Moreton in Marsh to Birmingham- no fares available

[philjo]

My colleague was trying to book tickets from Moreton in Marsh to Birmingham New Street via the corporate booking site. It shows no fares available alll day so would not offer any trains to book.
On National Rail enquiries and the forum site I see something similar if set to not split.

BrFares shows the default fare to be routed “via Worcester” - however the quickest journeys involve changing at Worcestershire Parkway. So we wonder if this is not regarded as “via Worcester” by the booking sites ?
Fares from the next station - Honeybourne to Birmingham are any permitted and fares are showing from there so my colleague was going to split at Honeybourne for this week’s journey.

 

[SargeNpton]

Worcestershire Parkway is not part of the "Worcester" group. A fare marked as via Worcester does then mean changing at Shrub Hill or Foregate Street.

 

[Watershed]

My colleague was trying to book tickets from Moreton in Marsh to Birmingham New Street via the corporate booking site. It shows no fares available alll day so would not offer any trains to book.
On National Rail enquiries and the forum site I see something similar if set to not split.

BrFares shows the default fare to be routed “via Worcester” - however the quickest journeys involve changing at Worcestershire Parkway. So we wonder if this is not regarded as “via Worcester” by the booking sites ?
Fares from the next station - Honeybourne to Birmingham are any permitted and fares are showing from there so my colleague was going to split at Honeybourne for this week’s journey.

There is no need to split. Whilst fares are indeed routed "via Worcester", the split route check means that you can use the permitted routes from Moreton in Marsh to Worcester, and then Worcester to Birmingham. Obviously the former allows travel to Worcestershire Parkway, and the latter is also valid via Worcestershire Parkway. You aren't compelled to undertake the pointless double-back (as it's a flexible ticket that allows break of journey) so you can just undertake the one change at Worcestershire Parkway and continue to Birmingham from there.

Booking sites don't recognise this, but it's a valid route and so you certainly shouldn't be paying anything more to use the fastest route.

It does highlight that the fare route should be changed though, probably to something like "not via Oxford" - though no such route currently exists, so one would have to be created. Alternatively the longstanding "Any Permitted" route could be reinstated - although admittedly this is a rare case where removing the term "Any Permitted" could be said to have clarified things, as that routing didn't point out the fact that the fare wasn't valid via Oxford (Oxford fails the fares check as an origin/destination Routeing Point for an "Any Permitted" fare route).

There are quite a few other "via X" fares in this area that could do with being changed. There are several which are nonsensically routed "via Gloucester", which ought to be changed to "via Cheltenham" - for example Rugby to Taunton.

 

[Haywain]

probably to something like "not via Oxford" - though no such route currently exists, so one would have to be created.

Or to 'via Evesham' which does currently exist.

 

[jeremyjh]

It's annoying that the booking sites don't recognise it though - this prevented me being certain enough to use the route for a longer journey a few weeks back.

 

[Watershed]

It's annoying that the booking sites don't recognise it though - this prevented me being certain enough to use the route for a longer journey a few weeks back.

It's poor from a customer perspective but in all fairness, the industry data makes it very difficult for booking sites to get this right. The problem is the lack of joined-up thinking between the Pricing Managers at the fare-setting TOCs, the RDG's contractor iBlocks that manages the Routeing Guide data, and the retailers.

 

[philjo]

There is no need to split. Whilst fares are indeed routed "via Worcester", the split route check means that you can use the permitted routes from Moreton in Marsh to Worcester, and then Worcester to Birmingham. Obviously the former allows travel to Worcestershire Parkway, and the latter is also valid via Worcestershire Parkway. You aren't compelled to undertake the pointless double-back (as it's a flexible ticket that allows break of journey) so you can just undertake the one change at Worcestershire Parkway and continue to Birmingham from there.

Booking sites don't recognise this, but it's a valid route and so you certainly shouldn't be paying anything more to use the fastest route.

The problem is that this journey is for work so can only be booked through the corporate booking system. It just says no fares available so there is no way to actually buy a through ticket.

It looks like the only tickets it is offering are the much more expensive “via Oxford” fares with a longer journey time.

 

[JonathanH]

The problem is that this journey is for work so can only be booked through the corporate booking system. It just says no fares available so there is no way to actually buy a through ticket.

Why not just book a journey via Worcester Shrub Hill, and then, assuming it is a walk up ticket, just change at Worcestershire Parkway? Is there no 'via' option on the booking interface?

 

[alistairlees]

Assuming you need Anytime tickets, just buy a Moreton-in-Marsh to Evesham Anytime Day Return (£11.70), and an Evesham - Birmingham Stations Anytime Day Return (£25.10), for a total of £36.80. This is actually £0.50 cheaper than the equivalent through fare. Every service stops at Evesham, so no problems there. And you can change at Worcestershire Parkway, or go via Worcester Shrub Hill.