Railway travel in the UK

[337]

If you have a railcard you get a third off.

 

[Swanaldo]

It may be possible to reduce that further by 'splitting the tickets' at somewhere like Birmingham New Street.

This is precisely the problem. The prices should be simple, and the customer shouldn't have to do all the 'legwork'.

Is it too simplistic a view to suggest that it should be x
amount per mile, regardless of time, geography or any other arcane force that seems to govern rail ticket pricing???

 

[shabbashaz]

As Robbie would say, let me entertain you.

I wish someone would........

 

[Red and White Zider]

Earlier today, or yesterday as it now is, i went to St Davids to buy a return from Bristol Temple Meads to Manchester Piccadilly, travelling on Monday.

The cost of a return from Temple Meads was £118.00.

£118 is a peak fare ticket with no restrictions

£65.10 is the off peak fare ticket with restrictions

If you are planning on leaving BTM first thing in the morning then yes its the peak time ticket im afraid. Are you planning on going up and back in a day Log?

 

[LOG]

£118 is a peak fare ticket with no restrictions

£65.10 is the off peak fare ticket with restrictions

If you are planning on leaving BTM first thing in the morning then yes its the peak time ticket im afraid. Are you planning on going up and back in a day Log?

I am coming back the same day and probably travelling in the most expensive way (peak time, open return, ticket only bought a couple of days before travel). Fortunately, i'm not paying for it.

It just seems to make no sense to me that by starting the journey from St Davids at an off peak time, the whole journey becomes cheaper than starting it at an on peak time from a point nearer the destination.

I guess the same reason explains the situation travelling from Temple Meads to Paddington that i posted earlier? This splitting of the tickets almost halved the cost of that journey. Problem is though that i've paid full price several times because i didn't know that this was how it worked and it was only when the person in the ticket office mentioned it that i knew it was possible.

 

[Mike Blackstone]

It is called knowing your way around the system. Something fortunately I have done for several years, hence the extremely cheap first class tickets to Edinburgh (see earlier post). And honestly, it is easy to do.

A couple of months back I obtained some return tickets for a friend of ours in her sixties who wanted to travel from Lancaster to Oban with a railcard and then onto the Caledonian MacBrayne service to the isle of Coll. She was so pleased with how cheap it proved to be that I got a couple of bottles of beer for my troubles! She reckons I am now her 'official' travel organiser for the future.

 

[Jim Shepherd]

It is called knowing your way around the system

Then, quite frankly, the system is wrong.
If a can of beans in the supermarket is 50p I don't have to rummage around at the back of the shelf to find exactly the same thing cheaper.

Charging different prices for identical services should be illegal.

 

[LOG]

It is called knowing your way around the system. Something fortunately I have done for several years, hence the extremely cheap first class tickets to Edinburgh (see earlier post). And honestly, it is easy to do.

I'm certainly learning!

I guess that given the size of the network, setting ticket prices is a complicated business but my issue is that it's devoid of any logic. I only knew about the reduced price from Temple Meads to Paddington because someone in the ticket office mentioned it (the previous several times i'd done the journey, they hadn't though) and now i have a ticket from St Davids to Piccadilly but will be getting on the train at Temple Meads.

 

[Swanaldo]

£118 is a peak fare ticket with no restrictions

£65.10 is the off peak fare ticket with restrictions

If you are planning on leaving BTM first thing in the morning then yes its the peak time ticket im afraid. Are you planning on going up and back in a day Log?

Why is it more expensive at peak times? It's stupid pricing structures like this that will keep me firmly in my car.

 

[shabbashaz]

Cos if people have no choice, but to travel at these times, then they will have to pay this price. Not right by any means, but it's the way they've done it for years.

Although if I did need any advice about times and prices, I normally ask RaWZ. Obviously, not everyone has that luxury. But he is always very helpful