Back in the days of British Rail, travel on most tickets could be made via "any reasonable route". This occasionally involved arguing with the guard as to whether a given route was actually reasonable, but the system generally sufficed.
With privatisation and the splitting of services among numerous TOCs, it was felt necessary to formalize these rules. And so the concept of the "permitted route" was born. Most tickets are valid via "any permitted route" - this includes all tickets where no route is given. The question then arises as to what a permitted route is. This is defined by a book called the ATOC Routeing Guide. This web page attempts to explain what the guide means, and to explore some of the areas where it is less than clear.
The term Guide always means the ATOC Routeing Guide. In general terminology on this page is not necessarily identical to that used in the Guide, but the net effect is the same. The term walk is used to mean any method of travel between two stations other than travelling on the ticket in question; it explicitly includes travelling using a different valid ticket.
Various questions have been added at the end of each section, each with a two letter code for reference.
Most tickets are routed "any permitted". There are three kinds of permitted routes - direct routes, shortest routes, and mapped routes.
A train that runs directly from origin to destination is always permitted. This applies even if the train takes a route that is not normally permitted. However, it must be a train shown in the GBTT and running between points shown there (for example, you can't use a train that happens to be diverted through your destination station).
The shortest route from origin to destination is always permitted. By "shortest route", the Guide means a route using trains in the GBTT and calculated using the distances between stations in the GBTT. There is only one shortest route; even a quarter of a mile longer eliminates it from consideration. You can change trains as many times as desired (subject to ticket conditions) when sticking to the shortest route.
There is one exemption to this. A number of stations are put together into groups; if the shortest route goes though a station within a group, then travel entirely within the group may be added to the route. For example, Stevenage and Hitchin form a group. A journey from Sandy to Royston may thus go via Stevenage rather than having to change at Hitchin (but it may not go via Knebworth, since this is outside the group). This exemption does not apply when a station in the group is the origin or destination: Hitchin to Royston may not be done via Stevenage.
The third alternative is to take a "mapped" route. The bulk of the Guide addresses this case.The process of finding a mapped route is not simple and involves several stages.
122 stations or groups of stations are designated as routeing points. Every station that is not a routeing point has between 1 and 4 routeing points associated with it; there is a complete table of these in section B of the Guide. For example:
The first step is to look up the routeing points for the origin (the source routeing points) and the destination (the destination routeing points). If the origin and destination have a routeing point in common (including where one is a routeing point for the other) there are no mapped routes between the two.
If the origin is not a routeing point, each of the source routeing points must be checked for acceptability for this journey. A source routeing point is acceptable if the fare from the routeing point to the destination is not greater than the fare from the origin to the destination, comparing fares of the same type. (Special rules apply if there are no fares of the same type). For example, suppose that Stevenage is the origin station:
| Fare between | A | B | C | D | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stevenage | £20 (reference) |
£40 (reference) |
£100 (reference) |
£25 (reference) |
£50 (reference) |
| Cambridge | £15 acceptable |
£45 ignored |
£100 acceptable |
£25 acceptable |
£55 ignored |
| Finsbury Park | £25 ignored |
£35 acceptable |
£100 acceptable |
£20 acceptable |
£51 ignored |
| Peterborough | £10 acceptable |
£50 ignored |
£95 acceptable |
£26 ignored |
£60 ignored |
The rest of the process only considers the acceptable source routeing points. Note that in the case of destination E there are no acceptable source routeing points and therefore there are no mapped routes from Stevenage to E.
The destination routeing points are checked for acceptability in the same way (the fares are compared with those to the origin and not to the source routeing points). Note that the actual wording is (emphasis added):
Compare the fare from that routeing point to the origin station with the fare for the throughout journey - it is an appropriate routeing point only if that fare is the same or lower than the fare for the throughout journey from the origin station to the destination station.
Assuming that at least one source routeing point and one destination routeing point remains, the remaining process is carried out for each possible pair of routeing points. Thus if there are two acceptable source routeing points and three acceptable destination routeing points, six combinations have to be explored. Each combination potentially leads to a sheaf of permitted routes.
Section C of the Guide gives between one and four map rules for every possible pair of routeing points. Thus the next step is to look up the rules for the pair being considered. For example, Peterborough to London has the single rule "ER", while Peterborough to Carlisle has four rules: "LM+PS", "(MM/LM)+ER", "(LM/MM)+CN", and "LM+(PN/PS)+ER". The last three of these are compound rules, and they are simply a way of expressing two or more rules in one line. In this case, the four rules are equivalent to the seven simple rules:
| LM+PS | |
| MM+ER | LM+ER |
| LM+CN | MM+CN |
| LM+PN+ER | LM+PS+ER |
A simple rule is either "London" or is a list of one to five maps (shown as "AA", "AA+BB", "AA+BB+CC+DD", etc.). The remaining process is carried out for each simple rule in turn.
The simple rule "London" is handled in the following way.
For all other simple rules, the next stage is to look at the actual maps in section D of the Guide, where each map appears in geographical and diagrammatic form. Each map shows a number of routeing points and possibly some additional transfer points. For example, here is the complete WA map:
This map covers London, four other routeing points, and two other transfer points. In this case each routeing point and transfer point is on exactly one other map (shown in bold next to the name), but on other maps they might be on several (and a routeing point might be on only one map).
It is important to note that the maps described in the rule must be used. For example, even though Finsbury Park and Cambridge both appear on map ER, journeys between the two have the single rule WA and ER cannot be used to construct routes between them.
A simple rule that involves only one map is very easy - the route can follow any path between the two routeing points shown on the map, provided that it doesn't pass through the same station twice (any station, not just one shown on the map). Thus there is only one way from Cambridge to Ely - the direct route - but there are two ways from Cambridge to Finsbury Park (via Hertford or via Welwyn GC) and no less than 8 from Cambridge to London.
If the rule involves two maps, then the route must run from the start routeing point to either a routeing point or a transfer point that appears on both maps using a path on one map, and from there to the destination routeing point using a path on the other map. Once again the route must not pass through the same station twice. For example, using WA+TS to get from Ely to Southend, the route is either via Stevenage to Highbury & Islington or via Bishop's Stortford to Hackney Downs. It is important to apply this process correctly. If both routeing points appear on one map the journey must nonetheless use both maps. If both routeing points appear on both maps then they may be used in either order, but both maps must be used (thus AA+BB is the same as BB+AA). It should also be noted that the fare to the routeing point or transfer point is not relevant (unlike the case of the source routeing point in step 2)
Finally, if the rule involves three or more maps then all must be used and there will be multiple changes from map to map. In this case the maps must be used in order (either from start to end or from end to start). Thus AA+BB+CC is not the same as AA+CC+BB, nor can it be treated as AA+BB or AA+CC (though if the maps overlap it might be possible to describe the same route in both ways, and section C of the Guide might offer both rules anyway).
We can now construct the complete route from origin to destination. This consists of:
However, this route must not pass through the same station twice. Thus, although Finsbury Park is a routeing point for Welwyn North, journeys from Welwyn North to Ely cannot use Finsbury Park as a routeing point because they would pass through Hornsey twice. As with the shortest route, any number of changes of train are permitted (subject to ticket conditions).
The station groups described for the shortest route also apply here - the group is treated as a single station for the "doubling back" rule. A journey from Leeds to Royston may thus go via Stevenage even though this involves passing through Hitchin twice, since they are in the same group (but it may not go via Knebworth because this would involve passing through the group twice). This exemption does not apply when a station in the group is the origin or destination - Leeds to Hitchin may not be done via Stevenage - but it does apply if the source or destination routeing point is a group and the origin or destination, as appropriate, is not within the group.
In addition there are a number of easements, where otherwise forbidden routes are nonetheless allowed. For example, in most circumstances travellers from the St. Ives branch to destinations east of Plymouth may go via Penzance, even though this involves passing through St. Erth twice. The Guide contains a list of such easements.
The possibility of walking between stations leads to further questions.
As described above, some tickets are valid on London Underground as part of the journey. There is an official list of stations at which passengers may transfer between the two systems. However, a number of questions remain unanswered.
Not all tickets are "Any Permitted". Some tickets are endorsed with a specific route, such as "London" or "not Leeds". The Guide is rather vague about these. It simply says that
where the fare specifies a particular route, you may choose only those routes listed in the Guide which pass through the station shown in the route description.
In fact, there are a number of possible situations.
Note that all these restrictions apply equally to the shortest route, direct trains, and mapped routes.
The Guide also says:
Where there are other permitted routes these may also be used for the same journey provided the same or a lower fare applies.
This has implications:
Certain tickets are endorsed as not valid on a certain TOC, or valid only on a certain TOC. The Routeing Guide is completely silent on these tickets. Two approaches have been proposed:
The following diagram may make the situation clearer:
There are two permitted routes from A to B - via P and via Q. TOC T runs trains from A to B and also from A to Q, but not from Q to B. The TOC also issues a ticket from A to B valid only on their own trains. The first option would mean that the ticket is valid from A to Q, though a separate Q to B ticket would be needed to complete the journey. The second option means that it isn't, because there is no permitted route from A via Q to B that only uses the TOC's trains.
A zonal ticket is one that is valid for unlimited travel within a certain area, or zone. The commonest example is the London Travelcard. When issued from some station outside the zones it applies to, it permits one journey from the origin to the zone, then unlimited travel within the zone, then one journey back to the origin. It is this journey from and to the origin that is of interest here.
What are the permitted routes for that journey? There is no explicit statement in the Guide, but apparently the National Fares Manual reads:
The fare will be for the appropriate ticket type (SDS, CDR etc) from the boundary zone on the line of route. Where the intended journey diverges from the permitted route from London as shown in the Routeing Guide, issue a point-to-point ticket from the last station in the Travelcard Zone on the line of route.
which would imply that the route is the relevant portion of the route from the origin to London.
Season tickets carry the text:
Unless indicated otherwise it is valid for travel between the stations shown and at intermediate stations via any permitted route
National Condition of Carriage 28 words it slightly differently:
A season ticket gives you the right to travel between the stations or within the zones specified on it
This includes the right to break and resume your journey.
The National Conditions of Carriage sometimes permit a journey to be made by combining two or more tickets whcih between them cover the relevant route. In most cases the train is required to stop at the point where one ticket ends and the next takes over, but in certain circumstances this is not necessary.
ORR have stated that, provided that break of journey is permitted, a ticket may be used to any intermediate station on a valid route even if the fare to that intermediate station is higher. This overrules the statement to the opposite in the byelaws.
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