutes longer (nearly double the "direct" distance) and costs 50% more!

However, if you attempt to buy it you are directed to the LNW site where it has vanished!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I thought the idea of a split was to travel the much the same route for less money, here you travel north to Tring catch a southbound train to Euston which passes through Hemel (without stopping), it takes19 minutes longer (nearly double the "direct" distance) and costs 50% more!

However, if you attempt to buy it you are directed to the LNW site where it has vanished!

Splits can also be used to travel on non-Permitted routes, as is the case here.

The LNR site doesn't sell splits, so you can't buy it from them unless you buy the two halves separately.

Can't see why you'd want to do that, though, it's faff to save not very much time and the connection could miss.

 

[Watershed]

I thought the idea of a split was to travel the much the same route for less money, here you travel north to Tring catch a southbound train to Euston which passes through Hemel (without stopping), it takes19 minutes longer (nearly double the "direct" distance) and costs 50% more!

However, if you attempt to buy it you are directed to the LNW site where it has vanished!

Splits can be undertaken both to save money, as well as to take a route not permitted by a through ticket.

Most sites aren't able to sell splits and so simply throw a fit if presented with a combination of tickets by NRE.

In this case there is legitimate reason to want to go via Tring, but it's not possible to make it a permitted route without opening up an anomaly. So you have to split if you want to travel that way.

 

[Graham H]

Splits can be undertaken both to save money, as well as to take a route not permitted by a through ticket.

Most sites aren't able to sell splits and so simply throw a fit if presented with a combination of tickets by NRE.

In this case there is legitimate reason to want to go via Tring, but it's not possible to make it a permitted route without opening up an anomaly. So you have to split if you want to travel that way.

Same down here. Direct train to Victoria runs every hour but if I dont want to wait an hour I can go a few miles the wrong way and then get a train that goes to Waterloo but is more expensive although in our case can be quicker.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Same down here. Direct train to Victoria runs every hour but if I dont want to wait an hour I can go a few miles the wrong way and then get a train that goes to Waterloo but is more expensive although in our case can be quicker.

It's only "quicker" in this case because it fills a time gap. It's actually much slower (49 vs. 29/30 minutes). Plus the risk of a missed connection.

I'd only do it here if there was a specific reason I couldn't make the 1014 but the 1059 would be too late.

 

[Graham H]

It's only "quicker" in this case because it fills a time gap. It's actually much slower (49 vs. 29/30 minutes). Plus the risk of a missed connection.

I'd only do it here if there was a specific reason I couldn't make the 1014 but the 1059 would be too late.

Yes, sorry thats what I meant. You get there quicker than if you waited for the next train so as you say, its a gap filler.

 

[plugwash]

I thought the idea of a split was to travel the much the same route for less money.

I think you have put the cart before the horse.

The conditions of travel allow, (subject to some limitations) the use of a combination of tickets (aka a split) for a single journey. I can see several reasons for this, one is to provide a mechanism for travel via routes that would otherwise not be permitted. Another is to allow season ticket holders to extend their journey. I find it highly doubtful that saving passengers money was part of the plan.

At some point people realised you could save money by splitting tickets even when a through ticket was available. People set up sites (not sure which was the first) to help exploit this.

 

[strawbrick]

"...you could save money by splitting tickets even when a through ticket was available."

Sorry to labour the point. but clearly in this case the split ticket costs 50% more than the through ticket, so why would you bother to split?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Sorry to labour the point. but clearly in this case the split ticket costs 50% more than the through ticket, so why would you bother to split?

In order to travel that way, which is not ordinarily Permitted because it would cause a whacking fare anomaly or you'd have to put the fare from Hemel up to the same as that from Tring which wouldn't make you many friends.