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Off peak day return train tickets



8ace

Banned
Jul 21, 2003
23,811
Brighton
Absolutely this. The splitting up of the rail network is a great example of a break-up of a natural monopoly gone wrong.



For me this is tantamount to mis-selling. They should be renamed from 'Customer Service' to 'TOC Service' because that's exactly who their advice is best for.

I'm quite surprised that there's not yet a train booking website which offers a way of calculating the cheapest ticket - Tickety Split shows that it is possible, and I'd think that any website which guaranteed to offer you the cheapest possible ticket would gain market share very quickly.

https://www.splitticketing.com :moo:
 






Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,763
The Fatherland
A ticket clerk is told not to offer 'split tickets' only between the 2 stations you ask for but to sell 'split tickets' if you ask for them

I thought they were legally obliged to sell you the cheapest ticket under their charter obligations?
 


Cowfold Seagull

Fan of the 17 bus
Apr 22, 2009
22,119
Cowfold
Don't know if you ever fly on Easyjet, but they'll sell you a train ticket from Gatwick to Brighton while you're in the air. Saves all that faffing around in shambolic queues at Gatwick. It's even a couple of quid cheaper than buying one at the station. Recommended.

And to a Scotsman every penny counts! lol
 


Badger

NOT the Honey Badger
NSC Patron
May 8, 2007
13,117
Toronto
...and they guys that "manage" the queue for the ticket machines are morons.

More than once I have been called forward and sent around to machines at the far end, only to find they are all in use.

Indeed, the last time I queued up to get a ticket there one of the guys directed me to a machine, I went through the whole process but at the end it didn't accept my debit card. When I asked the guy he said "oh the card reader isn't working on that one", thanks for telling me when you directed me to the machine :facepalm:
 




Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,763
The Fatherland
Don't know if you ever fly on Easyjet, but they'll sell you a train ticket from Gatwick to Brighton while you're in the air. Saves all that faffing around in shambolic queues at Gatwick. It's even a couple of quid cheaper than buying one at the station. Recommended.

Yes, I will be. Do they? Flown them before and never noticed this before. I'll buy one when I order my coffee. Thanks.
 


Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,763
The Fatherland
...and they guys that "manage" the queue for the ticket machines are morons.

More than once I have been called forward and sent around to machines at the far end, only to find they are all in use.

Mmmmmm. I don't make a habit of praising rail workers (no this is not an April fool) but to be fair the Gatwick staff have been fine to me. They do a tough job dealing with hundreds of stroppy jet-lagged foreigners, and lobster coloured Brits in sombreros, in a station ticket area which clearly isn't fit-for-purpose. As one said to me, they upgrade the platforms and capacity but not the means to sell tickets to these extra punters.
 


Tom Hark Preston Park

Will Post For Cash
Jul 6, 2003
72,401
Yes, I will be. Do they? Flown them before and never noticed this before. I'll buy one when I order my coffee. Thanks.

No worries. Any Easyjet flight I've been on into LGW recently, they usually make an announcement towards the end of the flight offering to sell you train tickets. Also gets a plug in the in-flight magazine.
 




Jul 24, 2003
2,289
Newbury, Berkshire.
But aren't they increasingly run by the same companies......Abellio, First etc.

The service is run by Reading Buses, wholly owned by Reading Borough Council. Bit like Brighton and Hove buses was ( although not any more I believe ).

The services within Newbury ( and to and from my workplace ) are run by 'Newbury and District' which is owned by a local entrepreneur. The fares are subsidised by West Berkshire Unitary Authority. Thankfully I don't have to use the big boys like Stagecoach and First Group ( all PLC's so only care about their shareholder ).

Competition only works until the point where you allow PLC's to have a monopoly.
 


Ernest

Stupid IDIOT
Nov 8, 2003
42,748
LOONEY BIN
I thought they were legally obliged to sell you the cheapest ticket under their charter obligations?

They do, if you ask for a single from Gatwick to Brighton then they will sell you the cheapest ticket for that particular journey, but if it's cheapest for example to buy a ticket to Haywards Heath and then buy a ticket to Brighton you would have to ask for that.

That is the system, it doesn't need me to tell you but it was a Tory government that inflicted this on us despite railway experts saying it would be unworkable and the only people to lose out would be the fare paying passenger.
 


Goldstone1976

We Got Calde in!!
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patron
Apr 30, 2013
14,125
Herts
They do, if you ask for a single from Gatwick to Brighton then they will sell you the cheapest ticket for that particular journey, but if it's cheapest for example to buy a ticket to Haywards Heath and then buy a ticket to Brighton you would have to ask for that.

That is the system, it doesn't need me to tell you but it was a Tory government that inflicted this on us despite railway experts saying it would be unworkable and the only people to lose out would be the fare paying passenger.

Do I have to specify the station at which I want the split to occur, or are the TOCs obliged to give me the cheapest fare if I ask for "Please give me tickets for the cheapest way I can get from A to B, even if the cheapest way is to buy a split ticket/s"?
 




Ernest

Stupid IDIOT
Nov 8, 2003
42,748
LOONEY BIN
Do I have to specify the station at which I want the split to occur, or are the TOCs obliged to give me the cheapest fare if I ask for "Please give me tickets for the cheapest way I can get from A to B, even if the cheapest way is to buy a split ticket/s"?

No you have to do it yourself, i.e. ask for a ticket to A - B & a ticket B-C , the only ticket the ticket office is allowed to sell is A-C
 


The service is run by Reading Buses, wholly owned by Reading Borough Council. Bit like Brighton and Hove buses was ( although not any more I believe ).
Brighton & Hove Buses have never been owned by the Council - although Brighton Borough Council did own Brighton Corporation Transport which was privatised through a staff buy out in the late 1980s and subsequently merged into the Brighton & Hove Bus & Coach Company when the staff decided to take the money that was offered. From 1939, buses in Brighton, run by the Brighton, Hove & District Motor Omnibus Company, Brighton Corporation Transport and (later) Southdown operated under the terms of something called the BATS (Brighton Area Transport Services) Agreement which divvied up the routes and the fares revenue between the operators in a proportion that never varied. The BATS Agreement lasted until 1986, when the Thatcher government outlawed co-ordinated bus networks (outside London) and imagined that competition between operators would deliver better services and lower fares. Instead, we've seen the growth of big bus groups like Stagecoach, First and Go-Ahead, which have grown by a process of acquiring smaller bus companies and making sure that they can get rich through the development of local monopolies and no risk of competition getting in the way.

But I don't knock the principle of local monopolies - at least they allow a bus network to be properly planned, without the stupidity of the "bus wars" that used to break out regularly before things settled down.
 


jimbob5

Banned
Sep 18, 2014
2,697
Good stuff - hadn't heard of them before, although it's clear they're not a particularly big outfit and their search engine isn't the best. If they had a website as easy to use as the train line (for example) I'd like to think that they'd be raking it in.
Useful info from Bace the Ace!
 




el punal

Well-known member
Aug 29, 2012
12,557
The dull part of the south coast
I'm travelling Good Friday so all day is off-peak right?

I haven't looked at all the reply posts which may duplicate my response so : This Friday is off-peak all day, Thameslink are doing Super Day Return at £6.50 for Gatwick - Brighton. Southern, I believe is £10ish for the same journey.

I've always found it easier to use the relevant train company for each journey, you sometimes find that you get a better deal than using Trainline or similar, in other words - shop around. Hope all this helps.
 






Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,763
The Fatherland
Don't you only need to buy a ticket as far as HH as your Albion season ticket covers the rest of it ???

A friend looks after my season ticket so it can be used for the games I can't make. I have it on me now, but will be giving it back to him after the Norwich match and he won't be travelling to Gatwick with me.
 




8ace

Banned
Jul 21, 2003
23,811
Brighton
A friend looks after my season ticket so it can be used for the games I can't make. I have it on me now, but will be giving it back to him after the Norwich match and he won't be travelling to Gatwick with me.

Ah, ok then. You could always post it back to him from Gatwick :moo:
 


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