Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

gner_ex

meinnit wrote: »

Can someone tell me what is the cheapest way to get from Reading to any London station?

Also is it possible for "Saver/Cheap Day" tickets to include return on different days? I understand that the return portion of a Cheap Day ticket must be used on the same day but can Saver tickets be used on other days?

What are the restrictions on a Saver? Are they usually restricted to a certain time?

What is your ultimate destination in London? It can often be cheaper to purchase a "Reading Travelcard" than a ticket to "London Terminals" and then pay for beyond on oyster or paper.

A seven day ticket Reading to Paddington and/or Waterloo is £83.10 which may be useful if you are going four times in a week.

gner_ex

Dangers of Using cheap train tickets:

-You miss your train. This happens to us all from time to time. Unless you are the sort of person who can be so flexible as to never miss a train, contrast your saving against the cost of having to buy an extra ticket on the day. I personally nearly always buy saver tickets for this very reason.

-beware rebooking. This is fine when things go to plan, but if you're travelling from Derby to York and then York to Edinburgh with completely seperate tickets and there is a delay in Sheffield which causes you to miss your connection, then the only obligation the operator has to you is to refund your first ticket (either 50% or 100% depending on length of delay) and if you board a later train from York you will be counted as having missed your train and excessed.

Rebooking with savers can often work well, however (and still give some sort of guarantee that you'll not have to buy a fresh ticket).

dzug

gner_ex wrote: »

Hi, please can I ask why you are advising going to Euston and then back again? Some Virgin trains stop at Watford Jct, and one can either purchase an advance ticket to Watford specifically, or (depending what ticket one has) exit at Watfor subject to break-of-journey rules.

Is your concern that a Virgin Value ticket to Euston won't let the person out at Watford Jct barriers? If so, far cheaper than an Oyster journey to Watford would be a paper ticket from Watford North to Watford Jct at £1.90 (discounted further with a railcard).

Also be aware that Euston-Watford is sometimes cheaper on paper than Oyster (depends on times etc).

I wasn't talking about Virgin Value tickets but specifically about e-tickets, which are issued for the through journey Manchester to London only and have T&C prohibiting intermediate travel.

gner_ex

dzug wrote: »

I wasn't talking about Virgin Value tickets but specifically about e-tickets, which are issued for the through journey Manchester to London only and have T&C prohibiting intermediate travel.

Ah I see, thank you for that. Do you have the link to these T&Cs at all?

gner_ex

laird wrote: »

Emma if you use a service that calls at the station where your two tickets are valid there is no problem.

Reading paragraph 19c it would also be acceptable in your case to use a train that does not call at the intermediate station as:
Your ticket from Cuffley to Winchmore Hill is a season ticket using the definition given.
The Underground Inclusive ticket is not a season ticket under the description given in paragraph 19c since it is issued on behalf of a Passenger Transport Executive or Local Authority.

This refers to the authorities outside London (i.e. West Midlands PTE, etc).

However, there is only one train (on a morning) that goes non-stop from Enfield Chase to Bowes Park, all others stop at Winchmore Hill.

gner_ex

KeithP wrote: »

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?

This is a glitch with the season ticket calculator. essentially, you have to choose the 'right' London terminal station, what it is giving you is the fare to "London Terminals" (which in the case of Hemel is of course Euston) not to Liverpool Street.

If you choose a station on the 'other' side on London that is inside the zones, you'll notice that there are no seasons available (something like Hemel to Vauxhall) - its for this very reason.

However (and I don't know the answer without looking up) I wonder whether Hemel to Liverpool Street would constitute a valid route, by changing at Watford, Willesden Jct and Hackney Central. Trains used to go that route (into Broad Street until 1986 and then into Liverpool St itself I believe).

gner_ex

East Coast Mainline tickets to "London Terminals". A piece of advice I uncovered recently. If you have a saver or open type ticket from any ECML destination (Edinburgh, Leeds, Peterborough, Potters Bar, Herford North, Alexandra Palace) to London Terminals, it is valid on any of the following:

-a train that goes from Finsbury Park into London Kings Cross
-a train that goes from Finsbury Park into London Moorgate (you may alight at Moorgate or Old Street, all three count as a Terminal, plus alight/board at the other stations subject to normal break of journey regulations)
-a London Underground train from Kings Cross to Moorgate or vice versa (can be via Farringdon or via Angel) but you cannot alight at intermediate underground stations apart from Old Street.

This is a long-standing concession dating from the late 1970s (when trains from Finsbury Park stopped going down the widened lines to Farringdon and Moorgate and instead started going via Highbury/Old Street on the Northern City Line) note that you cannot use the National Rail (First Capital Connect) trains from St. Panc low-level to Moorgate, though these are due to cease at the end of this year anyway.

If you want to check this before you travel, then the ticket office staff should have access to the fares manual where this is stated and should show to you upon request.



Wanting a paper ticket for travel on national rail services from Finsbury Park to Kings Cross or Moorgate? Because oyster is valid on this route, you'll get charged £4 single and £7 return if you dare to purchase a cash ticket. Unless of course you know a little trick:

AT FINSBURY PARK ticket machines or ticket office
Instead of pressing "London Terminals" or "Kings Cross", type in Farringdon. Some Farringdon fares allow use on the tube, these are more expensive. What you are looking for is a button labelled Farringdon Rail Only which is £2.30 single or £4.00 return (peak or off-peak, railcard makes it even cheaper). This ticket is valid either via Kings Cross (go out the exit by platforms 9, 10 and 11 and turn right, then into St. Pancras and down to the Thameslink platforms) or via Moorgate BUT on National Rail trains ONLY and NOT the Underground. The only possible flaw with this is that National Rail trains from Moorgate to Farringdon only run Mon-Fri peaks, however this ticket _should_ let you out of the barriers at Moorgate no problem (reports please?).

AT KINGS CROSS ticket machines/office or MOORGATE ticket office
Instead of pressing "Finsbury Park" press Harringay. Ticket is £2.90 single (peak or off-peak) return is £3.80 (off-peak after 09:30, no evening restriction) or £5.00 (peak before 09:29).

The Oyster single fare from Finsbury Park to Moorgate or Kings Cross is £2.00 (touch in from 07:00 to 19:00 Mon-Fri) or £1.50 (touch-in before 06:59 or after 19:01 Mon-Fri, or on Sat and Sun), therefore if you are going both ways between 09:30 and 19:00 Mon-Fri then paper is actually cheaper!

dzug

gner_ex wrote: »

Ah I see, thank you for that. Do you have the link to these T&Cs at all?

Not off hand bit there is a thread about them somewhere 'London-Manchester for £1.

Also linked from Virgin's site

mikaelf

Hi I am travelling from Liverpool to London on May 31st (sat) and coming back on the following day.. the cheapest I have been able to find is £62

Is that about right?

headpin

mikaelf wrote: »

Hi I am travelling from Liverpool to London on May 31st (sat) and coming back on the following day.. the cheapest I have been able to find is £62

Is that about right?

At what times of the day are the outbound and inbound travel. It makes a huges difference to cost, but weekends are often less flexible than weekdays and £62 is probably about right.

You may also want to explore other options as there are engineering works between Rugby and Stafford on those two days and the journey time will increase to an average of 4 hours (normally is about 2 hours) as services will be reduced and those that do run will be going via the West Midlands.