Train Prices.

BoomAM

BoomAM

BoomAM

Soldato
Joined
5 Jul 2003
Posts
16,206
Location
Atlanta, USA
Hi.
How is it that in less than a week, that train prices for the same day, same time and same destination, has shot up from £38 return to £120 return!?
Shocking, because that has royaly messed up a planned trip i was going to go on. :mad:

Are there any other ways to get cheaper train tickets?

Thanks in advance all. :).
 
BoomAM said:
Hi.
How is it that in less than a week, that train prices for the same day, same time and same destination, has shot up from £38 return to £120 return!?
Shocking, because that has royaly messed up a planned trip i was going to go on. :mad:

Are there any other ways to get cheaper train tickets?

Thanks in advance all. :).
Click to expand...

While my train tickets arent that much, I know how you feel, the other day I was going to Brighton from Swansea, went to book a return and it was £85.

Couldnt beleive it, was shocking

Luckily, 2 singles worked out at £20, which is stupid to me as how do they sell any returns for that price difference?
 
There's usually only a small number of cheap tickets on any one train journey, hence why its always better to buy early if you can. All the £38 tickets must have been sold within the week.

Best alternative I can think of is to fly :p
 
Virgin used to set cheap tickets at different booked by dates, eg booking 3 weeks in advance where usually the cheapest, 2 weeks a bit more expensive, one week more so and the most expensive within 4 days.

Not sure if they still use that method, or if the other train companies do the same, but as cancellations occur cheap tickets can become available on the day of travel.
 
Advanced tickets are much cheaper, the further in advance you buy them the cheaper they are. I've had a journey to Manchester for £20 return before. Buying them the week you travel is expencive :(
 
My friend had the same problem.

His went from Leicester to Suffolk, from £28 or so return to £78 or so return.

He rang up the train station and they said it was a mistake with the Website and that it was still £28 or so.
 
Unfortunatelly i cant find a train station number for my local station, but if i ring the Virgin number, they quote me £33 pp return at specific times. Which isnt too bad.

Is there a way to find the number for the ticket office at my local station?
 
I went to my local station and managed to get £34 return. :)
Load of rubbish the train website is, trying to con people is what it is!
 
UK rail network is a joke really... extortionate prices (cheaper to fly a lot of the time), dirty ill-equipped trains. The French are busy setting new speed records with their hi-tech trains.. we're just lucky if ours run at all. :rolleyes:
 
Surfer said:
UK rail network is a joke really... extortionate prices (cheaper to fly a lot of the time), dirty ill-equipped trains. The French are busy setting new speed records with their hi-tech trains.. we're just lucky if ours run at all. :rolleyes:
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I use the Virgin Cross-Country route (Exeter to Chesterfield, about 240 miles) and I've found it to be excellent. The trains are clean, with lots of legroom in standard and power points for laptops, decent luggage space and the service is reliable. I always book my tickets more than two weeks in advance and buy two singles. Ensures the price is around £45 for a return instead of £90.

I do agree that our network is behind that of other countries though, particularly where infrastructure is concerned. It's alright if you live in a city or town where there's a mainline, if not then travelling any distance involves getting a bus or driving to a station, all adding to journey time and cost.
 
train prices are a joke recently - your best off getting yourself a railcard for like.. £30 a yea ror somthing, then reap in the discounts...
or if you dont wanna do that, i found that coach services like National Express - very usefull, cheap, regular and ON TIME! =]

hope this helps, although id also like to rant about trains.
 
Young person rail card is £20 a year and you'll probably pay for it with the savings on your first trip. Recently renewed mine, 2 days before my 26th birthday :p

Book as far in advance as possible. The longer you leave it the fewer and fewer cheap tickets are avilable. Best value ever was London->Sheffield return (as 2 singles) for less than £10 (total cost, not each :eek: ) :)
 
bank holiday weekend and school holidays make train prices baaaad

its half the price for me to fly to london than to get the train this week :o
 
MTA99 said:
Young person rail card is £20 a year and you'll probably pay for it with the savings on your first trip. Recently renewed mine, 2 days before my 26th birthday :p

Book as far in advance as possible. The longer you leave it the fewer and fewer cheap tickets are avilable. Best value ever was London->Sheffield return (as 2 singles) for less than £10 (total cost, not each :eek: ) :)
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brilliant! shall have to get me one of them! i know they give great discounts, just never got round to getting one, can you apply online for one?

how does the savings work.. is it like a set % off every trip or doe sit depend on the distance travelled ?
 
Surfer said:
UK rail network is a joke really... extortionate prices (cheaper to fly a lot of the time), dirty ill-equipped trains. The French are busy setting new speed records with their hi-tech trains.. we're just lucky if ours run at all. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

The French have a 2 railway system. Yes, the high speed TGV network is very good, but if you look at other network, the commuter lines, its a completely different story.

We don't need a high speed rail network in this country, we need more capacity.
 
Fusion said:
I use the Virgin Cross-Country route (Exeter to Chesterfield, about 240 miles) and I've found it to be excellent. The trains are clean, with lots of legroom in standard and power points for laptops, decent luggage space and the service is reliable. I always book my tickets more than two weeks in advance and buy two singles. Ensures the price is around £45 for a return instead of £90.

I do agree that our network is behind that of other countries though, particularly where infrastructure is concerned. It's alright if you live in a city or town where there's a mainline, if not then travelling any distance involves getting a bus or driving to a station, all adding to journey time and cost.
Click to expand...

Well i mostly use Scotrail travelling about from aberdeen -edinburgh - glasgow - inverness areas etc. Trains are not clean. Toilets are either broken or disgusting, small seats, no power sockets (except in 1st class) Rarely do i come across a clean toilet (or where there was not something broken or not working in the toilet)... still it could be worse ive been in a Megabus toilet and lived :( They never put on enough carriages as well.... utter madness of lots of ppl crammed into too few carriages for 3 hours. And then of course if you book in advance and get a seat number you have to wade through the masses of ppl and hope the person sitting there will politely oblige by giving you the seat.

But anyway i digress; its very common up here for trains to be delayed. And frankly travelling from Aberdeen to Glasgow for £40 ish return isnt my idea of value for money. The further south i go the trains seem to get better though. GNER are better; bigger seats, power sockets in the standard rate sections dunno about the toilets though.

Cant really complain about megabus because at least you get what you pay for :D (uber cheap £1 odd ticket and dodgem bumper bus rides from hell haha)
 
Indie said:
brilliant! shall have to get me one of them! i know they give great discounts, just never got round to getting one, can you apply online for one?

how does the savings work.. is it like a set % off every trip or doe sit depend on the distance travelled ?
Click to expand...

A railcard gives a 33% discount on train fares, and you can apply online for them HERE

I go from Grantham to London (100 miles) and back every third Saturday, including next Saturday and it only costs me £21.20 for the return ticket, that includes a day travelcard for the london underground (2 singles for the same trian costs a lot more). I book my tickets between 2-3 weeks in advance and its always the same price. Because its with Hull Trains its already packed by the time it gets to Grantham so i dont get a seat but for that price, i'm not complaining. Two singles from Nottingham to London are as cheap as £18 total with Midland Mainline but the journey takes twice as long (2 hours).
 
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