Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

Sussex_saver_2

Hi,

I'm looking to get from Eridge - Leeds on 18th January, and returning on 20th January. I have a YP Railcard, and have found about £21 for a single on the east coast website. Is this pretty much the best I'll get (so essentially £42 for a return) or are there any other options?

I'd also consider including a coach for part of the journey if its significantly cheaper

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

thelawnet

Generally you will want to book long-distance travel as far in advance as possible, and snap up whatever fare you can find.

A walk-up super-off-peak return is £70.30. Because you are staying more than one day, there's no chance of exploiting cheap day fares.

For a coach, take the train into Victoria and then either National Express or Megabus. Megabus fares are £16 or £12 return for London - Leeds. Add on about £12 return for the train fares to and from London, and that comes to £24/£28 return all-in. Obviously compare the total journey time and cost and make your decision.

If you do want to go by train and can get £21 singles, then book them now, as the price will only rise....

llcooldre

p00hsticks wrote: »

Is that for a single or a return ? And when are you planning on travelling ? The National Rail website suggests that advance fares are £37 (single) (cross country trains), altohugh there are some cheaper ones (around £29) showing if you are not travelling until February sometime


Im not travelling untill march the 22nd till the 24th. There will be a group of us going

irishbhoy67

Hi folks, sorry if it is not the right place to post this question but being a newbie it's the only place I could find.

Background
My daughter recently graduated university and has got a placement to work in Runcorn at very short notice. We are from the North of Ireland and she has never been to the UK mainland before. She has got a place to stay in the centre of Liverpool close to Lime St station. There is a train she can get to her placment in Runcorn so that is not a problem.

The train cost her nearly £8 return this morning. If she was to buy one of these on a daily basis that is £40 per week (the pay as you can guess on a placement isn't that good and after she takes her accomodation out as well things will be pretty tight).

Help needed
I was wondering can anyone advise me on the cheapest way to buy tickets. Should she get a weekly or monthly ticket. From my quick glance around the internet I see there are sites selling cheap tickets, is there a particular one she can buy tickets off. There also seem to be railcards is it worth her while buying one (considering she will be there 6 months). As I say we are from the North of Ireland and have only one rail provider so any help advise would be very much appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post

miller

irishbhoy67 wrote: »

She has got a place to stay in the centre of Liverpool close to Lime St station. There is a train she can get to her placment in Runcorn so that is not a problem.

Welcome to the forum.

Assuming she needs to leave before 10am / 5 days a week a 16-25 railcard will not help due to the minimum fare of £12. The exception to this is during July and August when it would work out cheaper than a season ticket.

Generally for commuting season tickets work out cheapest. I have looked at weekly prices (you will save more on monthlies - they are priced less than 4 x weekly).

Liverpool Lime Street to Runcorn
http://www.brfares.com/#fares?orig=LIV&dest=RUN&rlc=
7 Day Season (All operators) = £35.30
7 Day Season (Virgin Trains Only) = £26.50

Alternatively a Merseytravel Railpass Ticket valid in Zone C1 costs £14.20 for a week:
http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/Tickets/compare-tickets/Pages/Railpass.aspx
This will cover Liverpool Lime Street to Liverpool South Parkway.
An additional ticket Liverpool South Parkway to Runcorn will be needed.
http://www.brfares.com/#fares?orig=LPY&dest=RUN&rlc=
7 Day Season (All operators) = £20.00
Total £34.20
So only £1.10 cheaper, but then you do get validity in the whole of zone C1.

The £26.50 Virgin Trains only ticket is quite restrictive
http://traintimes.org.uk/liverpool+lime+street/runcorn/0730
e.g. 0748 & 0848 available on that list in the morning
http://traintimes.org.uk/runcorn/liverpool+lime+street/1700
e.g. 1655 & 1755 available on that list on the way back

miller

[STRIKE]I also had a look a bit further out:

Aigburth to Runcorn Day Return is £5.90, 7 Day Season is £27.40 (All operators).

As far as I can work out this is valid via Liverpool Lime Street. Maybe one of the regulars on here can check this.

Edit: Cressington to Runcorn Day Return £5.10, 7 Day Season £23.70 (All operators).

Again this seems ok (I put it into the Southern journey planner via Liverpool Lime Street) and it didn't complain - but worth checking.[/STRIKE]

Edit 2:
Looks dodgy http://www.trainscanbecheaper.info/ suggests they are not ok.

Edit 3:
These definitely fail the "fares-check" rule.

Edit 4:
Potentially Edge Hill to Runcorn via Liverpool Lime St is ok. It shaves 30p off the daily fare and makes the all operator season £1.10 cheaper (no Virgin Trains only is available from Edge Hill).

National_Rail_Easements_Guide wrote:

Journeys to Edge Hill via Runcorn or Hunts Cross may double back from
Liverpool. This easement applies in both directions.

irishbhoy67

Thanks v much for this miller some very useful info here. I have passed this on to my daughter, much appreciated

Deborah87

Hi! Does anyone no a cheap way to get from Liverpool to Exmouth on the 17th of Feb! im struggling here! xxxx

Exile_geordie

Walk or ride a bike would be a cheap way of getting there.

Look at Megabus maybe?

What prices did you find?

An advance on the train is £57 one way(as you didnt mention a return)

I looked at splitting at Crewe and Birmingham but nothin I could see that would be cheaper than that by doing so unless you wanted to spend all day travelling.

dzug1

You can do it for £51 with an extra 2 hours travelling and 5 changes

Put in 'via Hereford' in the journey planner

Megabus don't run trains on Sundays - but you could do it on their coaches via London for £17 plus an Exeter/Exmouth bus fare. 14 hours to Exeter - 5 of them waiting in London.

National Express coaches are a bit quicker - but more expensive than the train