Quote:
Originally Posted by Barewolf
Hi Shaun, thanks for that. I will have a look at the times and stops and see how much i can save.
I am 31 and my GF is 23 so i dont know if i can get a railcard, and my GF is the one that travels anyway.
---------- Post added at 20:24 ---------- Previous post was at 20:19 ----------
Shaun does it have to be a single 1 way ticket or is it going to be cheaper if i do it this way?
Euston to Birmingham - Return
Birmingham to Manchester - Return
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Firstly I know this is long but stick with it – hopefully it’ll save you a few quid.
Your GF can get a Young Persons Rail Card (YP card) (until her 25th birthday – valid until her 26th) which instantly knocks off 1/3 of the cost*.
The reason I talked about singles is that they are the main cheap tickets that are around.
It's rather complicated (more than it needs to be). Basically you have two flavors of tickets on the railway. Walk on fares (WO) or advance purchase (AP) tickets.
Lets start with AP tickets. They are single only tickets that are made available 3 months in advance from A to B – they are off peak tickets. These tickets are like airline tickets – they are ONLY VALID ON THE ONE TRAIN. If you miss your train you have lost your ticket.
Most of the big train companies** issue these tickets but they are limited and issued on a first come, first serve basis. As an example you can buy a single from Leicester to London for £6*** (3.95 with a YP card) traveling with Midland Mainline (MML). Each MML train during the off peak has a quota of these single tickets available. There are also singles available at other prices and basically you’d buy the cheapest one available.
With these tickets you can mix and match them so you could pick London to Sheffield – Sheffield to Manchester and then come back on a Manchester to Leicester – Leicester to London ticket****. If you did this you would be traveling on exactly the same train on exactly the same route, possibly the same seat but paying for tickets to different intermediary stations.
The golden rule is: As long as your train physically stops at the station where your tickets change over there is no problem with you mixing and matching tickets.
The other flavour of tickets are walk on fares. Don’t let the name confuse you, they are available in advance just like the AP tickets but the discount isn’t as much if any.
Basically this sort of fare is split into two sorts of tickets. Open tickets that are valid on any time train and via most routes (some exclude via London but as you’re starting or ending there you’d not need worry about this) are the most expensive. An open single is valid on any train on the day stated on it. An Open return is slightly different – the outward portion is valid on the date printed on it but the return is valid for any train back over the next thirty days. These are the most flexible tickets and you pay for it.
The other sort of WO ticket is the Saver. This sort is just like the Open tickets in that the outward is valid on the date printed and the return is valid for thirty days. However these tickets are off peak tickets not valid during the rush hours in the moring or evening. Depending on which company you travel with the restriction vary and you’d need to check with them. Again though if the trainline will sell you one of these it’s valid for the time you are looking up. If you get on a rush hour train with this ticket expect a very annoyed train manager as they’ll need to excess your ticket to the highest price ticket –this can add up to £100 to your ticket!
It’s all rather complicated but if you remember there are two main sorts – AP and WO with AP being the discounted sort and WO being the expensive tickets you’ll be o.k.
In addition there are other discounted tickets like the 4some that are available but differ from company to company – just to confuse matter even more!
Lets compare some prices for you so you can understand it better than I can explain in writing.
I’m assuming you’re going to get your girlfriend a YP card (costs £20) in these calculations. All prices include the 1/3 discount
If you buy a WO
Open return fare from Manchester to London this Friday going back on Sunday with YP discount it’ll cost you £133.30
With this Ticket you’d be able to
travel at any time there and the same back.
If you buy a
Saver return then it’ll cost you £37.70
With this ticket you’ll
not be able to leave Manchester until after 9.30 but will be able to
return any time on Sunday.
If you could find an
AP single ticket each way (which you won’t as it’s December) it would cost you two lots of £8.25. So your total for an AP ticket would be £16.50
With this ticket you’d be
limited to the specific trains on the ticket and you’d have to buy another ticket if you missed the train. These tickets (when not sold out) are
only available on trains after 9.30am.
As AP tickets for direct trains have sold out you could look at splitting the tickets at say Leicester or Sheffield****. These would cost you (if available) £3.95 for each leg of the journey the total for four singles would be £15.80
As these are split AP tickets you are still bound to travel on the train specified or your ticket isn’t valid.
Now I’ve not checked how many, if any, of these AP tickets (WO are always available) are available but they do serve to illustrate the purpose.
If I was you I’d get my other half a YP card and instantly save 1/3 on the fare they are currently paying and then look at the AP tickets that are available in the near future for them.
It may help if you download the route maps and timetable for the train companies that you are looking at so you can try different permutations of the AP tickets to get some that are available. Then once you know what routed to try just plug the dates and time into one of the train companies sites (I recommend MML as they have the most reasonable customer relations team that I have come across) with different routes and see what you get. Just remember the golden rule – your train must stop at the station where your tickets meet.
Once you get proficient in this you can look at other more advanced ways to pay the system – take a look
here for details on how to beat the WO ticket system.
*some services before 10.30 are exempt but you'll find the Trainline will show you only valid tickets.
**Virgin, GNER, Midland Mainline, Transpennine Express……..
***Prices are going up in the new year this one is going up to £7 or £4.60 with a YP
****I only picked this route as I know it inside out but you could apply the same logic to London to Stafford – Stafford to Manchester and come back on a Manchester to Birmingham – Birmingham to London (or vice versa if you’re traveling in the opposite direction)
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