Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

wh1tehouse

penniesforme wrote: »

can someone please help me find the cheapest fare from Liverpool to Reading on the 28th December ? I am looking to travel after 1600 and I have a network railcard. I dont mind travelling by bus if its cheap.

I the cheapest i am able to find is 59 pounds for train.

thank you in advance.

I'm a bit confused as to when you can travel as you say you want to travel after 1600 but in a subsequent post you say your plane isn't due to arrive til 1810.

Liverpool Lime Street 17:37 Wolverhampton £8.00
Wolverhampton 19:13 Banbury £14.90
Banbury 20:19 Reading £5.00

Total £27.90

If this is not suitable let me know when you can travel and I'll look again.

d@ve

portchieboy

lightning15uk wrote: »

sorry if i sound stupid but will look for you portchester-st pancras on 29th feb arriving before 10am then returning, leaving st pancras at 19.00hrs there abouts let me know i will have a look

Thanks...it was leaving on 29th feb, to get to St pancras by say 0930., back on 2nd March, leaving St P around 19.00.

royeee

The article suggests buying tickets on split journey basis that is a number of singles instead of A to D, get A to B, B to C and C to D. It doesn't say if you can do this on the day at station A buy 3 singles or you have to do this in advance via the train operator's web site. If the latter how many days to reach you via unreliable Royal Mail?

KeithP

royeee, you can buy all your tickets at your starting station on the day of travel. This assumes that there are staff at that station to sell you the tickets. You cannot walk up to a machine and buy them. You may like to allow a little extra time for your purchase and avoid busy times. I have found that it helps to write a list of exactly what you want and pass this to the clerk.
You do have to specify exactly what you want... the ticket seller cannot be expected to work out the cheapest splits for you (I don't think they are allowed to anyway).

dzug

KeithP wrote: »

royeee, you can buy all your tickets at your starting station on the day of travel. This assumes that there are staff at that station to sell you the tickets. You cannot walk up to a machine and buy them. You may like to allow a little extra time for your purchase and avoid busy times. I have found that it helps to write a list of exactly what you want and pass this to the clerk.
You do have to specify exactly what you want... the ticket seller cannot be expected to work out the cheapest splits for you (I don't think they are allowed to anyway).

That's correct but oversimplified. If you are splitting the journey with a series of advance purchase fares then obviously you must get them in advance. If you are paying walk up fares - then fine.

Muffin_the_Mule_3

Hello all,

I'm due to start a new job in Bishopsgate, London in January and I'm struggling to find out the cheapest way of train travel.

I live in Hemel Hempstead, so my journey will be Hemel Hempstead to Euston, then Tube from Euston Square to Liverpool Street.

I know that Oyster is the best way forward for the tube travel, but as Hemel has no "touch in/touch out" things, I need an actual travelcard to cover the first part of my journey.

I can put a monthly railcard onto my oyster and have a photocard to cover getting on and off at Hemel for £324 per month which sounds like quite a price to pay for what is in effect only 9 miles by train.

If I were to add that amount to my mortgage, I could probably afford to move into East London and walk to work!

any ideas would be gratefully accepted!

Muffin_the_Mule_3

ok, so I've just been on the national rail website and used their own season ticket calculator to work out a price for a monthly railcard, and it came out with £263.90, BUT when I call them, I get quoted £324. surely they've all gone mad?

KeithP

From National Rail Enquires Season Ticket Calculator -
A monthly season ticket starting today costs £252.00
A monthly season ticket starting 01Jan08 costs £252.00
A monthly season ticket starting 02Jan08 costs £263.90

Do not know where the £324 came from... you'll have to ask them.

isasmurf

The National Rail website quotes only station to station season tickets. As far as I can tell there isn't a way to get it to quote season tickets including travelcards.

The £263.90 is for Hemel Hempstead to London Euston only. The £324 is most likely Hemel Hempstead to All Zones travelcard.

KeithP

isasmurf wrote: »

The National Rail website quotes only station to station season tickets. As far as I can tell there isn't a way to get it to quote season tickets including travelcards.

The £263.90 is for Hemel Hempstead to London Euston only. The £324 is most likely Hemel Hempstead to All Zones travelcard.

But when presenting the information, the Season Ticket Calculator states -

Available Standard Class Adult Season Tickets
Between: Hemel Hempstead (HML)
And: London Liverpool Street (LST)
Route Code: Travel is allowed by any route option shown by the Online Journey Planner

As the Online Journey Planner shows the route between Hemel Hempstead and London Liverpool Street including the Underground bit, it would be reasonable to assume that that part of the journey would be included in the price wouldn't it?