Don't you just love the trains

[clapham_gull]

But the chances are if you are going outside the South East network it is something that will have been planned for a while and if you book a decent time in advance (not one week) it will be fairly cheap. Book in advance and a return from London to Nottingham is only £12.

During the World Cup there were huge differences on fares on Deutchesbahn (sp) between buying them at a station and booking in advance. An on the day fare from Munich to Nuremberg was about 65 Euros for a 165 kilometre journey.

A similar distanced journey in the UK is probably London to Birmingham (about 120 miles), the cost of an on the day fare for that journey is £37.70.

There is not that much difference between the prices, in fact the UK one is probably cheaper and yet the German railways are state run.

Does depend where you are going - difficult to get cheap tickets on a Friday on the West Coast Line, or other times during the week.

Weekends are obviously cheaper.

The "advance" argument only follows if enough of the cheaper tickets are left.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

But the chances are if you are going outside the South East network it is something that will have been planned for a while and if you book a decent time in advance (not one week) it will be fairly cheap.

If the railways WANT to confine their market to this particular group of people, then they can look forward to permanent under-performance.

 

[sully]

Re: Re: Re: Don't you just love the trains

I think a train leaving at 8pm on a Sunday morning is pretty much off peak isn't it.

I don't know. I'm really struggling to grasp when exactly that is!

 

[Uncle Buck]

If the railways WANT to confine their market to this particular group of people, then they can look forward to permanent under-performance.

The system in this country is not great and it is annoying that to get the best fares at times you have to buy 2 tickets, but the trains can be fairly cheap.

Maybe the main markets are contained to regions such as the South East one, as must people that use the trains in this area just travel within the South East and do not need to use the trains for longer journey's.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Does depend where you are going - difficult to get cheap tickets on a Friday on the West Coast Line, or other times during the week.

Weekends are obviously cheaper.

The "advance" argument only follows if enough of the cheaper tickets are left.

Virgin are poor with advanced tickets, especially at weekends, as they have a habit of only releasing them on very early trains, however GNER, GWR and Midland Mainline do not tend to this and have a decent spread of cheap tickets on their services, if you book in advance.

Both Swansea and Cheltenham are costing between £22-£25 from London, which seems OK, as we booked in advance, as we knew in advance we would be making these trips.

 

[British Bulldog]

Yep, about time the whole pricing structure on the railways was revised to fill up trains during off peak hours and reduce congestion at other times, only problem is that there are now so many different rail companies that it is never going to happen.

Renationalise now!!!

The only thing that privatisation has achieved so far is to complicate a very simple system for passengers and staff alike!

 

[Kenhead]

Dends what it is really, an albion away game is so much better on the train and if booked in advance then they are cheap.

But i was going to get a train to derby earlier this month and they wanted to charge £135 for an adult day return which is an absolute joke!

 

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

My employer allows staff to book tickets online, using its intranet, so we get "business rates" with most of the big TOCs. There's a loophole in the system that allows me to pay using my own debit card for a ticket for my own personal use, but still allowing me to take advantage of "business rates".

Hey presto: there's ALWAYS a cheap ticket available for long distance travel if I want one three or more days in advance. Often, it's in first class too.

Lots of the cheap deals are saved for corporate customers.

 

[Uncle Buck]

We still get rail warrants from work, never managed to get one for weekend travel.

 

[trueblue]

It never even crosses my mind to think about coaches. I will now.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

It never even crosses my mind to think about coaches. I will now.

if you can sleep easily, they're the thing for you

a 7 hour coach journey wizzes past if you can try and sleep through most of it