Cheap train fare to Stafford?

anon_ymous

Whilst I was browsing through the forums, I noticed(or I may not have noticed) that there was no travel/trains section so I've placed this thread here considering that the whole reason Im travelling to Stafford is because there is an Open day there on the 25th(as long as there are still enough spaces left )

Any way, I get a scholar card or a half fare card put simply which allows me to travel using my half fare card within W. Yorkshire

I live in Keighley(close to Bradford and Leeds), and Im wanting to get to Stafford. The trainline is of no help, considering that they don't have any discount tickets from the Leeds Station to Stafford, but they do have a train ticket from Leeds to Manchester(close to Stafford)

It costs me £1.35 for a Keighley-Bradford return and costs me £2.10 for a Keighley-Leeds Return at offpeak times. At peak times, a Keighley-Leeds ticket would cost me something like £3.15, and I've no idea what a Keighley-Bradford ticket would cost at peak times. I only get these fares because of my half fare card

Any help would be appreciated.

Lokolo

What course are you thinking of doing? As I go there...

There is a bus which also goes from the station to the uni, you could easily walk it, but could quite easily get lost unfortunately.

anon_ymous

Im thinking of doing networking. My tutor says that Stafford is one of the best places to study for networking, even though they are lower down in the university leagues table(Though I suppose networking is a modern subject that red-bricks don't tend to teach) Im wanting to go there as they apparently have "all the Cisco equipment" which would be a real help on the course ie: if someone went on a Nursing degree, it would really help to have all the medical equipment you can buy and similarly it would help on a networking course if they have access to the major equipment being used

Lokolo

It's a shame you don't live in London, the fares are cheap going from London to Staffs!

The equipment there is good, the lecturers not so much but you get used to that. If you are doing networking then I think there is a chance to do CISCO qualifcation stuff, so that would be quite useful.

And don't expect to get laid. Its the faculty of Computing, Engineering and Technology. There is a serious lack of women.

anon_ymous

Thanks for the information on the University, but does any body know of a cheap way to get there? ie: divertions etc...?

mrcrazy04

Firstly, I'd suggest you don't use Thetrainline - they charge booking fees and don't always offer all the tickets.
I think the best choice for looking at fares is www.eastcoast.co.uk, as there are no booking fees and it is laid out much better. You can buy tickets between any stations in the UK through the site.

Assuming you can get cheap fares to Dewsbury (is that within the area your card is valid to), if you buy a ticket from Dewsbury to Manchester Piccadilly for around £12, you can then buy advance tickets for around £5 (depending on the train you want to travel on) between Manchester and Stafford.
If you get advance tickets, remember you have to use them on the trains you're booked to travel on else they're not valid.

anon_ymous

mrcrazy04 wrote: »

Firstly, I'd suggest you don't use Thetrainline - they charge booking fees and don't always offer all the tickets.
I think the best choice for looking at fares is www.eastcoast.co.uk, as there are no booking fees and it is laid out much better. You can buy tickets between any stations in the UK through the site.

Assuming you can get cheap fares to Dewsbury (is that within the area your card is valid to), if you buy a ticket from Dewsbury to Manchester Piccadilly for around £12, you can then buy advance tickets for around £5 (depending on the train you want to travel on) between Manchester and Stafford.
If you get advance tickets, remember you have to use them on the trains you're booked to travel on else they're not valid.

Right thank you for that. I may just go to
Keighley-Dewsbury(at half fare)-Manchester Piccadilly

I think it will likely cost £17.60(as I'll likely have to go at a peak time) but that doesn't seem too bad from Dewsbury-Manchester Piccadilly

mrcrazy04

No problem.
You mentioned in your original post the 25th. Did you mean Saturday 25th September? If so, the off-peak tickets are valid as the restrictions only apply Monday - Friday.

anon_ymous

mrcrazy04 wrote: »

No problem.
You mentioned in your original post the 25th. Did you mean Saturday 25th September? If so, the off-peak tickets are valid as the restrictions only apply Monday - Friday.

Yup, I meant Saturday 25th I ended up using raileasy in the end, considering eastcoast were charging £12.20(return) one day, and then another day they doubled the cost, so I booked via raileasy instead.

Any way, a big thanks for all your help, but now I have another predicament.

I absolutely loved Stafford university,when I got in. The only thing that really bugged me was the town size, and the lack of girls (at least at the campus)

Also, they have a BSc in Network computing(and if you want a Masters, you can do another year) or a BEng/Meng in Network Engineering(again a 3/4 year course)

When I asked one of the lecturers at Stafford about the differences(as I couldn't notice any on the site), they told me that BSc/MSc is more accredited in North America/UK, but a BEng/MEng is worth more in Europe?(There is literally a one module difference between the two)

Stafford uni is also going to be my top choice of universities, but as Im a little paranoid of not getting a place(though I will try to apply ASAP!), then Ill think of other uni's

The list is as follows:
1. Stafford
2. Northumbria

We've been to the likes of Bradford,Leeds, Salford, Sheffield, Birmingham, Manchester Met etc...

Sheffield and Birmingham were good, but they were a bit too broad for me(and didn't focus particularly on networking, but instead the whole computer science discipline

There was no way I was going to go to Bradford uni ever, because of the fact it's infested with chavs(even the uni!) I wouldn't mind going to Leeds uni(not Leeds met), but I want to move away from home lol, and Manchester Met didn't really stick out to me like Northumbria and Stafford have so far.Salford didn't appease either. Any way, sorry about the rant(I've been told Id be good at a dissertation because of my ranting ) but just wondering what unis have fellow students visited?

melancholly

waqasahmed wrote: »

Whilst I was browsing through the forums, I noticed(or I may not have noticed) that there was no travel/trains section

too late, but fwiw
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=70

Lokolo

LOL lack of girls in Stafford. Whenever I see one I beep my horn to warn other drivers that there is a female in the area.