Train Ticket Prices !!!!!!

[gatesmr2]

Wonder if anyone knows of a way to get a cheaper ticket !!!!

Remember hearing on the news a little while ago about buying a train ticket in advance is cheaper, ok would expect it to be a little cheaper but :shock:
I need to go to Leeds from peterborough for the day so a return ticket
To book it for this week it's £49 for next month it's £19 :evil:

I know rail card would make it cheaper but i wouldn't use it enough maybe twice a year if i'm lucky also it takes time to get and i need to go this week, just can't understand how it can be a full £30 more. :?
By car with the price of petrol i'm guessing about £35 plus i would have to park in town so not much difference the thing that gets me is how can they justify being over twice the damn price and i'm not talking peak times either.
Ok rant over and if i hadn't heard about it i doubt if i would have checked for an advance ticket, but i have a normal life and find it difficult to plan a month in advance don't know about the rest of you but next week is about as far as i go.

Martin

 

[RogerS]

Just consider yourself lucky.

On our line (FGW - Hereford to Paddington) there is no opportunity to advance book and save money. Well...not the last ten times I looked!

 

[wizer]

Tell me 'bout it.

Mr Public Transport gets £1800 of my hard (hard-ish) earned each year

 

[Blister]

How about trying the National Express bus service , cheap

I have used them lots of times :lol:

 

[mr]

Just got back from the father in laws in Southport, two adults and a child with a family railcard - £163 for which you get packed trains, reserved seats double booked on the way up and seemingly not booked at all on the way back cos the train computer system was broken, in carriage "entertainment" from the family from hell with their 100 bags and two dogs, kicking lumps out of each other and effing and blinding for a seven hour trip. Never again. It's cheaper, easier, more convenient and more comfortable to drive.

Cheers Mike

 

[Harbo]

With my Senior rail card you used to be able to travel on SWT to London "Off Peak" catching the 09:05 to arrive at Waterloo just after 10:00 for £18 instead of the £44 full fare. Allowing nearly a full day there?
They have now introduced another "off peak band" in between which means you now have to arrive in London after 12:00 noon to get the cheapest fare!! :evil:

Rod

 

[skipdiver]

I use trains a lot and if you are smart you can get tickets a lot cheaper.For instance,on wednesday i am going to Liverpool.The standard return fare is £40.10 but i managed to get the same route for £23.40 by breaking it down into single journeys as such.Home to Manchester,one way £9.00.Manchester to Liverpool,one way £4.40 and Liverpool to home £10.00.Could have gone to Manchester then home but it worked out cheaper to go direct.The trick is to book as far ahead as poss,try not to travel at peak times and always check all options.It's a crazy system,sometimes it's cheaper to buy a return ticket for a single journey.The only stipulation wih advanced tickets is you have to travel at the times stated or get charged more on the train.Make sure any changes will leave enough time to get to the next train if said train is running late.

There are four of us going and i now have 12 tickets and 12 seat reservation tickets.24 tickets in total but a grand saving of £66.80 between the four of us.

There is very good article on this topic at moneysavingexpert.com.

 

[Majorlarf]

Have you tried your local tourist information centre?

It is cheaper for us to buy tickets to go from Bedford to London, from there than what it is to buy tickets from Bedford train station to London :?

 

[Losos]

Just got back from the father in laws in Southport, two adults and a child with a family railcard - £163 for which you get packed trains, reserved seats double booked on the way up and seemingly not booked at all on the way back cos the train computer system was broken, in carriage "entertainment" from the family from hell with their 100 bags and two dogs, kicking lumps out of each other and effing and blinding for a seven hour trip. Never again. It's cheaper, easier, more convenient and more comfortable to drive.

Cheers Mike

Mike, like you I have occassionaly used the train but always regret it, I just can't understand what everyone is going on about public transport, it's crap, it always has been crap, and all of the things you mention are forever happening so please government ministers and ECO warriers just accept that traveling by train is fraught with frustration and annoyance just like Mike said!! (And air travel now is not much better)

 

[wizer]

Article in the paper today said that a recent report reveals that commuters are not happy with train journeys.... :idea:

 

[davegw]

Mike, like you I have occassionaly used the train but always regret it, I just can't understand what everyone is going on about public transport, it's crap, it always has been crap,

I'm a commuter, I have trvelled by public transport to work all of my working life (which is now 24 years) I've one Buses, Tubes and Trains.

Around the middle of the eighties and in the very early nineties Losos' quote would have been completely justified, but the facts of the matter are that our transport system is much improved, and getting better.

My rail service from the east midlands to London is rarely seriously delayed, and when it is, it is normally something outsode of the train companies control (currently the biggest problem seems to be people stealing the copper from the signal wiring)

and the Tubes had improved a hell of a lot before I moved away in 2000.

if you want to bash britain please feel free to do so, but pick a better target - like the amount of money we spend on all transport, including the roads - my suspension gets a real bashing whenever I drive anywhere.

 

[lurker]

My Mrs & her friend are going to USA so need to get from Loughborough to Thiefrow.

They go in September, train/tube tickets from Lough station though to terminal 5 are already £124 each return. They will need to get the 6.30 am train, thus leave home at just gone 6am.

The local taxi firm have quoted £120 each way (ie £8 less) door to door. And have said if it matches another pick up / collect they will reduce further. They will need to leave home at 7.30 even allowing for an extra 45 mins for road hold ups. No bags to carry.

Now let me think??? will they let the train take the strain??

 

[Paul Chapman]

Around the middle of the eighties and in the very early nineties Losos' quote would have been completely justified, but the facts of the matter are that our transport system is much improved, and getting better.

Well, I was a commuter, travelling to London every day for over 40 years, using rail and underground, and it only ever got worse. The service is now so bad that, since retiring, I avoid travelling to London unless it's absolutely essential.

The only part of it that was any good was a very short period when I used a boat service on the Thames from Westminster to Docklands. That was when our organisation moved to Docklands and the Jubilee line extension hadn't been finished. The boat service was great and I can never understand why that has never been incorporated into the London public transport network. The costs for the operators to offer a commuter service on the Thames are prohibitive and, without some sort of subsidy, simply not viable.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[wizer]

Between my missus and I, we are severely delayed at least 3 times a week. Maybe I should move to the East Midlands!

 

[mr]

but the facts of the matter are that our transport system is much improved, and getting better.

In my experience public transport services in this country have deteriorated hugely over the last twenty years. This based on 15 years of commuting into London and up and down the country. Five and a bit years ago I moved from London to Devon where they are almost non existent and those that there are are disappearing at an alarming rate.

Cheers Mike

 

[RogerM]

This was my son's experience just recently

http://funkinl.blogspot.com/2008/06/rus ... irgin.html

My wife also had to travel from Preston back to Plymouth by public transport. As she was unable to book in advance (family crisis), a single on the train was £104 for a journey of 300 miles lasting over 6 hours. She therefore got her brother-in-law to run her to Manchester airport about 35 miles away and caught a Flybe flight to Exeter (about 40 miles from home) where I was able to pick her up. Cost? £45.90 inc all taxes, and time door to door about 4 hours, of which 1 hour was the drive to Manchester, 1 hour waiting at the airport, 1 hour in the air and 1 hour to drive home.

Likewise a recent trip to London would have been £32.50 each way by train, so I used a National Express coach which took an extra hour but cost just £14. I will only use a train as a last resort, or if someone else is paying AND so long as time is not critical as the ones I ever travel on are invariably late!

 

[skipdiver]

The public transport system in this country is a joke compared to the more enlightened in the rest of Europe.Trains are way too expensive.I can't believe they haven't spotted an opportunity with the current fuel prices and tried to lure more peole away from their cars with cheaper fares and better services.

Having said all this,i love train travel.I am ging to Liverpool tomorrow and the thought of going on the M62 fills me with dread.Last time i did,going past Leeds was an accident waiting to happen.People travelling nose to tail at 70mph or more.Cars and lorries weaving in and out.Not a pleasureable experience in my view and if i never go on a motorway again it will be too soon.Alas,we seem to be a nation obsessed with car travel.More's the pity i say.

 

[Paul Chapman]

I can't believe they haven't spotted an opportunity with the current fuel prices and tried to lure more peole away from their cars with cheaper fares and better services.

Yes, well that's what Old Two Jags was supposed to be doing 11 years ago when he said he was going to get us all off the roads by improving public transport - and what a lot of our punative taxation was supposed to be spent on. We're still waiting........and paying.........don't hold your breath..........

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[skipdiver]

I'm not.I have seen much improvement in the railways but the government aren't responsible for it.Virgin trains are smart for instance,just wish we didn't have to pay as much.We should have capped fares like they do in Belgium and France.Definitely not holding my breath.

 

[Losos]

if you want to bash britain please feel free to do so, but pick a better target - like the amount of money we spend on all transport, including the roads - my suspension gets a real bashing whenever I drive anywhere.

Not 'bashing Britain in particular Dave just pointing out that train travel, even when everything runs to time, the seats are clean & comfortable, and the price is reasonable, the one thing no one can control is the other passengers - the drunk, the bad language, the teenage trouble maker, the list is almost endless.

I've only made a few train journeys on the continent but I've still had my journey spoiled by people who I wouldn't ever consider sitting down next to if I could avoid it, that's the main reason I like my car, I only take the passengers I like :lol:

Oh BTW if your suspension is suffering on British roads don't ever drive in Eastern Europe (where I temporaily live). We have pot holes bigger than my cars wheel :roll: