leeds to birmingham

glamrochick

im in leeds at uni , someone wants me to go down to birmingham, my home town is manc, its cheaper to go from manc to birmingham , but that would be a hassle and maybe not that cheap with both? coach doesnt seem that cheap and takes a long time, train from leeds to birmingham have to be lucky to get cheaper ones with railcard.. if you get a month one its about £37 i think it's a lot!

any suggestions?

thelawnet

There's a direct train, a cheaper combinations of ticket valid for that train is:

Leeds - Sheffield £8.30 Anytime Return Not Via Doncaster
Chinley - Stafford £19.95 Off-Peak Return Via Birmingham

Total = £28.25 (with y/persons railcard.)
The second ticket is a bit of a loophole, but basically the only available ticket from Chinley to Stafford specifies that you must go via Birmingham, i.e.

Chinley - Sheffield
Sheffield - Birmingham
Birmingham - Stafford

This ticket is much cheaper than a Sheffield - Birmingham ticket, but it's valid to travel from Sheffield to Birmingham - you don't have to travel Chinley - Sheffield or Birmingham - Stafford.

redux

Experiment with splitting the fare into 2 or 3 parts, at Sheffield and at Derby, and both.

You don't necessarily change trains, but the train must stop there.

Then if you also look at advance fares, which are only for the specific train, though they sort you out if there's a missed connection from a late train, it looks quite promising.

For a trip in a week's time I found £6.25 + £4.60 + £4.60 with 16-25 railcard.

I didn't trace all the times through though, so you might be waiting a few minutes at each for the absolute cheapest.

Edit: I'm a little surprised to see there are cheap split and /or advance fares available even for tomorrow morning if booked now, like £6.45 and £6.75, so £23 to £28 for all the way if split in those 3 parts

LittleMax

There are quite a few single tickets available for £10.25 each way on direct trains at the beginning of December. So £20.50 total without having to change trains, but unlikely to be able to go down on a Friday you would need to go Thursday or stupid o'clock on a Sat morning.

LexyBoy

If you're returning the same day it's worth splitting into shorter sections to get Day Returns which are generally cheaper than the period return (and avoid journeys priced by Crosscountry). Leeds-Sheffield, Sheffield-Derby and Derby-Birmingham, Off Peak Day Returns come to £23.10 and all trains call at the stations where you change from one ticket to the other.

Otherwise, I think the suggestion by thelawnet is a good call, or Advances if you can travel at inconvenient times and book reasonably far in advance.

glamrochick

i would be going down for a few days- train seems costly, ive found a national express which takes 2 hrs 20 mins fastest route for £12 but thats for wed 28th so need to book it next week maybe, that seems the best, from leeds to birmingham

desperate_dan

have you thought about using Megabus and going by coach.
it's much quicker than National Express as only picks up at Meadowhall and then next stop Birmingham.
on a Wednesday all fares are £5 but booking in advance you can often get it for £1.