Re: {nsw} When to change trains

[Eddie Oliver <eoliver@efs.mq.edu.au>]

Hubert Lam wrote:

> I once used a Hornsby and City monthly ticket...it let me off at Epping AND
> Chatswood.
> Obviously, Hornsby to City via Epping is NOT the shortest route
> available...but the ticket itself covered the entire Main North/City and
> North Shore/City area.

The system is quite deliberate. There are various authorised cases where
the longer route is regarded as equivalent to the shorter one for weekly
(and longer) tickets, thus permitting break of journey at any
intermediate station on either route. This is to avoid inconsistencies
where the cheaper route is not the more direct one, e.g. Normanhurst -
City via Hornsby is shorter than via Strathfield, but the "normal" route
to Normanhurst is via Strathfield.

For instance if you buy a Beecroft - City weekly at the Beecroft ticket
window, you will be issued a Hornsby to City weekly for a cheaper fare
than the Beecroft to City ticket you would get from the ticket machine.
(It used to be Asquith to City, but for some reason it was reduced back
to Hornsby - City.)