Islineclear3_1
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Why are these not available out of London Waterloo before midday on a Saturday?
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Super off peak day return question South Western Railway
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miklcct
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Because South Western Railway thinks the trains are not quiet enough and wants to charge a higher fare for those trains.
Super Off-Peak Day Returns are not regulated so train companies are free to change the restrictions as they wish.
Super Off-Peak Day Returns are not regulated so train companies are free to change the restrictions as they wish.
At the end of the day it's because SWR wanted to maximise revenue. They tried to dress it up as being about reducing overcrowding when they introduced the additional restrictions, but as with many peak restrictions, the main aim is to generate as much revenue as possible. The effect on overcrowding is secondary, and indeed sometimes counterproductive.
The SWR mainline can be amazingly busy on a Saturday morning. It is not surprising that that Super Off-Peak tickets are time restricted then. Have we forgotten what the whole Anytime, Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak structure was conceived for?
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Mcr Warrior
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Could you remind us / advise what an 'SOP' is?
What restriction should they have applied?
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?
I guess the issue is that, with the exception of the Londonnorthwestern Railway Super Off-Peak Returns, which are actually 'OPR's, there aren't many other routes with time restricted Super Off-Peak Returns on Saturdays.
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.
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?
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?
Islineclear3_1
Established Member
Thank you all for your replies. My train, 09.09 WAT - PMH was not busy
Mcr Warrior
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Could you remind us / advise where 'PMH' is?
A few unexplained abbreviations in this thread!
Islineclear3_1
Established Member
Sorry; London Waterloo (WAT) to Portsmouth Harbour (PMH)Could you remind us / advise where 'PMH' is?
A few unexplained abbreviations in this thread!
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.
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.
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.
Is that not an example of a fancy time restriction complication?
I must admit I was quite happy with the new Super off peak return tickets. It's saved me money. I might be unusual in this respect but I can't complain.
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.
That's also secondary to the two points made above a) the current prices are the old off peak prices and b) the time restrictions aren't commensurate with the product names nor easy to understand.
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