Train ticket prices. WTF?

[PHmember]

OK, just had to book a train back from Liverpool to Newton Abbot for the end of October, the pricing system is a joke, look at these prices (& please remember that they are for EXACTLY the same trains, booked on EXACTLY the same website).

All prices are for First Class:

Liverpool to Newton Abbot (All on 1 ticket) (Change at Stafford): £227.00

OR:

Liverpool to Stafford: £8.50
Stafford to Newton Abbot: £41.00

Total= £49.50

So, how the h3ll do the trains companies justify these price discrepancies? EXACTLY the same trains, BOTH in First Class, I would be in exactly the same seats, but if I book the journey on 1 ticket as opposed to splitting the journey onto 2 tickets it will cost me £177.50 more. WTF is going on?

[Nickyboy]

I did the same, went from Reading to Camborne, would have cost £87. Instead i bought a ticket from Reading to Bristol for £7 and one from Bristol to Camborne for £16. Both first class.

[FourWheelDrift]

It would probably be cheaper to fly from Liverpool to Exeter and get a friend to pick you up as well

[TheEnd]

I think that's one reason why people dislike rail travel, as you always get the feeling you've been scammed somewhere.

The whole pricing system has grown into a monster.

[tonym911]

Friend of mine with a Southampton ticket got off one stop BEFORE Southampton and was charged £14 extra for not staying on the train all the way to Southampton.

[PHmember]

FourWheelDrift said:

It would probably be cheaper to fly from Liverpool to Exeter and get a friend to pick you up as well

Does any airline actually fly from Exeter to Liverpool? I thought the nearest airport with a Liverpool route was Southampton.

Edited by PHmember on Friday 17th September 23:25

[dugt]

Train ticket prices baffle me.

London to Brighton, turn up and buy one, its about £26.
Book 4 days in advance and its more like £10
Book 4 days in advance and go off peak and its £3.50.


London to Rosslaire.
Train to Fishguard about £90
Ferry from fishguard to rosslaire about £50

Buy train ticket and ferry ticket together, for the same ferry and same trains, £32.


Iw ould love to be in the meetings where they pick the prices. Do they just get drunk and pick out random numbers?

[FourWheelDrift]

PHmember said:

FourWheelDrift said:

It would probably be cheaper to fly from Liverpool to Exeter and get a friend to pick you up as well

Does any airline actually fly from Exeter to Liverpool? I thought the nearest airport with a Liverpool route was Southampton.

Edited by PHmember on Friday 17th September 23:25

Well, Liverpool to Southampton, change and fly on to Exeter would still be cheaper. And faster

Ps. FlyBlink will do a direct Liverpool to Exeter for a single person at whatever time they want by personal jet air taxi for £3,935.08

[Simpo Two]

Baffles me too. I rang British Rail but there was no answer... Luckily a neighbour works for a rail company and he showed me how to do it. Essex to Wales and back - £33! (hell of journey though, about five different trains. Will take the car next time.)

[Simpo Two]

Scrap the lot and put it back to BR I say; there are far too many pockets being filled. Don't care who runs it as long as it's well run.

Edited by Simpo Two on Saturday 18th September 08:34

[Truckosaurus]

When I was a youth down in Weymouth there used to be a strange fellow who worked in the 'travel centre' of the local station. He seemed to know the whole national timetable and prices off by heart.

With Weymouth being a touristy place there were several 'secret' special fares that could be had to places like Bristol or Birmingham where a few trains a week were dirt cheap, having been added for a promotion in years gone by and never taken off the books. The old boy in the office knew when they were so would advise accordingly, I suspect even with full access to the pricing computer you'd not find them yourself.

If someone could come up with a website that could find you the cheap combinations of tickets for long journeys they'd make a fortune.

[Funkateer]

Simpo Two said:

Scrap the lot and put it back to BR I say; there are far too many pockets being filled. Don't care who runs it as long as it's well run.

Easily done when a franchise comes up for renewal. Also a no-brainer as it takes advantage of the new modern rolling stock from the privatisation era.

[Nicholas Blair]

Yup, total joke.

Longniddry - Milton Keynes £101.50, yet split the journey, Longniddry-Edinburgh £3.40, Edi- MKNES £32.00.

Mental.

[Martyn-123]

If you can plan ahead and book exactly 12 weeks to the day of your trip you can get the super duper wow cheapo advance fares. I do this each year when planning my cycle trips for example single from Plymouth to Birmingham inc bike was about £15-£20 (can't remember exactly) whereas it should have been well over £100. Only downfall is you have to catch that train you have booked and can't swop it so you must keep to your schedule, good incentive for cycling a little quciker to get the return train home,


Happy cycling,


Martyn....

[43034]

Nickyboy said:

I did the same, went from Reading to Camborne, would have cost £87. Instead i bought a ticket from Reading to Bristol for £7 and one from Bristol to Camborne for £16. Both first class.

That has to be AP though....

I believe what you're doing is comparing walk up fare to AP, which is a tad unfair.

I agree Rail travel is far too expensive. I tend to go everywhere by rover tickets which makes it a heck of a lot cheap for the amount of rail travel I do.

[Nickyboy]

Simpo Two said:

Baffles me too. I rang British Rail but there was no answer)

That's probably because they haven't existed since 2000

[FourWheelDrift]

Perhaps this might be a good example of buying a car in Liverpool drive it to Newton Abbot and sell it for what you bought it for. Journey costs petrol money only, unless you get more for the car when you sell it on.

Go on, do it. Be a successful Mike Brewer and make a profit. Document it and it might form a PH news story

[otherman]

tonym911 said:

Friend of mine with a Southampton ticket got off one stop BEFORE Southampton and was charged £14 extra for not staying on the train all the way to Southampton.

How did that work then? No-one checks your ticket on exit. And why would you pay up anyway. You could say your going to do that last bit later in the day, journey's don't have to be continuous

[FourWheelDrift]

otherman said:

tonym911 said:

Friend of mine with a Southampton ticket got off one stop BEFORE Southampton and was charged £14 extra for not staying on the train all the way to Southampton.

How did that work then? No-one checks your ticket on exit. And why would you pay up anyway. You could say your going to do that last bit later in the day, journey's don't have to be continuous

They have discounted tickets between 2 points only, they state if you leave at another station you can end up paying a very heavy fine as these people did - http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3125710/...

[43034]

otherman said:

tonym911 said:

Friend of mine with a Southampton ticket got off one stop BEFORE Southampton and was charged £14 extra for not staying on the train all the way to Southampton.

How did that work then? No-one checks your ticket on exit. And why would you pay up anyway. You could say your going to do that last bit later in the day, journey's don't have to be continuous

If it was a MEGATrain ticket. Part of the T&Cs you agree too if you do your journey stated. Breaking journeys are not allowed on all tickets. People DO check your tickets. The ticket won't go through the barrier as the station they go off at won't the destination.

It's wrong, plain wrong. But that's the railways. There's the right way, the wrong way and the railway.