Mainlining Junk

A friend of mine has recently moved from Aberdare to Talbot Green. I haven't been there for ages, but I do know that it's pretty much at the centre of a large (and growing) area encompassing Llantrisant (old and new), Pontyclun, Beddau, Ty Nant, and the surrounding villages and large new-build estates. It's a couple of bus stops from the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, so there's a 'direct' bus route from Pontypridd to Bridgend, serving the hospital during the day. Situated just off the M4 and twenty minutes from Cardiff by train, Talbot Green Bus Station and Pontyclun Railway Station should be ideal transport hubs. Should …

I've been investigating various ways for my friend and I to meet up and have the occasional break from the Valleys routine. I'll go into my findings about the buses another time. For this entry, though, I want to highlight the situation facing rail passengers travelling to and from Pontyclun.

Technically speaking, Pontyclun forms part of the Valley Lines, as it's served almost exclusively by services running to and from Maesteg. But it also lies on the main line from London – and thereby hangs a tale. I spent an hour a couple of evenings ago playing on the Traveline Cymru website, the Transport for Wales app, and a couple of semi-official fare-splitting websites and apps, trying to make sense of the situation. (All times and fares are correct at 12 September 2019.)

I've done some more research this afternoon. Bear in mind that it's possible to buy advance tickets online and collect them from machines at the station within an hour or so. There are machines at both Aberdare and Pontyclun. That means we could – theoretically – arm ourselves with the right tickets before we get on the train, and then juggle them when the conductor comes along, or when we go through the barriers at the end of the journey. With a bit of forward planning (and a healthy bank balance), we could have a number of Day Trips together. But the forward planning is the fun part.

Day Trip 1: Cardiff

Let's start with the obvious one. I can get from Aberdare to Cardiff on a Valley Lines Day Return ticket – and because of the zone system, the same fare would apply if I continued to Pontyclun itself, or to Bridgend, or even on to Maesteg. Obviously, my friend can meet me outside Cardiff Central and we can explore from there. So far, so good. Or is it?

To begin with, there are no time restrictions on the Valley Lines – in other words, no distinction between 'peak' and 'off-peak' services. An Anytime Day Return from Aberdare (or anywhere else on the northern edge of the network) to Cardiff costs £8.40. As the name implies, it's valid regardless of whether you're travelling first thing in the morning, mid-morning, early afternoon, during the evening rush hour, or late at night.

You might think – bearing in mind that Pontyclun is technically part of the Valley Lines – that the fare to Cardiff would be a bit cheaper to take account of the distance. And it is … sort of. An Off-peak Day Return from Pontyclun to Cardiff costs £6.20. But if you're travelling before 0930, that somehow goes up to £7.40.

I can already hear you asking why 'peak' fares apply to some services on the Valley Lines, but not others. That's the first part of the mystery. If my friend decided to visit Aberdare, she'd pay £8.40 at any time of the day.

Odd, isn't it?

I can only assume that Pontyclun's location on the so-called 'main line' (even though virtually none of the main line services actually call there) has a bearing on the availability of the cheaper fares.

Now let's look at what happens if we go beyond Cardiff. Bear in mind that I'll be travelling from a small town at the northern end of the Valley Lines, and she'll be travelling from a dormitory suburb a stone's throw from the main line. All of these hypothetical journeys use the first available off-peak train and return in time for the last onward connection.

Day Trip 2: Bristol

To begin with, an Off-peak Day Return from Cardiff to Bristol Temple Meads costs £13.90. If I bought my tickets in two separate transactions (Aberdare–Cardiff, then Cardiff–Bristol), the total fare would be £22.30. However, an Off-peak Day Return from Aberdare, changing at Cardiff Central, costs £16.40. An extra £2.50 for a through ticket isn't too shabby when you take the extra twenty-odd miles each way into account, is it?

Meanwhile, my friend buys an Off-peak Day Return from Pontyclun to Bristol Temple Meads, also changing in Cardiff Central, for £23.00. That's £6.60 more than my through ticket. Alternatively, she could buy an Off-peak Day Return from Pontyclun to Cardiff for £6.20, then an Off-peak Day Return from Cardiff to Bristol – a total of £20.10. The money I've saved on my through ticket is way more than the couple of quid my friend has saved on her split tickets.

Day Trip 3: Bath

Let's suppose we stay on the same train for another twenty minutes or so.

An Off-peak Day Return from Aberdare to Bath Spa costs £25.00. Not bad, taking the extra distance into account. (Believe it or not, a return ticket from Bristol to Bath costs about eight quid!) It sounds like a plan, doesn't it?

Yeah, it does … until you go on the TfW website and check the Off-peak Day Return fare from Pontyclun – a whopping £47.50!

How much? I hear you bellow (preferably in the voice of Frank Butcher from EastEnders). Hold on a fucking minute!

But let's split the journey again.

Off-peak Day Return, Cardiff Central to Bath Spa = £21.80. Off-peak Day Return, Pontyclun to Cardiff = £6.20. Total split fare = £28.00.

It's still three quid more than I'm paying, but it's a hell of a saving compared to the through ticket, isn't it?

Day Trip 4: Cheltenham

I've chosen this one because Cheltenham is at one end of the route which does actually serve Pontyclun (the other end being Maesteg). And of the two towns, I know which has more tourist potential.

For some strange reason, there's no distinction between peak and off-peak fares from Aberdare to Cheltenham. An Anytime Day Return, changing at Cardiff Central, will cost me a fairly reasonable £24.80. In fact, I'll be boarding the train which my friend is already on. Except that she'll have paid anything from £39.60 (the cheapest Off-Peak Return fare, valid for a whole month) to £59.40 (two 'cheapest standard single' tickets). Alternatively, she could buy her £6.20 Off-peak Day Return at Pontyclun, having already paid £20.40 online for her Anytime Day Return and collecting that from the ticket machine at the same time. Total cost: £26.60. Still nearly two quid more than my through ticket, but a considerable saving nonetheless.

Day Trip 5: London

This is just about the furthest we could get and still have enough time to do something when we're there. It would be a logistical nightmare because of the onward connections at the end of the day, but I'll put the information in anyway.

Travelling up on the first available service tomorrow morning (not a 'walk-up', as they call it, but near as dammit), an Off-peak Day Return from Aberdare to London Paddington would set me back £81.30. However, travelling from Pontyclun on the identical service would cost my friend £94.60. (It's no cheaper to split the journey at Cardiff Central, apparently.)

Of course, train journeys are always at their most expensive on Fridays. Instead, I'll look forward to the last Saturday in October. There seem to be as many combinations of fares as there are trains throughout the day, but the cheapest available Advance Purchase Day Return from Aberdare to London Paddington is £47.00.

How much do you think an Advance Purchase Day Return costs from Pontyclun to London Paddington, using the same trains in both directions?

Yes, of course you've guessed it … £94.60! That's more than double what I'm paying for the identical journey from Cardiff to London, plus the extra mileage to and from Aberdare. But if my friend bought an Advance Purchase Day Return from Cardiff Central to London Paddington, she could get it for £59.00. Add in her £6.20 Day Return from Pontyclun, and it's still expensive, but nearly a third cheaper than doing it on a through ticket.

The common factor here seems to be Pontyclun's location on the 'main line' from London to Swansea (and all points west). If the station was served by direct trains to Bristol, London and other major 'main line' destinations, you could perhaps understand why the fares are so much more expensive than through tickets from the railheads of the Valley Lines. But it isn't. Just one three-car set per hour in each direction actually stops there, while any number of express service shoot through it during the same period.

I've written about the labyrinthine fare structure across the UK rail network on several occasions, but this latest research has really highlighted some glaring anomalies and inconsistencies. The fact that it's cheaper to travel into England from a station at the end of the Valley Lines than it is to travel for twenty minutes into Cardiff and catch the same train should raise a few eyebrows. More to the point (as I've pointed out on several occasions), how many passengers actually take the time to look into split ticketing before they travel?

So here's an invitation to my readers:

If anyone – absolutely anyone, whether you're a rail passenger, an industry insider, a rail enthusiast, a politician, an economist, a journalist, an academic, or anyone else with any knowledge of the way the 'system' works – can explain the discrepancies I've highlighted here, I'd be delighted to hear from you. Please feel free to leave a detailed comment below.

When I say 'a detailed comment', I mean something a bit more than Transport for Wales's reply to my Tweet a couple of weeks ago:

fares are based on a number of factors and not just distance. We are in the process of simplifying fares and introducing a tap in/tap out system which will automatically issue the cheapest fare

There will be a prize for the most convincing explanation. Possibly a couple of pints. Maybe the Fields Medal, or the Nobel Prize, or the offer to take up the position as Secretary of State for Transport.

Over to you, folks …