Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

stocksy6

wealdroam wrote: »

Super Off Peak Returns are valid on all trains over the period you are interested in... up to and including all trains on Monday 3 January.

Any journey planner will tell you which trains are valid after 3 Jan.

Ah brilliant, cheers for the advice. Just didn't want some prat of an inspector kicking me off halfway because they weren't valid!! Good times.

stinking

It is very difficult to find on their website, but southern have two useful tickets that have to be bought in advance - the South coast downlander wich gives unlimited travel between portsmouth, eastbourne hastings rye ashford and haywards heath for £10, and the All network downlander for £12.50 which covers the whole of southern. For longer dayreturns, these prices are cheaper than normal day returns.

A couple of tips for the wightlink portsmouth ryde ferry. Don't buy a period return from portsmouth as the single price fron ryde is less than the single from portsmouth, so two singles is cheaper. Also, as the ferry is part of the national rail network, you can get travel card discounts. However, these are not available just for the ferry crossing, so you have to buy a through ticket to the next rail station ( ryde esplanade or portsmouth and southsea). Also check that there are not ferry offers which are cheaper - two for one for instance, or pensioners discounts.

stinking

A tip for a nice trip from skipton via the settle and carlisle, round the coast of Cumbria to barrow in furness and back to skipton. Buy a day return to seascale as the permitted route is either via carlisle, or via barrow, so you can go one way, and return the other.

The permitted route concept is a useful one if you fancy a round trip - just find a station that is half way round the loop, and buy a day return. You don't even have to get off at the far station! There is a website that details all permitted routes in the UK - but I couldn't understand it!

yorkie2

stinking wrote: »

A tip for a nice trip from skipton via the settle and carlisle, round the coast of Cumbria to barrow in furness and back to skipton. Buy a day return to seascale as the permitted route is either via carlisle, or via barrow, so you can go one way, and return the other.

The permitted route concept is a useful one if you fancy a round trip - just find a station that is half way round the loop, and buy a day return. You don't even have to get off at the far station! There is a website that details all permitted routes in the UK - but I couldn't understand it!

You don't necessarily have to buy to a station half-way.

The Routeing Guide is at:

http://www.atoc.org/about-atoc/rail-settlement-plan/routeing-guide

There are people who understand the Routeing Guide at:

http://www.railforums.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=105

However the best RG anomalies are best kept among friends, as when ATOC find out, they can remove them.;)

One of the best current anomalies, for example, is Middlesbrough to Carlisle, which is valid via Leeds, but priced via Newcastle.

You can also buy further to undercut peak fares, e.g. a commuter from Wolves to Manchester can not use an Off Peak ticket until 0930. But buy to Huddersfield, and you can. An Off Peak to Hudds is a lot cheaper than an Anytime to Manchester.;)

Splitting is well-known but just one tool out of many, to bring the prices down from extortionate, to acceptable levels.

pmm1981

Tinks74 wrote: »

If I am travelling from Manchester (Victoria) to St Helens Junction I know can use my GMPTE Traincard (£78pm) which covers the GMPTE area and pay from Patricroft onwards, what I have just learned is that Merseyrail have a Railpass split into zones, St Helens Junction is in zone A1 which is next to the GMPTE area (£44.10 pm) = £122.10 pm.
For comparison the monthly season ticket from St Helens Junction to Manchester = £149.10 pm.

My query is would the Traincard and Railpass tickets cover me for the entire journey?
Or is there an issue with the journey between Newton Le Willows and Patricroft in the middle of the route, being the last/first stations for both regions?

Cheers
T

It would not be valid unless you bought a Patricroft-Newton-le-Willows ticket to join the 2 travelcards together, combinations like you mention are only valid together where there is a shared boundary station (like between South and West Yorkshire), also to remember is that trains must call at the stations where your tickets change (ie you won't be able to use the St Helens Jn-Man Picc express).
A season ticket will cover you on all services between the 2 points.

rebeccak

Has the availability of the cheapest advance fares been reduced by Virgin trains?

I usually travel from Manchester to London and back a few times a year, usually travelling some time between mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Previously, as I always book well in advance, I have always been able to find £11 single fares. (This has recently increased to £11.50).

I've got a couple of trips planned in the next couple of months and have been regularly checking the websites for the £11.50 tickets to come up but for some dates I can't find any.

My journeys are:

27th February - Manchester to London - cheapest I can find is £23.50

1st March - London to Manchester - plenty of £11.50 fares available

11th March - Manchester to London (actually travelling to Brighton but was planning to buy a cheap advance to London and pay for the London to Brighton ticket separately as that should be cheaper) - cheapest I can find is £23.50

14th March - London to Manchester (returning from Brighton) - plenty of £11.50 fares available

Any idea why I can find loads of cheap journeys on some dates and none on others? Am I missing something or am I just going to have to bite the bullet and pay twice as much for two of my journeys?

garfield1983

Hi, hope you are all well

I am in the process of accepting a new job in Manchester (Salford Quays) and thinking of taking the train and selling my car due to the motorway hold ups (I live just outside of Preston so would be travelling on the M61). I have found this forum and the website very useful in finding out the cost of tickets and I have so far found that a season ticket will cost a little over £2,300, monthly tickets £226 and weekly tickets being £58. I have tried to split the tickets at stations along the way but it doesn't work out any cheaper. With the extra travel on a tram once I have reached Salford to the new place of work it works out far more expensive than running a car - which, when setting off at the same time as taking the train, would work out that I can fit in a gym session before work unless there is an accident on the motorway which I would still have enough time to get to work as I will be setting off at 6.30am.

The above doesn't really make me want to give up the car (we are always being asked to car share / walk where possible to save the planet which I am all for but not when it costs me much more)... does anyone know of any discounts not already mentioned in this thread or any past experience they would kindly share?

Many thanks in advance

Bogof_Babe

rebeccak wrote: »

Has the availability of the cheapest advance fares been reduced by Virgin trains?

I usually travel from Manchester to London and back a few times a year, usually travelling some time between mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Previously, as I always book well in advance, I have always been able to find £11 single fares. (This has recently increased to £11.50).

I've got a couple of trips planned in the next couple of months and have been regularly checking the websites for the £11.50 tickets to come up but for some dates I can't find any.

My journeys are:

27th February - Manchester to London - cheapest I can find is £23.50 There's an £11.50 ticket departing Manchester Piccadilly 08.05, arriving London Euston 10.57 - check out www.eastcoast.co.uk


1st March - London to Manchester - plenty of £11.50 fares available

11th March - Manchester to London (actually travelling to Brighton but was planning to buy a cheap advance to London and pay for the London to Brighton ticket separately as that should be cheaper) - cheapest I can find is £23.50 Sorry no joy with this one, cheapest I can see is £30.50. Any flexibility in your dates?

14th March - London to Manchester (returning from Brighton) - plenty of £11.50 fares available

Any idea why I can find loads of cheap journeys on some dates and none on others? Am I missing something or am I just going to have to bite the bullet and pay twice as much for two of my journeys?

They might not have released all the March 11th tickets yet as they are only showing as up to 18th March and some operators might be delayed due to the holidays.

dzug1

rebeccak wrote: »

11th March - Manchester to London (actually travelling to Brighton but was planning to buy a cheap advance to London and pay for the London to Brighton ticket separately as that should be cheaper) - cheapest I can find is £23.50

Don't assume it's cheaper without checking - it can often be cheaper on a through advance ticket, particularly if you would pay full price for the London 'suburban' section. The through ticket will include the underground BTW so factor that in as well.

Check Southern's advance purchase for Victoria to Brighton - using their own site there is often a discount which might swing it back to splitting

Your expensive days are Friday and Sunday - maybe that's the reason. Too 'peakish'.

stikiuk

Hey all do hope you can help......my hubby just surprised me with a weekend in London this month so i'm desperately trying to find cheap train tickets. Best I can find for the outgoing trip is using the mobitix at £11.00 each but that is only from Manchester. So will cost another £18 on top to get from L'pool to Man. But as we are coming home on the sun 30th have to buy a normal advanced ticket. Best i can find is £23.50 each....

fri 28th Jan £44 + £18 = £62
Sun 30th Jan £23.50 x 4 £94.00

Not the cheapest ive paid !

Do hope 1 of you clever peeps can help x