Insane rail fares

mapryan

I’ve been looking at fares between Balham and Durrington on the south coast for myself and my three kids using a family and friends railcard. Thetrainline.com quoted me a fare of £53.60

So, my sister recommended I put in Victoria rather than Balham. Didn’t make any sense to me, as it’s further away, but it’s where the train originates from. Anyway, the exact same fare using the same times and in the same class on that route comes to £12.60!!

I nearly fell off my chair. That’s around 23% of the original fare! The one difference is that from Balham we need to get to Clapham Junction to connect with the train.

So, I’ve gone ahead and booked the £12 fare, as well as return tickets to Victoria which came to £10. So I’ve still saved over 50%

Rail fares are insane!

Cheers

Mike

wealdroam

And if you had booked those £12.60 tickets through Southern Railway website, the price goes down to £10.70.

Amazing value for four people from London to South Coast and back.

:beer:

mapryan

wealdroam wrote: »

And if you had booked those £12.60 tickets through Southern Railway website, the price goes down to £10.70.

Amazing value for four people from London to South Coast and back.

:beer:

Wow, I didn't even think to look anywhere else as it seemed so cheap. Like you say, amazing value.

jd82

Getting a ticket from Manchester Brighton via Euston and Victoria to Brighton is sometimes cheaper than Manchester to London. Of course once you're in Euston you just leave and don't bother going to Brighton but still save a fortune.

There is no logic at all in railway prices.

dzug1

jd82 wrote: »

There is no logic at all in railway prices.

There's every logic - it's just that it's one that is not obvious to customers in that there's no direct relationship to distance travelled.

It's called yield maximisation. Of course they get it wrong some of the time - that's inevitable.

Mankysteve

The logic is too make it as much profits for people run them. If they can't make the profit they use our taxes to line their pockets instead.

moonrakerz

There is one overriding piece of logic - DON'T use The trainline, always use a TOC !