Cheap Train Fares guide discussion

dzug1

I've seen some reports that tickety split - particularly the app rather than the PC version - is malfunctioning at the moment, showing fares that are not actually available for sale.

Have you actually looked at a rail website?

If you post details of your journey you might get some advice on reducing the cost even at this late stage

Kite2010

Double check the details of the suggested spilt on the National Rail Enquires site (http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/) to see if it is available for those prices.

Then purchase online via a train operator site or Red Spotted Hanky and pick up at the station (get it so all the tickets are sent to the same machine). Saves the hassle of trying to get a spilt from a member of staff

bckay2420

My usual site is thetrainline.com but having seen takethetrain.co.uk recommended in the latest newsletter, I thought I'd give it a try. I'm not impressed. I have a Senior railcard, so all prices are with that. One of my regular journeys is Shrewsbury to London. I prefer to travel via Crewe. On the trainline, off-peak, I get a return for £39.20, which includes a one day 6 zone Travelcard (which is worth £8.90).
On takethetrain, using the same trains they want £44.15, without the Travelcard.
Further, it clutters up the results page with trains which involve a change at Chester or Stockport (simply because I asked for trains travelling through Crewe): I thought it would have been clear that I wanted to CHANGE at Crewe.:huh:
Not impressed.

LexyBoy

bckay2420 wrote: »

My usual site is thetrainline.com but having seen takethetrain.co.uk recommended in the latest newsletter, I thought I'd give it a try. I'm not impressed. I have a Senior railcard, so all prices are with that. One of my regular journeys is Shrewsbury to London. I prefer to travel via Crewe. On the trainline, off-peak, I get a return for £39.20, which includes a one day 6 zone Travelcard (which is worth £8.90).
On takethetrain, using the same trains they want £44.15, without the Travelcard.

Don't be fleeced by Thetrainline! The £39.20 fare is the fare you would pay on the day at the station - Thetrainline adds a booking and a card fee.

Redspottedhanky uses a different back-end to Thetrainline, which as you have seen has some differences. In order to get the Travelcard fare up, you need to select "London All Zones Travelcard" as your desination, rather than just London. You will then get the £39.20 fare via Crewe just as you do with Thetrainline. Bear in mind that you can also buy tickets through any train company's website (for any journey), and none of these charge extra fees just for booking a ticket. Most train companies use the same back-end as RSH, but Virgin use a version of Thetrainline's back-end.

With few exceptions, the only time it's cheaper to buy in advance is when there are Advance fares available - Anytime and Off Peak tickets are the same price on the day, and wherever you buy them.

It's fairly unusual situation from Shrewsbury that the Travelcard is cheaper than the London Terminals fare (there is a cheaper Via Birmingham fare though). The Off Peak Return is valid for one month however, rather than only one day for the Travelcard.

bckay2420 wrote: »

Further, it clutters up the results page with trains which involve a change at Chester or Stockport (simply because I asked for trains travelling through Crewe): I thought it would have been clear that I wanted to CHANGE at Crewe.:huh:
Not impressed.

Via in railway planners means just that - I agree a "change at" option would be useful. For example, Chiltern have fares for Birmingham-London routed Via High Wycombe which can be brought up by specifying High Wycombe as a "via" point - but you'd still travel on a through train from Brum to London, and the fast trains don't even stop at High Wycombe!

bckay2420

Thanks for that, LexyBoy. You talk about Redspottedhanky; I was talking about takethetrain.co.uk. However, I've just looked at Redspottedhanky and it looks fine. It doesn't suggest ridiculous changes (on one service, takethetrain wanted me to change at Stockport, the station beyond Crewe, even though it stopped at Crewe). It also didn't present me with several pages of fares; even when I've specified specific trains, takethetrain offered me 29 fares!
Thanks for (inadvertently) pointing me at Redspottedhanky. I think that's the site I'll be using instead of thetrainline in future.

LexyBoy

Oh sorry!

I just looked at your journey and it does seem very poor, I only had fares of >£200 showing up! It does also make it seem very daunting: "528 fares found for your journey" - probably in an attempt to convince you that the website knows best.

I think Takethetrain can be useful sometimes - it offers some features not found on other sites, and sometimes offers routes which other sites are reluctant to show - but it's definitely not easy to use if you're not an "expert".

Fishingtime

I just bought a return ticket from Suffolk to Bradford in Yorks in Nov for £24 :j

miller

Rainbow Day at Alton, Bentley, Farnham, Aldershot, Ash Vale, Frimley, Camberley, Bagshot, Ash and Wanborough.
Unlimited travel on the South West Trains network for £10 on Saturday, 26 October 2013.

Submit details and obtain voucher for redemption between Wednesday, 23 October and Saturday, 26 October.

Full details:
http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/rainbowday.aspx
a link to the terms and conditions is also on that page.
N.B. There is no ticket office at Wanborough.

Kite2010

miller wrote: »

Rainbow Day at Alton, Bentley, Farnham, Aldershot, Ash Vale, Frimley, Camberley, Bagshot, Ash and Wanborough.
Unlimited travel on the South West Trains network for £10 on Saturday, 26 October 2013.

Submit details and obtain voucher for redemption between Wednesday, 23 October and Saturday, 26 October.

Full details:
http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/rainbowday.aspx
a link to the terms and conditions is also on that page.
N.B. There is no ticket office at Wanborough.

Previously you could get the Day-Ranger from a self-service machine, useful if there is a queue and you are buying parking at the same time.

Westphalia

I made (well for me!) an interesting discovery the other day, having always assumed that the best deals were only to be had by booking months in advance. I had bought a ticket to go from Peterborough to Kings Cross for £22, which I was pretty pleased with, but on the day didn't feel particularly well so decided not to go.

Deciding this was a false economy and out of curiosity I checked the East Coast site for prices on the same or next day and actually found a next day return for £16.20. This was travelling down around 11am and coming back at 8pm via First Capital Connect, so a slightly longer journey, but still a very decent day out.

May have been just a lucky one-off but certainly seems worth checking in the future.