Yeah it's like saying if you book your holiday 6 months in advance you'll also get cheaper tickets. Duh.
"Trains are a rich man's toy" says Transport Minister.
- Thread starter Danthus
- Start date
Yeah it's like saying if you book your holiday 6 months in advance you'll also get cheaper tickets. Duh.
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Generally speaking most people do not wake up one day and decide to make a 200+ mile trip on impulse, therefore I feel much of the complaints about the cost of walk-on fares are a bit irrelevent given there is often no need to buy them.
Can quite frequently get first class fairs to london for £13 from Norwich. Miles cheaper than driving and parking anywhere in london.
Bristol is about £22 each way in standard, £26 or so first if you book in advance. Cheap for the other side of the country, imo.
Bristol is about £22 each way in standard, £26 or so first if you book in advance. Cheap for the other side of the country, imo.
Not from tommorrow, Air Southwest are ceasing operations.
Buy a return from Exeter to Tiverton Parkway and a return from Tiverton Parkway to Bristol. Should be cheaper.
You can use the return portion of an offpeak return in the morning peak IIRC.
Yes, how dare he post about rail fare prices in a thread about rail fare prices.
It costs me £32 to get a return from Harlington to Ilford, offpeak, without a rail card.
It's too ****ing expensive. It's pathetic. Afaik there's no real other ways for me to get there, I daren't brave my car along the M1, too unreliable.
It's too ****ing expensive. It's pathetic. Afaik there's no real other ways for me to get there, I daren't brave my car along the M1, too unreliable.
I don't think prices are that bad, booking ahead and off peak can drastically bring prices down. I've heard of return tickets from Glasgow to Aberdeen for around a tenner.
What I do dislike though is that splitting tickets can work out cheaper, I don't understand why this is and I don't like it.
On another note, on tickets it says "any valid route". What does this mean? Could I buy a ticket from Station A to Station B 10 miles (and a change) away but go via London?
I ask, as one time I was going from my local station to work but via my girlfriends local station (taking her home). I asked the best way to do this and got given my usual ticket. She asked for her ticket (single to her station) and paid more. I was chuffed.
What I do dislike though is that splitting tickets can work out cheaper, I don't understand why this is and I don't like it.
On another note, on tickets it says "any valid route". What does this mean? Could I buy a ticket from Station A to Station B 10 miles (and a change) away but go via London?
I ask, as one time I was going from my local station to work but via my girlfriends local station (taking her home). I asked the best way to do this and got given my usual ticket. She asked for her ticket (single to her station) and paid more. I was chuffed.
Very true. And why are we focussing on better connections between some of the best-connected places in the country?
It says 'Any Permitted' on some tickets. This means you can go via any reasonable route. The reason why it says this is because there are often tickets which only allow travel via a certain route because they exclude travel via a more expensive route.
A Penzance to Southampton ticket will cost less than a Penzance to Reading ticket because Southampton is closer to Penzance. Logical, yes?
Then consider there are two 'reasonable' routes to Southampton from Penzance. You can change at Westbury, Exeter or Bristol and head down via Salisbury. Alternatively you can stay on the Great Western Mainline and change at Reading. This means you cover a far greater distance than you otherwise would.
As a result, the default ticket option for Penzance to Southampton will have 'Route: Salisbury' on it. Meaning you MUST travel via Salisbury for that price. You can, if you wish, request a Route: Any Permitted ticket which will permit you to travel via Reading, but cost much more as a result.
Where there are a number of routes with no real advantage to any of them, Any Permitted tickets are usually issues by default.
The 'Route' section can also be used to restrict travel to one TOC only - for example if they are running a promotion. It is cheaper to travel to London from Birmingham via Chiltern Railways for example - it takes longer than Virgin Trains and the train isn't as nice but by offering a Route: Chiltern Railways ticket that operator can offer you a cheaper fare by you only using its trains.
I do agree that the ticketing system is bizarre and confusing. It is for example cheaper for me to travel from Plymouth to Worcester by purchasing a return to Tiverton Parkway and a Freedom of the Severn and Solent 3 in 7 day Rover (Allowing 3 days of unlimited travel from Tiverton up as far as Great Malvern, Cardiff and Portsmouth on the South coast!) than it is for me to simply purchase a return to Worcester. A great deal for me, but should you really need specialist loophole knowledge to get the best deal?
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it really depends tbh... If your destination is on a main line (like most major towns and cities) then it can quite easily be cheaper and quicker to get a train... For example London to Plymouth, London to Edinburgh etc. You can also get a guaranteed seat and get to sit back and read/ watch a film...
trains from London to newquay are around £50 too, in fact that is the more expensive ticket... What is the day before price of London to Cornwall by plane and by train? I'd suggest train is cheaper, quicker and more frequent. Then you have to add the cost of getting too and from the airports...
personally I think £13 for an off peak travel card to London (from around 30 miles outside) is pretty cheap!
Tbh title should read "commuters make more money than non commuters" *shocker*. Makes sense really as more people that use the trains are commuters travelling from the suburbs to city centres, the sort of person that makes above the average wage... As a (seemingly) perpetual student trains are a godsend. Cheap, reliable and able to convey me across the country (sometimes at no notice) for less than the cost of the petrol in a car let alone the cost of buying an upkeep...
There are occasions where an Offpeak Single x 2 is cheaper than an Offpeak return but these are quite rare. What is however very common is that two Advance Singles are cheaper than a Return. The reason for this is far simpler - 'Advance' tickets are not offered as return tickets, only single tickets. The idea behind that was to simply the ticketing structure, which is amusing
The abhorrent cost of road transportation rightly or wrongly is meant to subsidise other forms of transport including train travel, yet this seems to be falling by the wayside.
We keep getting told to use public transport and that the overall increase in population is helping the economy, yet this doesn't seem to be filtering down to improving transport infrastructure where we are told costs to the passenger need to rise because of increased demand.
We seem be be getting shafted either way for the very privilege of moving around, ironically mainly to get to work and pay tax.
We keep getting told to use public transport and that the overall increase in population is helping the economy, yet this doesn't seem to be filtering down to improving transport infrastructure where we are told costs to the passenger need to rise because of increased demand.
We seem be be getting shafted either way for the very privilege of moving around, ironically mainly to get to work and pay tax.
My season ticket for the year was 2kfor overcrowed late trains total rip off but my only other alternative is a 13 mile bike ride each way
They have got commuters by the balls!
how much would that cost in fuel and how are the roads at rush hour?
the problem is the major issues with trains are exactly the same as the major issues with the roads. The problem is the several majorly crowded areas of the country...
Oh and just checking the London to Newquay thing... The train would be half the price of the plane... Then for a lot of people a railcard could make that a third of the cost. You may even be able to buy two singles rather than the open return I picked for even more savings... The open return train ticket also has the added benefit of allowing you to travel back at any time or day with no extra charges...
What ****es me off is when I see those Birmingham to London adds for like £6 or £9 (just an example) and me where I can **** to London costs me £32 for a return ticket.
They just milk people, they know you have to pay the ticket if you want to work there or at least until you buy a car.
I booked a train from Euston to Birmingham 2 weeks in advance, I paid 4.95 there and around 8 back
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It's a rip, I have to pay 350 a month just to get to work. It goes up 13% next year, it went up 10% last year. I wouldn't mind, but you get nothing for the money, usually not even a seat. I wouldn't mind if there was some form of improvement or "value" for money.