Any - Driving / parking v's train | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Mon 26 Sep 2016 21:53

Any - Driving / parking v's train - nick62

I will be going to the NEC in Birmingham later this week and the train is a better option than the car due to congestion and parking costs, (motoring link).

I have to change trains twice, but this is no big deal as the connections are very easy, the NEC station is ideal and my local station is only 100 yards away from my front door!

If I turn-up at the railway station on the day the fare will be £76.90 return.

I can book an advanced return for £48.70 which is conveniently timed.

I have just jumped through a dozen or so hoops on-line and booked EXACTLY the same trains as the advanced fare, (but splitting the tickets) for £24.70.

A quick Google also saved me the £2.50 booking fee.

Why oh why is our privatised railway system so convoluted? And why do us taxpayers subsidise private companies which pay-out a dividend?

Rant over.

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Mon 26 Sep 2016 22:00

Any - Driving / parking v's train - gordonbennet

Well played Nick, station reckoned to be closer than most of the well overpriced parking at NEC too.

Now for those of us who use the train only irregularly and never manage to nab these bargan fares anyway, would you please be kind enough to give the likes of me a few pointers how and where to find these bargains and avoid the booking fee charges as the icing on the cake.

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Mon 26 Sep 2016 22:13

Any - Driving / parking v's train - nick62

GB -

Try the journey in its entirelty - as a return.

Then do the same, but as two singles.

Then spilt it up into the individual legs, (assuming the journey uses more than one train operator).

Also try more than one train booking website as some are more intuitive than others and there are plenty to choose from.

I Googled "booking a train without booking fees" and one that normally charges £2.50 booking plus extra again for a credit card payment was totally free via a MoneySavingExpert link.

Warning - you may go mad if you don't have a spare hour to do it!

Edit - Book at least 48 hours in advance for the best fares.

Edited by nick62 on 26/09/2016 at 22:14

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Mon 26 Sep 2016 22:19

Any - Driving / parking v's train - gordonbennet

Many thanks for that Nick, will save that for when the time is right, hope the day is enjoyable and you can have a crafty pint as no driving at all.

Edited by gordonbennet on 26/09/2016 at 22:22

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Mon 26 Sep 2016 22:28

Any - Driving / parking v's train - nick62

............ a crafty pint as no driving at all.

Icing on the cake GB :)

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Tue 27 Sep 2016 08:47

Any - Driving / parking v's train - Tester

I'm not really a train user so have not tried it myself, but I've read about a website called splitticketing.co.uk that is supposed to be good at finding these cheaper fares by buying several tickets for one journey. Apparently the only restriction on split ticketing is that the train you travel on must actually stop at the places where you have 'split' the journey. So, for example, you couldn't buy tickets for London-Doncaster and Doncaster-York and then travel on a non-stop London-York (if such a thing exists).

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Tue 27 Sep 2016 09:21

Any - Driving / parking v's train - daveyjp

Another anomaly is some tickets are cheaper when the journey is booked from the destination station.

i.e. if you want to go say York to Doncaster check the fare for Doncaster to York as well.

You may then end up doing the return leg before the outward leg!

Edited by daveyjp on 27/09/2016 at 09:23

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Tue 27 Sep 2016 09:26

Any - Driving / parking v's train - catsdad

There are various websites that claim to work out best split options for you.

The company I used to work for insisted we book splits to save money. I didn't mind that but I did object to their requiring me to wait another hour at the end of a long day in the Smoke for off peak to kick in. Just another thing I don't miss about work!

The only minor issue I have come across with using splits is with seat reservations. I used to only reserve the first leg as guards on the particular line only seem to put one reservation card per seat on the seats at the beginning of the train's whole trip so once you are in it, it's yours. However on a couple of occasions I had to move when someone came on after my first leg with a reservation for the same seat.

It was a rare occurrence so I never bothered to reserve a seat for every part but for a long trip it's worth making the effort if you don't want to do a Corbyn.

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Tue 27 Sep 2016 09:57

Any - Driving / parking v's train - ExA35Owner

This doesn't have all that much to do with privatisation. These different fares apparently always existed, but without internet search systems were exceedingly difficult to find out about. Split ticketing does work but there may be another restriction - that the tickets are for a specific train rather than for any train. So always worth checking. And of course the adage, "The price of something is what someone is prepared to pay for it" applies, which is why walk-up tickets are usually more expensive.

The system by which the ticket machines at stations dispense the tickets bought online is very helpful. Advice from one ticket inspector - always make sure you have picked up all the tickets, as often the machine prints several. He said he'd come across many situations when the passenger had only picked up one, which might have been a seat reservation for the return journey, and was left without a valid ticket.

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Tue 27 Sep 2016 11:08

Any - Driving / parking v's train - barney100

Train tickets are very confusing but if you take time you can save a bomb. Railcards help too.

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Tue 27 Sep 2016 12:15

Any - Driving / parking v's train - RickyBoy

Aye... a Senior Railcard gets me from MK to Birmingham NS for £5.30 (return) if booked around 3-weeks ahead, and that's on the Virgin Flyer!

Throw in the FREE coffee & bun (whenever I have a voucher) at John Lewis on arrival and that equals a very cheap day out for a general stroll, art gallery or whatever...

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Wed 28 Sep 2016 02:03

Any - Driving / parking v's train - Warning

I would n't have a moan, because the people paying full fare are paying for you. It took you a lot effort to get the deal.

It is not different to booking a holiday. You can book independent flights, transfer and hotels seperatly versus a packags... sometimes there are savings and sometimes there are n't....

Now if anyone can figure out to get me a good deal on the Portsmouth to Santander, Spain ferry....

Edited by Warning on 28/09/2016 at 02:05

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Wed 28 Sep 2016 20:34

Any - Driving / parking v's train - nick62

Another crazy anomaly which handicaps the north, is the disparity with fares to/from London.

If I book in advance to travel to Euston (from Liverpool), I can arrive in London for 9 a.m. and return at 4 p.m. for £179 return, (normal price £312). However, if as a Londoner I need to do the opposite return journey at the same times, it only costs £74, which is quite a handy 60% saving for the southerners.

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Thu 29 Sep 2016 09:14

Any - Driving / parking v's train - ExA35Owner

This is the effect of rush hour commuting. Lines, stations and rolling stock are needed for the rush hour but are much less employed during the off-peak. So pricing reflects the demand for travel into London in the morning rush hour and encourages people to make their journeys off-peak. If demand were roughly constant throughout the day, less rolling stock, fewer staff would be needed and overall costs would be lowered.

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Thu 29 Sep 2016 18:15

Any - Driving / parking v's train - concrete

Well done nick. Some good advice for travellers. Here in Kent we use South East Trains. Some weekdays(off peak) and most weekends they offer a 4 ticket return to Charing Cross, about an hours journey, for £35 complete. That is £8.75 each, return for 4 people travelling together. Not bad when SWMBO and her sister decide they need some retail therapy and me and the BiL get dragged along too.

Cheers Concrete

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