Rovers and Rangers you’d like to see exist or changed

[LUYMun]

Having been doing a spot of bashing in recent times thanks to making the best use out of the various day tickets (Rovers) I had a thought about creating new rovers to make a bashing day out more attractive, or sometimes planning to spot a particular service more easily, such as a Railtour.

One I’d like to see is one that covers each TOC. That way, spending a day sampling a company’s fleet could be made easier. For example, a ‘South Western Rover’ ticket covers all of the SWR network alongside a few additional routes, such as the North Downs line between Guildford and Reading.

Another Rover can be created to cover the larger franchises to offer a more extensive Rover, such as a GTR Day Ranger covering Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express.

I’d also change the Cornwall & Devon 3 in 7 ticket to become a one Day ticket. I wonder if anyone else has thought about changing or creating an ideal Rover for their trips?

 

[Lytham Local]

I'd like the "Northern Only Day Ranger" to be available without the need to collect the newspaper tokens.

 

[Rail Quest]

To me, the annoyances of using rovers come when one is spotting on the boarder between two rovers. As someone who uses the Cheshire day rangers very frequently, it's annoying to keep running into borders on what is on that rover and what's on the Lancashire one so I wish there was a bit more blurring of the lines between rovers positioned next to another rover on the network. A minor change I'd love to see made is extending the South Pennines rover to Chesterfield as it currently bizarrely only goes as far as Dronfield which has caught me out many times haha.

I'd like the "Northern Only Day Ranger" to be available without the need to collect the newspaper tokens.

I'd definitely agree with this. If reasonably priced a Northern only day ticket would be mighty useful!

Perhaps I'd like to see a Pennines rover that covers the majority of the TPE network (excluding Scotland, Newcastle, and Saltburn routes) and covers the additional operators that operate over those lines and surrounding lines - that would be very useful for specific day outs.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

To me, the annoyances of using rovers come when one is spotting on the boarder between two rovers. As someone who uses the Cheshire day rangers very frequently, it's annoying to keep running into borders on what is on that rover and what's on the Lancashire one so I wish there was a bit more blurring of the lines between rovers positioned next to another rover on the network.

Such as Wigan NW to/from Warrington Bank Quay, which I don't think is valid (direct) using either a Lancashire or Cheshire Day Ranger (or both)?

 

[Rail Quest]

Such as Wigan NW to/from Warrington Bank Quay, which I don't think is valid (direct) using either a Lancashire or Cheshire Day Ranger (or both)?

That's a really good point actually - didn't realise that section wasn't covered by either. Made even weirder by how the lancs rover gets as far as Chat Moss and Earlestown so within spitting distance of Wazza!! There ya go then, that's another suggestion - add Warrington to lancs at the very least, and ideally Wigan nw to the Cheshire ranger as well.

 

[A0wen]

I'm having deja vu - this has been previously discussed here>

Ranger / rover reform

Which rangers and rovers would you change the boundaries of / introduce (/ abolish) if you could? Preferably within reason, so no changing the boundaries of a St. Ives Bay Line Ranger so that you can get from Penzance to Aberdeen for £4. I'd - make the Thameslink Day Ranger valid on all...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[ChrisC]

I’d like to see Sheffield to Derby included in the Coast and Peaks Rover. This would make it a much more useful ticket as currently Sheffield and Derby/Matlock are right out on a limb. Even if the price was increased by a few pounds to cover this it would probably still be worth it.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I’d like to see Sheffield to Derby included in the Coast and Peaks Rover. This would make it a much more useful ticket as currently Sheffield and Derby/Matlock are right out on a limb. Even if the price was increased by a few pounds to cover this it would probably still be worth it.

Sheffield / Derby and Matlock are all currently included on the 'Derbyshire Wayfarer', if that helps any.

 

[ChrisC]

Sheffield / Derby and Matlock are all currently included on the 'Derbyshire Wayfarer', if that helps any.

I was thinking more of making the Coast and Peaks Rover more flexible and interesting for longer distance journeys across the area covered. It’s a long journey out to Derby, Matlock and Sheffield from the main areas covered by the rover and it would be good to link them to enable circular and more varied journeys.

 

[alex17595]

I would add a couple of bits to the North West rover to improve connectivity.

Crewe- Liverpool South Parkway
Crewe- Manchester Airport and Stockport
Crewe- Warrington bank quay

 

[A S Leib]

To me, the annoyances of using rovers come when one is spotting on the boarder between two rovers. As someone who uses the Cheshire day rangers very frequently, it's annoying to keep running into borders on what is on that rover and what's on the Lancashire one so I wish there was a bit more blurring of the lines between rovers positioned next to another rover on the network. A minor change I'd love to see made is extending the South Pennines rover to Chesterfield as it currently bizarrely only goes as far as Dronfield which has caught me out many times

One thing I'd do would be offering a discount (maybe 25-40%) if buying two overlapping rangers for the same or consecutive days, e.g. £50-£60 instead of £81 for a Cumbria Day Ranger on a Saturday and a Lancashire Day Ranger on a Sunday.

I'd also like to have the option to buy two-day rivers for every one with an existing three-day variant, to make it easier to get the full worth out of it.

Individual routes I'd add:

• Ely – King's Lynn / Peterborough (Anglia Plus)
• Bangor – Aberystwyth buses (Ffestiniog round robin, for days with very sparse through Blaenau Ffestiniog – Porthmadog services)
• Worksop – Retford – Lincoln (East Midlands day ranger)
• Grimsby – Barton (Lincolnshire day ranger)
• Midland Metro (West Midlands day ranger) and maybe Hereford – Crewe
• Preston – Blackpool (North Country Rover)
• Dunbar and Leuchars (Central Scotland Rover) - including Perth and Dundee's probably less realistic, but I'd like to see that as well
• Dartford – Gravesend, Orpington / Otford – Sevenoaks and Ashford International – Rye (Kent Rover), mostly to make it easier to use with an Oyster card and no other tickets (but with contactless expansion that will be less of an issue anyway)
• Great Malvern – Hereford and Portsmouth – Ryde – Shanklin, even if the latter's limited to one return ferry / hovercraft journey (Freedom of Severn & Solent / South West), and Cheltenham Spa / Worcester – Worcestershire Parkway if that isn't allowed
• Oxford – Bicester Village, Reading – Twyford – Henley (Oxfordshire day ranger)

New rangers / rovers I'd like to see:

• Essex (London Liverpool Street – Stansted Airport / Audley End (I think Great Chesterford's the last one in Essex or first in Cambs?), Southend / Southminster / Braintree / Sudbury / Clacton / Walton-on-the-Naze / Harwich, c2c network)
• East Essex (Shenfield – Great Eastern Main Line and branches up to Harwich)
• Thameslink DaySave tickets are apparently no longer available to buy, which isn't surprising as I think they were only physically available from a few tourist information centres and didn't cover any of the newer Thameslink routes, so I'd introduce one covering suburban Southern and SWR routes and one covering all Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern services
• London Marylebone – Banbury / Oxford / Aylesbury
• At a massive stretch, a cheaper all line rover with far more restrictions, e.g. no use at all before 08:00 on weekdays except on routes with sparse services and no use on intercity services unless there's no alternative (e.g. north of Penrith on the WCML or for routes around Swindon), and more flexible (7-10 days in 30) variants of both that one and the existing one.

 

[Trainlog]

Across many threads, i have praised the rover tickets such as the Southern daysaver and the Kent rover. I have done the Southern daysaver many times and its a great ticket and i have seen many towns and cities on it across the Southern network from using it.

My changes i want to see made to the Southern daysaver are...

1.) End the waiting time of 3 days to get the ticket - they should be able to be purchased on the day at any Southern railway booking office or ticket machine.
2.) Better promotion of the tickets, I know when it gets brought up many go 'its expensive' and only a small amount of users of the rovers/rangers. However, the amount of ads some rail operators do and the emails you often get from them, i reckon they could try and promote them and see if there is an uptake.


When it comes to the Kent rover i would change the following...

1.) make a day rover ticket available as the cheapest one available currently is the 3 day ticket.
2.) I would change the ticket from the Kent rover to the Kent and Hastings rover ticket, so that the small section of East Sussex that Southeastern does serve can be part of the ticket.

Kent Rover | Southeastern

Enjoy three consecutive days of unlimited off-peak train travel

www.southeasternrailway.co.uk

Buy DaySave Train Ticket | DaySave Train Ticket | Southern Railway

Get unlimited Off-Peak travel on Southern services with DaySave

www.southernrailway.com

 

[Purple Train]

Something for the East Anglia branches south of Ipswich would be useful for bashing.

 

[LeeLivery]

Across many threads, i have praised the rover tickets such as the Southern daysaver and the Kent rover. I have done the Southern daysaver many times and its a great ticket and i have seen many towns and cities on it across the Southern network from using it.

My changes i want to see made to the Southern daysaver are...

1.) End the waiting time of 3 days to get the ticket - they should be able to be purchased on the day at any Southern railway booking office or ticket machine.
2.) Better promotion of the tickets, I know when it gets brought up many go 'its expensive' and only a small amount of users of the rovers/rangers. However, the amount of ads some rail operators do and the emails you often get from them, i reckon they could try and promote them and see if there is an uptake.

I agree with all of that and would also like a Southeastern and South Western daysave too, and a whole Southern Region one

 

[JonathanH]

I agree with all of that and would also like a Southeastern and South Western daysave too, and a whole Southern Region one

A South Western daysave would need to either be regional or cost well towards £100.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

A South Western daysave would need to either be regional or cost well towards £100.

That's a key consideration. If their validity is too far wide ranging, they'll likely become much too expensive to buy.

 

[Halish Railway]

More to do with the peak restrictions of the area, but it'd be incredibly useful for the West Yorkshire Rovers to have the evening peak restrictions removed. The evening restrictions are annoying for return tickets, but given how many journeys you're likely to make with a rover ticket, having 2.5 hours where it can't be used really makes it useless for working weekdays.

 

[JonathanH]

More to do with the peak restrictions of the area, but it'd be incredibly useful for the West Yorkshire Rovers to have the evening peak restrictions removed. The evening restrictions are annoying for return tickets, but given how many journeys you're likely to make with a rover ticket, having 2.5 hours where it can't be used really makes it useless for working weekdays.

Isn't that a WY DaySaver Bus and Rail Zones 1-5 ticket (peak)?

 

[Harpers Tate]

1: Regional one-day rovers (at a sensible price - around the cost of the highest simple return fare within the region) which together cover the whole country.
2: Adjacent regions ALWAYS meet or overlap at some point (which may not be an actual boarding/alighting point) thus always allowing 2+ to be bought and used in a larger area.
3: Minor change to the "multiple tickets" condition such that using two tickets that OVERLAP is valid (without the train needing to stop at the boundary). Currently, reading the wording precisely, I interpret that two tickets have to meet exactly, but not overlap.

TOC-specific (like Northern Day Ranger) I don't support. As rail users, we should never need to care who is running the train.

 

[liamf656]

I'm having deja vu - this has been previously discussed here>

Ranger / rover reform

Which rangers and rovers would you change the boundaries of / introduce (/ abolish) if you could? Preferably within reason, so no changing the boundaries of a St. Ives Bay Line Ranger so that you can get from Penzance to Aberdeen for £4. I'd - make the Thameslink Day Ranger valid on all...

www.railforums.co.uk

That thread is closed to further replies. I guess it's admin's decision whether to merge this into it

 

[Intercity110]

rangers for mainlines; eg WCML ranger or ECML ranger. would be useful.

 

[SeanG]

The merseyside daysaver or whatever its called currently doesn't cover the Runcorn curve. That would be handy

 

[Bletchleyite]

The merseyside daysaver or whatever its called currently doesn't cover the Runcorn curve. That would be handy

Saveaway? Yes, I think it should be extended to cover the whole Liverpool City Region, which now includes Halton, so it should be valid to and via Runcorn.

 

[JonathanH]

The merseyside daysaver or whatever its called currently doesn't cover the Runcorn curve. That would be handy

Handy, but neither in Merseyside or served by Merseyrail, so not appropriate for being included in the Saveaway ticket.

Saveaway? Yes, I think it should be extended to cover the whole Liverpool City Region, which now includes Halton, so it should be valid to and via Runcorn.

That is like these people who think that places outside London should be in Zone 6.

I reckon there is very much a place for an 'outboundary' Saveaway valid in Halton and Runcorn, but pushing out the area covered by Saveaway itself makes it more expensive and therefore less use for the people of Merseyside that it is designed for.

Outboundary tickets for the major conurbations, offering one journey to the boundary, and multiple journeys within might be a good innovation for a lot of metropolitan areas, but run the risk of this year's (London) travelcard issue surfacing in those places.

 

[A S Leib]

That is like these people who think that places outside London should be in Zone 6.

I reckon there is very much a place for an 'outboundary' Saveaway valid in Halton and Runcorn, but pushing out the area covered by Saveaway itself makes it more expensive and therefore less use for the people of Merseyside that it is designed for.

The difference being that people in Halton get a vote on Liverpool City Region mayoral elections, with effectively no difference between Halton and Sefton, St. Helens etc., whilst Watford, Epping, Dartford and Epsom don't get a say in London mayoral elections. Merseyside without Halton doesn't exist as a political unit beyond the lord lieutenant; the county council's been gone for a third of a century.

 

[route101]

A Strathclyde Rover to the old Daytripper boundary.

 

[Kite159]

A Strathclyde Rover to the old Daytripper boundary.

Even if just rail (and subway) only to avoid trying to deal with the various bus companies wanting their cut from the ticket sale etc.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Merseyside no longer exists as a construct. The Liverpool City Region is the construct, and it includes Halton.

In any case Merseytravel ticketing extends to other places that actually are outside the LCR!

 

[LeeLivery]

Having a 'within M25-ish' ticket would be great

Should also do an interrail style ticket for 18-30s - encourage young people to see the country they live in.

A South Western daysave would need to either be regional or cost well towards £100.

That's a key consideration. If their validity is too far wide ranging, they'll likely become much too expensive to buy.

Make an inner one and an outer one
Inner: Waterloo - Southampton Area - Romsey - Salisbury. Maybe down to the New Forest/Lymington.
Outer: Whole network - over say 2-3 - 5 days

 

[JonathanH]

In any case Merseytravel ticketing extends to other places that actually are outside the LCR!

Is there anywhere where Merseytravel ticketing extends outside the Liverpool City Region and the operation of Merseyrail?