Cheapest Train Fares Discussion Area

mermaid121212

hi there,can anyone help please....my sis has to take her 16 yr old to hospital in london....she is having to pay £180 to get there and back.anyone know if there is a cheaper fare,as she is having to pay for accomodation also ? thanx

alanrowell

WHEN are you travelling?

First thought is to look at the Bargain Berths on First Scotrail's Sleeper Service

mjon3105

Re Fife/London, alan rowell's suggestion is excellent but also worth looking at MSE's "Flight Checker" as depending on dates there are many cheap offers around (exc Xmas/New Year) so much depends on actual dates your sister and her daughter need to be at the hospital.Some fares inc of taxes as low as £10. Re the accomodation, many local London hospitals can recommend low cost accomodation for Mothers of patients either attached to hospital or closeby.Worth enquiring...

simontay1984

I regularly travel from Ludlow - Shrewsbury and back on Arriva Trains Wales

Quite often I manage to get the train free because the guard does not walk down the train or just walks straight past me with out asking for tickets.
If I do get asked for a ticket then I buy a return to Shrewsbury.

Last weekend I visited some friends in Aberystwyth and got the train from Ludlow, changing at Shrewsbury.
This journey normally costs £30 but I managed to do it for free!!

Here's the story: On the 18:20 train from Ludlow to Shrewsbury the guard never came down the train. The 17:28 train from Shrewsbury was a bus to Machynlleth because the line was flooded, then on the train from Machynlleth to Aberystwyth the guard didn't come down the train either.

I wasn't so lucky on the return journey

---

For anyone who lives in Craven Arms in Shropshire and regularly travels to Birmingham:

If you live in Craven Arms and ever get the train to Birmingham, its actually cheaper to get a ticket from LUDLOW to Birmingham, even though its a longer distance!! Totally illogical, I know!! :eek:

chris.smith_4

If you use the train regularly off Peak in the South East it may be worth getting a Network Gold card (an annual season ticket) rather than a network card. The reason for this is that with a Network card (price £20) there is a minimum fare of £10 Monday to Friday. There is no minimum fare on the Gold card plus your partner can buy a Network card for £1. Two cheap Gold card season tickets from Newhaven Harbour to Newhaven Town and Ryde Pier Head to Ryde Esplanade. Both cost about £116. You can buy these tickets from any staffed station. You will need a photo. As a rule of thumb this is worth doing if you travel off peak in the SE more than 50 times a year and your fare is less than £15(full fare) each time. Both cards give 1/3 off the full fare and are not valid before 10.00am

Bacardi_queen

Can anyone tell me if there's any parking at any of the North London tube stations? We're driving down from Northampton tomorrow as there's four of us and it's cheaper than getting the train. We were planning on driving to Stanmore and parking there but due to engineering works there's only a bus replacement service into the center of London. Is there parking at Kilburn? Or some other station on the underground?

Help would be much appreciated, thanks!

dzug

Bacardi_queen wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if there's any parking at any of the North London tube stations? We're driving down from Northampton tomorrow as there's four of us and it's cheaper than getting the train. We were planning on driving to Stanmore and parking there but due to engineering works there's only a bus replacement service into the center of London. Is there parking at Kilburn? Or some other station on the underground?

Help would be much appreciated, thanks!

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/tubestationcarparks/default.aspx

will tell you all you want to know

nottRobin

Hi Martin,

What's happended about your idea for a free automated "Train Ticket Calculator" mentioned in your original article? See quote below...

Quote:
Is there an automated system that does this for you?

Not at the moment. Yet this article is so popular, I'm exploring creating a free automated Train Ticket Calculator with live info to calculate the cheapest tickets for you. It's actually so complex it needs a research mathematician to build the algorithms to get it automated; but we're getting there. If you're interested, keep up to date via the weekly email.
I saw Matthew Finn's Cheaper Train Fare Finder and managed to contact him by email. He said he "gave the source code to moneysavingexpert.com".

I'm a software developer and I was wondering if you'd considered making the software open source. If you did, I know a few developers who might be prepared to help work on the project.

Regards, James.

I totally agree. It should be an open-source project. In an effort to get this idea noticed I posted it as a new thread. I hope someone replies .

Robin.

sludge7

isasmurf wrote: »

Despite what Martin says "Travelling Short" is permitted within the National Conditions of Carriage, although if your ticket does not allow a break in journey then "Travelling short" is a no go.

So if I am buying a Cheap Day Ticket, and the Arriva Trains Wales web site says:

BREAK OF JOURNEYValid for break of journey on outward and return portion of ticket

then does that mean I can get off early? What I actually want to do is journey from Point A to Point B, and then return from Point C to Point A, where A and C are the ends of the journey, and B is a median stop. The cheapest ticketing option is a Cheap Day return from A to C, so just want to get off at B on my way there...

The small snag is, B is a request stop, so I can't exactly do this surreptitiously without the conductor knowing what I'm doing!

Any thoughts?

dzug

sludge7 wrote: »

So if I am buying a Cheap Day Ticket, and the Arriva Trains Wales web site says:

BREAK OF JOURNEYValid for break of journey on outward and return portion of ticket

then does that mean I can get off early? What I actually want to do is journey from Point A to Point B, and then return from Point C to Point A, where A and C are the ends of the journey, and B is a median stop. The cheapest ticketing option is a Cheap Day return from A to C, so just want to get off at B on my way there...

The small snag is, B is a request stop, so I can't exactly do this surreptitiously without the conductor knowing what I'm doing!

Any thoughts?

Yes you can - break of journey is allowed.

If the conductor is a bit iffy (and I doubt it) tell him you are getting the next train on.