Isn't occasional rail travel

[vernon]

why are you coming to portsmouth?
Will you be long?
Am I safe?
Where can I buy planks of wood and nails?

Relax.

Just passing through.

You're safe.

Will be spending about an hour there between getting off the train and leaving for St. Malo - enough time for mischief and mayhem but I want to arrive fresh in France

 

[Fnaar]

Chuffin 'eck!

 

[zimzum42]

I rarely know when I will be travelling in advance, and as such, it's always cheaper and easier to drive...

 

[dav1d]

a bargain?

I've just purchased a Leeds to Portsmouth single for £31. Admittedly it's for mid-July and when combined with a Portsmouth - St. Malo ferry crossing, I'll still have change from a £100.

I'll be better organised for my pedal from Kings Cross to Waterloo this time. I got on the Portsmouth train with only a minute to spare last year.

Not used trains very often, I hate taking bikes on them. Though I did have to get one from Greenfield after cycling to Holmfirth, as I was getting so lost, I went miles the wrong way, fortunately someone gave me a map they'd finished with and I made it in the end. Unfortunately, my legs couldn't cope with the return journey, and as a passed Greenfield station, I considered getting the train, decided not to, cycled a bit, then decided there was no way my legs could make it, so cycled back to Greenfield and got the train to Manchester Victoria for £2.

 

[vernon]

Bargain number two. The day after I get back from a 1200 mile cycle tours that starts with bargain railfare number one, I now will be taking advantage of bargain railfare number two - £13 single to Edinburgh from Leeds to join a school trip that has bee brought forwards by a day...

I don't benefit from this price as my school is picking up the tab but my school was so taken aback by the price that they've agreed to fund the £8 meal voucher that had £10 spending power at the on train buffet.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Not so much, no... Turn up and go fares are anything but.

We AREN'T talking about turn and go fares though (that said, yes, they can be stupidly expensive)

Popular routes even worse, since you can so rarely get any of the cheap tickets before you go. .

Coventry to London?, advance?? I don't beleive that for a moment.

I can get from Glasgow to London quite cheaply (less than £20) either through the VT website or being prepared to travel at an anti - social time of day.

Oh and THAT is a popular route .... well, South of about Carlisle anyway

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

NO!

The price includes lots of farting about and advance notice.

In the real world (turn up and buy a ticket for the next train) the same journey is £104.10.

I once had to travel up from London Kings Cross to Glasgow at short notice and was raped for £89.
My wallet was in Intensive care for a few days!

That said, I'd have waited and got the sleeper instead (I know the fares better on that and know what to ask for), but it wasn't running that night. Typical!).

Two people in first class (more like the comfort of my car) will have to pay a total of £388.00 to do that on the next available train. Plus £10 in taxi at each end to get you to where you come from in Leeds and want to get to in Portsmouth.

Yes but only posh idiots with more money than sense travel first class (unless there is a special offfer, such as the £15 weeekend upgrade Virgin do, or, someone else, (i.e. a company) is paying).

I would normally never DREAM of asking for a first class ticket.

 

[vernon]

NO!

The price includes lots of farting about and advance notice.

In the real world (turn up and buy a ticket for the next train) the same journey is £104.10.

Two people in first class (more like the comfort of my car) will have to pay a total of £388.00 to do that on the next available train. Plus £10 in taxi at each end to get you to where you come from in Leeds and want to get to in Portsmouth.

You clearly live in a different world to me.

There was no farting about - I simply bought the chapest ticket that got me to my destination at a required time on a required date. I catch the trains specified on the tickets - a simple act in my mind.

I never mentioned turn up and buy prices. Yes they are expensive but a little bit of forward planning shaves a fortune of the prices.

Try it you might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[skrx]

What annoys me most is the price disparity between single and return tickets.

For instance, a single ticket from London to Leicester is £47 or £65 (off-peak/peak). A return is £48 or £118 (off-peak/peak). Why is the off-peak return only £1 more than the off-peak single?

Quite often I'd like to combine a non-flexible Advance ticket (say, £10) with a flexible off-peak single ticket back, but even though I'd be choosing a specific train for one part of my journey its more expensive than buying a flexible off-peak return!

 

[swee'pea99]

My sister once got into a surreal argument with a woman on the phone who was determined not to sell her a return ticket (cheaper than a single) on the grounds that 'you're not actually planning to use the return part are you?' My sister was saying things like 'what's that to you?' and 'what if I was planning to, but then had a change of plan?' but the woman wasn't having any. My sister enjoyed the farce for a few minutes, then got bored, hung up, rang back and bought a cheap return.