Tips for cheaper train fares

thelawnet

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Here are some tips for finding cheaper train fares.

thelawnet

Break your journey

There is a general right to break a journey.

For example, if I want to travel from London to St Albans, then continue on to Luton a little later, rather than buying a London - St Albans and St Albans - Luton ticket, I can just buy London - Luton, stop off in St Albans, and then continue to Luton later, using the same ticket.

Very often this will save money.

On the same basis, you can also END or START your journey short of the destination or origin of the ticket.

So travelling from West Hampstead to St Albans, and then back to
London, you could buy a London - St Albans return, at West Hampstead station (you would need the ticket office) for this, and 'start short' there, returning later to London.

If you buy 'Advance' tickets, which will be clearly marked on the ticket, break of journey is not allowed. There a few off-peak tickets where it is also restricted - this should be made clear when you buy the ticket.

thelawnet

Exploit competition.

Not all train companies price their fares at the same level. Fares between two cities will usually be priced by the operator that is deemed to carry most of the traffic. So Peterborough - London is priced by East Coast, as their trains are much faster than those of First Capital Connect, who also operate on this route.

The most expensive train company in Britain is arguably Crosscountry. They operate rather slow trains connecting cities across Britain. Some of their fares are outlandishly expensive, and in many cases they don't sell Advance tickets or only price them at high levels.

Other train operators with relatively high fares include:

East Coast
East Midlands Trains
South West Trains
First Great Western
South Eastern
Virgin

and others.

The interesting point here is the cheap operators.

These are, loosely:

Southern
London Midland
Northern

Northern operate across the North of England, London Midland in the Midlands, and between London and the North West, and Southern in Surrey and Sussex.

There are also two 'open access' operators operating from London to Grantham, Retford, Doncaster, and then onto Hull (Hull Trains), and London to York and then onto Sunderland and London to Doncaster and then on to Bradford (Grand Central).

The open access operators only operate a few trains per day, but in general these are much cheaper than their competitors on East Coast. For travel between the mentioned stations, be sure to check their fares.

In a couple of areas, two operators operate over the same track. Choosing the secondary (slower or less frequent) operator will give you a saving. For example, a ticket from London to Exeter, on South West Trains from Waterloo travelling via Woking and Salisbury will almost invariably be cheaper than the faster First Great Western trains from Paddington via Reading.

Other slow and therefore cheap lines include:

London to Worcester via Oxford
Newcastle to Carlisle
Travel along the south coast, any stations between Ashford International, Hastings, Brighton, Portsmouth and Southampton.
London to Portsmouth on Southern (from Victoria rather than Waterloo)

Between London and Brighton, the same thing occurs - First Capital Connect offer slower, less frequent trains, but in return you can travel from London to Brighton, on a weekend, for only £10, with no advance booking (the same is true for stations between London and Brighton).

Between Milton Keynes and London, where Virgin and London Midland both operate, choosing a ticket valid on either operator (but not both!) will likewise offer a substantial saving.

In order to look up the fare for a journey, the best site is

https://www.brfares.com

This gives the possible fares between two stations.

If you try Tonbridge - Hastings, various fares are offered:

http://www.brfares.com/#fares?orig=TON&dest=HGS&rlc=

It also shows that the fares are priced by South Eastern.

However, if you look at the rail map of Britain, you can see:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/static/documents/content/nationalrailoperatorsmapZoom.pdf

that although this journey takes place on South Eastern trains, it is close to the Southern area.

So what happens if we try to travel into Southern land?

http://www.brfares.com/#fares?orig=TON&dest=BEX&rlc=%20%20%20

Tonbridge - Bexhill - one stop further, is cheaper.

As per the above, a break of journey at Hastings, is perfectly permissible, and we need never travel onto Bexhill.

As another example, a walk-up off-peak return from London to Crewe is £70.20. However, if you buy a 'London Midland Only' return, which is only valid on London Midland services (not Virgin Trains), you can travel for only £28, albeit it does take one hour longer.

Other examples include:

Brighton - Southampton 'Not Via London' is owned by Southern, and cheaper than Southwest Trains Clapham Junction - Southampton, so from Clapham Junction to Southampton, you'd better just buy the Brighton ticket.

Leeds - Manchester 'Via Hebden Bridge' is owned by Northern, and therefore cheaper than the First Transpenine express fare, which is valid on any permitted route.

thelawnet

(Don't) Book in advance

For most journeys it is not desirable to book journeys in advance. If you are a making a short-distance journey, there is generally no saving to be had, and you may change your mind and be stuck with tickets that you can't use.

However, for longer distances, such as London - York, you will usually want to book as far in advance as possible. This is typically 12 weeks before, and up to 6pm the day before travel, although in some cases as late as midnight the previous day (it varies by train company)

See http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/44703.aspx for details of the furthest date in advance that you can book your tickets.

thelawnet

Buy return tickets

In many cases, a return ticket costs only 10p more than a single. It's rarely very 'money saving' to buy singles.

Although you might not be returning the same day, if the ticket is not a 'day' ticket, you can use the return any day within the next month. Check before buying singles!

The exception to this is Advance fares. These are always sold as singles.

For example, travelling from London to Manchester, tomorrow, the fares are:

walk-up (off-peak) single £76.30
walk-up (off-peak) return £77.30

There are also some £34 Advance fares available, but only on specific trains. For a single journey, the £34 Advance is a great deal, saving over 50% on the walk-up single. However for a return, £9.30 is not a huge saving and you might prefer to buy the off-peak return, which allows you to pick your choice of trains, since if you miss your Advance train, your ticket is effectively worthless.

If however, you had planned in advance, and booked the train 12 weeks before travel, you could have booked a £12.50 Advance singles each way.

thelawnet

Split your journey

Splitting journeys involves buying two or more tickets for a single journey, in order to save money.

Under normal circumstances, the train must stop at each point named on the tickets.

For example, while Sheffield - Grindleford, Grindleford - Manchester is cheaper than Sheffield - Manchester, the split at Grindleford is not valid unless your train calls there, which most trains do not, only a few slower stopping trains do. So while this saves money, around £4 on a day return, it adds time to your journey, which you might not feel is worth it.

Another example is a Newcastle - Glasgow off-peak return. The normal price is £61.90

http://brfares.com/#fares?orig=NCL&dest=GLC&rlc=%20%20%20

This ticket is valid either Newcastle - Edinburgh - Glasgow, or Newcastle - Carlisle - Glasgow.

If you buy instead Newcastle - Carlisle, Carlisle - Glasgow, then the cost falls to £42, but you obviously then cannot travel via Edinburgh.

Another example of a split can be found on journeys using different train companies.

If you search for your journey at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/, it will show you the trains being used.

As an example, if you search for Hale - York, a few weeks in advance, it suggests that the fare is £32.80 return

However this journey shows as two trains:

Hale - Manchester, on Northern
Manchester - York on First Transpenine Express

Hale - Manchester return costs £3.80, returning the same day
and then Manchester - York, while priced at £28.30 return on a walk-up basis, if we just lookup Manchester - York, then we are offered Advance singles, for only £7 each, when booking in advance.

So by splitting this journey we get:

Hale - Manchester walk-up fare, £3.80
Manchester - York 2 * Advance single £14

In some cases, where an advance fare for your journey is quite high, you can save by splitting Advances - on the same train. Check the stations where the train is calling, and compare prices for different segments of the journey with the through fare. This can offer savings. Another option is to buy an Advance for one part of the journey, which is perhaps expensive on a walk-up basis, and then use a walk-up fare for the rest of the journey, which may in some cases be cheaper than the Advance. Take care that you book the Advances all on the same train!

If you have time to spare, you can also split Advances on different trains. This will obviously delay your journey, as you need to wait for a second, cheaper, train somewhere en route. When changing trains, be sure to allow sufficient time for your connection. Providing that you allowed a valid connection time, your tickets will be honoured on later trains if a delay causes you to miss your booked service.

Connection times can be found at http://brtimes.com/ by choosing the station name and 'Station Info Only'. In most cases the minimum connection is 5 minutes (sometimes less), but at London terminals the time is typically 15 minutes.

Where you need to transfer between stations, the minimum connection time is the sum of the two stations connection times, plus an interchange time. So for a connection between a train and Waterloo and Euston, the connection time is 15 minutes at Waterloo, 15 minutes at Euston, and 20 minutes interchange, a total of 50 minutes to be a valid connection where the journey from Euston is on an Advance ticket - any less than this, and if you miss your train, the train operator has no liability to carry you.

Another example of a split comes where certain regional fares are regulated.

Some examples:

Peterborough - Norwich is £19.60 off-peak day return - a very modest fare - or £24 for an off-peak return.

Grantham - Norwich, is however charged at £44.80 off-peak return, with no day-return available, yet Grantham - Peterborough is only £12.60 for an off-peak day return, or £20 for an off-peak return,

Some other cheap regional fares include:

Birmingham - Derby
Birmingham - Stoke, Stoke - Manchester (rather than Birmingham - Manchester)
Penzance - Plymouth (day return)
Plymouth - Tiverton Parkway (as a day return only)

London - Didcot, Didcot - Swindon, Swindon - Bristol/Cardiff/Gloucester/ etc. rather than the through fare (again, works best as a day return)

Note that only half of trains stop at Didcot, so unlike most of the other examples here, this could be costly if you board the wrong train from Paddington.

thelawnet

Routeing loopholes

Tickets are governed by a set of rules governing their validity. If you have a ticket from A to B, it may or may not be valid via C.

In general, the rules are:

* You may take the shortest route (this is logical enough)
* You may take direct trains from A to B (this too is logical)
* And then you may take trains that fall within the scope of the National Routeing Guide.

The National Routeing Guide (NRG) is published here:

http://www.atoc.org/about-atoc/rail-settlement-plan/routeing-guide

it is rather complicated, but essentially it breaks the country down into 'routeing points'. A routeing point is generally speaking a station that is an interchange. So for example, Reading is a major interchange between numerous lines and is therefore a routeing point.

Each station is either a routeing point, or associated with one or more. Where stations share a common routeing point (i.e. they are in the same area), you cannot use maps to determine the routes between stations.

But, for most longer journeys, maps are used.

The appropriate map for each journey is specified in the Routeing Guide.

The map for Wolverhampton - Crewe is specified as map BS:

http://www.atoc.org/clientfiles/File/Maps.pdf#page=9

You are permitted to take any route between the two routeing points that does not double back.

Thus while Wolverhampton - Stafford - Crewe is obvious, and of course valid, the route:

Wolverhampton - Smethwick - Birmingham - Walsall - Rugeley - Stoke - Stockport - Manchester - Bolton - Preston - Wigan - Warrington - Crewe does not double back, and is also valid.

As per the 'break of journey', above, we could use a Wolverhampton - Crewe ticket, priced at £17.80 off-peak return, to travel from Rugeley - Preston, which is a £31 off-peak fare - it is not necessary to complete the full journey.

Considerable caution is advised with such tickets, as train staff may regard you as taking the p***, even though it's perfectly valid, and you may be the subject of threats of (criminal) prosecution. For this reason, being confident about your routeing is essential, and printing out a copy of the rules is advisable.

The Association of Train Companies do not like these loopholes and have removed many of them from the maps used by online booking engines. However, in some cases it is possible to get the systems to oblige and print out an itinerary for the routeing. The best way to attempt this is to request a 'via' point on the booking site.

The 'via' point is a station that the train must travel via- it does not mean the train stops there. So when specifying a via point, try and choose one that will force it to take your route.

If you can obtain and print an itinerary showing your ticket is valid on your chosen loophole routeing, that will be a huge support.

The website

https://www.trainscanbecheaper.info is an unofficial site that will attempt to interpret the Routeing Guide for any journey.

thelawnet

Season tickets

Duration
Season tickets are issued for periods of one week, one month, or any period longer than one month, up to a maximum of one year.

The cost of a monthly season is the same as 3.84 weekly seasons.

An annual season ticket costs 40 weekly seasons, or therefore 10.42 monthly.

Season tickets priced for periods of more than one month but less than a year are priced at the cost of each month, then 1/30 of the cost of a monthly for each day.

In most cases commuters will find it cheaper to buy season tickets than daily tickets, and also more convenient. However in some cases where your travel is off-peak, this may not be the case.

Weekly season tickets are poor value, and in general you should buy monthly tickets.

The option to buy odd period seasons is well worth taking. For Monday-Friday commuters, savings of over 10% per year can obtained by this method.

For example, starting on Monday 3rd June, for one month, the season would expire on Tuesday 2nd July. However if you purchased a one month + 3 days season, it would expire on Friday, 5th of July. You could start your new season on Monday 8th of July, saving paying for the weekend.

Since extra days are charged the same, pro rate, as a full month, the extra days are a bargain as you can always end them before your weekend break. In addition, it should also be easy to end your seasons prior to any weeks of holiday you might take.

Over the year, monthly seasons should work out around the same cost as annual seasons, or slightly less if you take longer holidays, but they cost less upfront, and if you lose them, the financial burden is much lower (the train company will replace a lost season ticket only ONCE per year - factor in the cost of insurance (most insurers will NOT cover a season) if doing this).

In the Southeast + London, there are some benefits to buying an annual season ticket, which is that you get a special Network Gold railcard giving discounts on fares outside your season ticket area. However for most people this benefit will be minimal, since they will travel 99% on the season, and won't buy any extra tickets.

For people making irregular journeys, the railcard can be worthwhile to the extent that some purchase a cheap annual season.

The cheapest are:

Pevensey Bay & Pevensey Westham
Ryde St John Road - Ryde Esplanade
and
Newhaven Harbour - Newhaven Town

all at £156 per year.

Another use of these tickets, is that if you do buy an annual season, then surrender value is calculated based on the cost of buying monthly tickets, so after around 10 months, you would have no surrender value. However if you switch over the ticket to a (much) cheaper annual season, you are issued a refund based on the difference between the two annual seasons. The difference for expensive seasons can be substantial.

An even cheaper season for the purpose of switchover is Lichfield City - Lichfield Trent Valley, which is just £108/yr.

Routes

Season tickets are valid between any two stations en route between the two. Thus a Manchester - Birmingham season is valid for a journey from Stafford to Stoke, or Birmingham - Wolverhampton, or many others.

In addition, if you hold a season, you may combine it with other tickets, and the train need not stop at the points where the tickets meet.

So for example, holding a Didcot - London season, you could travel from Swindon to London using a Swindon - Didcot return and your season, on a train that doesn't stop at Didcot.

Another issue of routeing is where seasons have multiple valid routes. For example, a Sowerby Bridge - Morley season is valid Sowerby Bridge - Leeds - Morley, Sowerby Bridge - Halifax - Morley.

You can combine these routes to travel between Leeds and Halifax, at a lower cost than a Leeds - Halifax season, without ever travelling from Sowerby Bridge.

As season tickets permit you to combine tickets at stations the trains do not stop at, for regular long distance travel, to different locations, it is often advantageous to purchase a cheap season ticket, and combine it with return tickets.

For example, in London there many tickets priced under £20/wk that permit travel on many lines around South London, and the overground, and would permit you also to combine a succession of cheap tickets for longer distance travel.

Regional seasons

In a few areas there are special local products:
* Mersey Railpass http://www.merseyrail.org/tickets-passes/season-tickets/railpass.aspx
* South Yorkshire Travelmaster http://www.travelsouthyorkshire.com/ticketfinder.aspx
* SPT Zone Card (Glasgow) http://www.spt.co.uk/travelcards/zonecard/
* Manchester Traincard http://www.tfgm.com/journey_planning/Tickets/Pages/tickets_rail.aspx
* Freedom Travelpass Bristol/Bath http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/bristol_bath/tickets/bus_rail/freedom.php
* London Travelcard
* West Yorkshire Metrocard http://www.wymetro.com/TicketsAndPasses/MetroCards/

These tickets usually carry special restrictions, and may not be valid for journeys outside their area of validity in combination with other rail tickets - check before purchasing.

thelawnet

Railcards

Railcards offer a saving of 1/3 in most cases.

The main railcards are:

Senior Railcard - for the over 60
16-25 railcard - for that age group
Network Railcard - in the southeast within this map http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/tickets/Network-railcard-area.pdf
Network Gold card - issued 'free' with a Network area season ticket (see previous post)
Disabled railcard - for a disabled person and a companion
Family & Friends railcard - for anyone travelling with a child (60% off child fares, 1/3 off adult fares)

Generally speaking you are eligible and will travel by train more than once or twice in a year, they are worth buying.

They do have some restrictions.

In particular:

Network Railcard - minimum fare of £13 Monday-Friday, and not valid before 10am Monday-Friday. Only valid within the Network area (sometimes you can split at the Network boundary to save money)
Network Gold Card - same as Network Railcard, but no minimum fare.
16-25 Railcard - minimum fare of £12 before 10am Monday-Friday (not applicable during July and August)
Senior, Family & Friends Railcard - not valid on morning peak services wholly in the London area

There are frequent special offers on railcards, which allow you to buy them less than the £30 annual price. (Not applicable to the Disabled Railcard, which only costs £20)

thelawnet

London

Oyster
Oyster Cards are the cheapest way to make single journeys in the London area. They are not valid outside the M25 in most cases, although the scheme has been extended to a few stations.

You can find the Oyster fare for any single journey here:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/tickets/faresandtickets/farefinder/current/default.aspx

In some cases, multiple fares are offered. This occurs when a journey can take multiple routes. In some cases it is possible to avoid central London (zone 1) by taking the Overground. If you avoid Zone 1, the fare will generally be cheaper. If you do this, it is necessary to touch the purple Oyster interchange reader at the interchange station where you avoid Zone 1.

If you are travelling from outside London it can work out cheaper to buy a return to London and then use Oyster around London if only making one or two journeys in London.

If you hold a railcard (not Family + Friends or Network Railcard), then the railcard discount can be loaded onto your Oyster card, giving 1/3 off your Oyster fares. The process is described here: http://www.oyster-rail.org.uk/railcards-and-discounts/

Travelcard
You can also usually buy a combined ticket to London with travelcard. In most cases it is cheaper to buy a paper one-day travelcard, which currently costs £8.90, and then a ticket to 'Boundary Zone 6'.

For example, for Guildford - London:

http://brfares.com/#fares?orig=GLD&dest=1072&rlc=

the return fare is £14.70, super off peak (arriving after noon or at weekends), £18.60 with travelcard.

However, a Super Off Peak Return Guildford - Boundary Zone 6 is only £9.30

http://brfares.com/#fares?orig=GLD&dest=0072&rlc=%20%20%20

Combined with a One Day Travelcard at £8.90, this is 40p cheaper.

When travelling from a location on one side of London to a location on the other side, but still within London, Oyster is nearly always cheapest.

However, when travelling from one side of London to a location outside London, but on the opposite side, such as Bromley to Colchester, it again often works out cheaper to buy a one-day travelcard.

Example:

Bromley South - Colchester £31.40 off-peak day return http://brfares.com/#fares?orig=BMS&dest=0254&rlc=%20%20%20

Compared with

One Day Travelcard £8.90
Boundary Zone 6- Colchester £18.10 Super off Peak Day Return
http://brfares.com/#fares?orig=0072&dest=0254&rlc=%20%20%20
= £27.

Children

Children aged 5 to 10 (inclusive), travelling with an adult, get free travel on London buses, trams, the Underground, and on the routes marked in green on this map: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/tickets/national-rail-map.pdf For travel starting within London, on the red routes, it is worth buying (£10 and wait several weeks) a 5-10 Oyster card. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14554.aspx This gives you half fare on these routes. However for travel from outside London, it generally will not be worthwhile.

Children aged 11-15 need a 11-15 Oyster Card. This also costs £10. Because children aged 11+ must pay on the tube (but not on the buses or trams) most children of this age travelling into London will be best to get an 11-15 Oyster.

wealdroam

thelawnet wrote: »

An even cheaper season for the purpose of switchover is Lichfield City - Lichfield Trent Valley, which is just £108/yr.

And save another £8 by getting a Devonport Dockyard to Devonport annual season at £100.00.