Playing with trains/ HS2 & 3

[teamsaint]

silliness abounds on the system

I just booked from my a local station to London.

I can get a train at 8.58 which gets in to Waterloo at 10.20. If I book split tickets, splitting the journey at Basingstoke, I can do it for £9 cheaper than booking straight through.

Nonsense.

[Don Petter]

silliness abounds on the system

I just booked from my a local station to London.

I can get a train at 8.58 which gets in to Waterloo at 10.20. If I book split tickets, splitting the journey at Basingstoke, I can do it for £9 cheaper than booking straight through.

Nonsense.

Perhaps it's the other way round? They've found people are prepared to pay £9 to avoid having to experience Basingstoke.

[Dave2002]

silliness abounds on the system

I just booked from my a local station to London.

I can get a train at 8.58 which gets in to Waterloo at 10.20. If I book split tickets, splitting the journey at Basingstoke, I can do it for £9 cheaper than booking straight through.

Nonsense.

Perhaps because the train leaves Basingstoke after 9.30am. Can you stay on the train?

We used to have a very friendly and helpful ticket office man, who would give us tips about which intermediate stations gave the best overall reduction on the way into Waterloo.

[teamsaint]

Perhaps because the train leaves Basingstoke after 9.30am. Can you stay on the train?

We used to have a very friendly and helpful ticket office man, who would give us tips about which intermediate stations gave the best overall reduction on the way into Waterloo.

all at the click of a mouse these days , Dave.

http://www.splityourticket.co.uk/

enjoy !!

[AmpH]

The potential benefits of split ticketing have been known for some time - I've saved a lot of money over the years - the basic rule is that the train must stop at the station(s) where the split tickets occur, eg Basingstoke in ts's example above. Not long ago I saved around £ 20 on a day trip to Bristol Temple Meades from my local station, simply by buying split tickets.

[Dave2002]

all at the click of a mouse these days , Dave.

http://www.splityourticket.co.uk/

enjoy !!

Thanks. Another thing which works sometimes is to change the destination station. Example, travelling to the outskirts of Sheffield. Look for a fare to Sheffield - no cheap trains - cheapest ticket around £60. Now try Chesterfield, and the price might just drop considerably, so arrange to be picked up there instead.

Perhaps the split your ticket site does take most of the work out of this kind of work around, but sometimes one has to be really determined to get a cheap ticket, and even determination doesn't always deliver the goods.

[vinteuil]

I remember when London to Bude was cheaper than London to Exeter. The London to Bude trip consisted of - a train to Exeter, followed by a substitute coach Exeter - Bude ...

[teamsaint]

Silly.

and its often possible to buy an advance for Southampton to Waterloo at 6.30 AM cheaper if you buy a ticket to Norwich via Waterloo, rather than just to Waterloo. ( same train).

[Dave2002]

Silly.

and its often possible to buy an advance for Southampton to Waterloo at 6.30 AM cheaper if you buy a ticket to Norwich via Waterloo, rather than just to Waterloo. ( same train).

Love that one! Good job that they probably don't check at Waterloo.

In Sweden some trains which go to Stockholm stop at Arlanda - the airport. Tickets to the airport may cost more than tickets to Stockholm, but (a) you're not supposed to get off there if you have a ticket to Stockholm and (b) if you do, and get caught, you have to pay extra.

[teamsaint]

ok, can anybody explain why it costs £8.90 to add a London transport travel card to an off peak ticket for a train from Salisbury that arrives in London at 10.19, but only costs £4.50 to add it for an off peak ticket, on the same train, from Basingstoke?

[teamsaint]

more ticketing nonsense.

I might want to get a train from Salisbury, the 8.47, that gets into Waterloo at 10.19.

Cheapest way is an off peak travel card,£52.70 or possibly split the fare at Basingstoke, ( 16.20 plus 27.50 = £43.70) right?

wrong.

the cheapest way is to buy an off peak travel card from Clifton Down in Bristol, £37.50,for travel via Salisbury and just travel from Salisbury.

And I have checked with an expert... there are no rules to prevent this .

Bonkers.

[Dave2002]

I don't know whether this is good news - http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/...ine/ar-BBg2LN9 or not.

[AmpH]

I don't know whether this is good news - http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/...ine/ar-BBg2LN9 or not.

Oh great - now we are going to get their cramped badly designed trains on the East Coast as well !

I am however delighted for future Leeds - bound passengers who it seems are going to get some really sooper dooper fast trains - see third para from the end.

" Stagecoach and Virgin have pledged to cut journey times between London and Leeds to 14 minutes ............ " WOW !!

[MrGongGong]

I don't know whether this is good news - http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/...ine/ar-BBg2LN9 or not.

Its BAD news.
As many have pointed out, the state run East Coast makes a profit and is one of the best railway services in the country.
It proves that state ownership can work well if done properly BUT apparently that's not what we need, so lets give it all away to a bus company

I'm not a capitalist (i'm NOT a Marxist either Scotty) but this seems to be bad business sense and driven by dogma.

[Serial_Apologist]

more ticketing nonsense.

I might want to get a train from Salisbury, the 8.47, that gets into Waterloo at 10.19.

Cheapest way is an off peak travel card,£52.70 or possibly split the fare at Basingstoke, ( 16.20 plus 27.50 = £43.70) right?

wrong.

the cheapest way is to buy an off peak travel card from Clifton Down in Bristol, £37.50,for travel via Salisbury and just travel from Salisbury.

And I have checked with an expert... there are no rules to prevent this .

Bonkers.

You could always lose weight by walking from Salisbury to Bristol to pick up the ticket, then try reclaiming the costs in shoe repair, I suppose...