Cheap train tickets?

[twosmoke300]

I have the need to travel one way from Cornwall to brum . Who do you guys use for cheap tickets?

[Squire_Dawson]

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

 

Book through the TOCs if you can.

[Bucketeer]

Might be worth looking at the car share website http://www.blablacar.com/

 

I've used it a number of times in France and it's cheap and very convenient for one way travel.

As an example, I've just had a quick look and there is a ride from Plymouth to Birmingham today for £14.

Most people will pick up and drop off somewhere convenient for you and you can even see what car they drive, so you can choose the shittiest/most comfortable/most likely to get to your destination etc.

I've met some really nice people doing this and have often thought it could be a good option for crappy car collection capers.

[phil_lihp]

That's a good suggestion, will have to check that out next time.

[Partridge]

Become Frank Abignale of South West Trains?

[Noel Tidybeard]

there's no such thing!

[holbeck]

Split ticketing.

 

Check out the price of your local station to Cheltenham, then Cheltenham to Brum.

 

The reason that might* be cheaper is that fares to Cheltenham  are set by First Great western even if you travel by Cross Country.

 

Birmingham New St fares are set by  Cross Country and tend to be £Kerching.

 

This deffo works from Exeter, but obvs never tried it from Cornwall.

 

the only stipulation for split ticketing to be valid is that the train must stop there.

 

 

Cheers

[hairnet]

train to exeter then megabus to brum

[Skizzer]

Right, that's enough cheap ticket suggestions.

 

Now, tell us what you're going to collect, preferably with pictures. 

[Bucketeer]

^^^^ 'Twas an Aprilia motorcycle if my cross thread memory serves me right.

 

I do hope it's a bigger Aprilia, as the RS125 I used to have was a bit teeny for me and twosmoke is, and I hope he doesn't mind me saying, a fellow larger gentleman.

 

I always imagined I looked like this on mine.

[Junkman]

British train ticket prices explained

 

 

Advance

Advance tickets must be purchased before you travel. They are so limited in availability that you best buy them when you are still in your mother's womb and usually get more expensive than a first class ticket roughly 13 years to the day of travel. You must travel on the train and date specified on your ticket, but you can change the date / time of travel in advance for a fee hefty enough that it would buy you some surprisingly nice Autoshite, plus the petrol for the journey. These tickets cannot be refunded even if you expire or the train line is closed down between the ticket purchase and the actual day of travel. Completely inexplicably, there are no Advance return tickets, so if you want to do a return journey, you must buy two Advance tickets for the price of three. Advance tickets always include seat reservations on journeys where no seats are available.

 

Off-Peak

Off-Peak tickets are flexible tickets that are valid at 'off-peak' times of the day, which are 10 minute time slots between shit, shave, and shower, but they will vary depending on where and when you want to travel and this is carefully designed so that you will never buy an Off-Peak ticket in our lifetime. They are also valid when Mondays are on Wednesdays, Thursdays are on Fridays, and Bank Holidays are on Saturdays, but only if you travel after 14:14 but before 09:28 on Sundays when Easter is on New Year's. They are not valid on some evening services, which commence at 8am, unless you are under 27 but older than 63.

 

Anytime

Anytime tickets are fully flexible tickets that are valid on all trains on every day of the week, with no time restrictions, except on the trains of the particular operator you have to use.

If your travel plans are likely to change, and you know you need to travel at peak times, then an Anytime ticket may well be your best choice, if you are willing to remortgage your house, max out your credit card and overdraft, and sell your children into a pedophile ring. Anytime return tickets are valid for five days on trains on your outward journey and for up to one calendar month for your return journey, unless they are not valid without notice or explanation.

 

Terms and conditions apply.

 

Good luck.

[Vince70]

I'm in the same boat (or should I say train) as yourself two smoke as I've got to do a trip to Milton Keynes on Saturday to pick up my shite and have got to pay £50 for a return.

The weird thing is the return is only 20p difference in price so its well worth having if the journey doesn't go according to plan.

 

I could of done it for £15 by buying a southern rail ticket which only covers that line from the local tourist centre, but due to engineering works most of the line is going to be closed or there's major delays.

 

Also there was an option whereas I could buy a few tickets again separately rather than buying the one ticket for my destination which I could of got for £40 but again the engineering works have put pay to that, so now I have to travel via London to get to Euston station.

 

Apparently there's a lot of line work going on over the next couple of weekends, so if you go the separate ticket route check with the local ticket office first.

[Craig the Princess]

Cheapest of all are Megatrain (run by megabus) but they have a limited supply of tickets on a limited number of routes.

 

After this the TOC websites up to 12 weeks in advance. The TOC websites sell all tickets but some TOCs seem to keep their really cheap tickets for their own site.

 

Split tickets can work, there are various sites that do this but most charge a fee when booking (but you can find out and book elsewhere). Beware if you split tickets and are delayed on the first train your tickets won't be valid and expensive on the day tickets will be needed.

 

All the advance tickets need you to be on a specific train but you will have a reserved seat if the train allows reservations.

 

CrossCountry offers advance tickets 15 minutes before travel on their services when using their app and m-ticket (ticket on your phone). I would check their website first as they do some really good deals (and I work for them )

[eddyramrod]

When I bought the Mercury, I used Trainline.com to buy my tickets.  I had, you will remember, two changes of train along the way.  The journey took me four and a half hours and cost 50 sovs, give or take pennies.  The drive home in said Mercury took a little over two hours, including a butty stop, and cost about 20 squid in petrol.  Let the train take the strain?  Er, yeah.

So, shortly afterwards when I sold the MR2, I took it to Preston to meet Dave, who was coming up from Southport on the bus (pensioner's free bus pass, yay!).  I mooched around the city centre a bit then went for a train back to Barrow: on-the-spot ticket, cash purchase.  It was a few pence short of £20!  Mind, it's a pretty ride, and less stressful than driving M6/A590.

What does all this waffle mean to you?  It means I haven't got a clue how to advise you, except that Trainline isn't very good.  Best of luck.

[The Moog]

I used redspotted hanky, found it pretty easy to use. Accrington to Glasgow £16 day before

[twosmoke300]

It's a 1993 prilla pigasshole 650.

 

Cheers for the info guys . An evening on internet beckons

[Craig the Princess]

You also have a PM.

[Cavcraft]

You'd be better off looking at the price of a train to Chester to buy a Cagiva instead. Said he, in a as-nonchalant-as-possible-may-be-selling-one kind of way. 

[twosmoke300]

Cagiva what ?

[Cavcraft]

Cagiva Fanny Magnet, that's what Cagiva what.

 

 

 

What, what.

[twosmoke300]

May struggle with what I've got planned

[Cavcraft]

Beating off women?

[twosmoke300]

Beating off my...........

 

Don't suppose anyone fancies a Ducati multistrada?

[twosmoke300]

Craig the princess , you have pm

[hairnet]

hire a van

[twosmoke300]

ive got a van just fancy riding it back and saving a few quid .

[lisbon_road]

I think I am reasonably adept at this.  Various websites, split tickets, buying in advance and so on.  Also do national express, megabus and others.

 

May I just say that I think it is all really crap.  This is a system that benefits computer users - what about non computer users?  What about foreign visitors that turn up and get totally fleeced because they don't understand the system?  And what happened to spontenaity (however you spell it).  Now everything is planned months in advance.

 

It doesn't have to be like this and many countries aren't.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Its a fucking massive joke, that's what it is.

[hairnet]

all public transport everywhere is just better

 

apart from ireland

[New POD]

I think I am reasonably adept at this.  Various websites, split tickets, buying in advance and so on.  Also do national express, megabus and others.

 

May I just say that I think it is all really crap.  This is a system that benefits computer users - what about non computer users?  What about foreign visitors that turn up and get totally fleeced because they don't understand the system?  And what happened to spontenaity (however you spell it).  Now everything is planned months in advance.

 

It doesn't have to be like this and many countries aren't.

Funnily enough a few weeks back, I had an advance ticket for Friday, but my wife rang up on Thursday afternoon desperate for me to return Thursday evening. I walked into the station and bought the cheapest anytime single, which was the same price as the online cost, only issue being that I got to Milton Keynes only to find that I couldn't get on the quicker virgin train, instead having to get a train that stopped 'Everyfuckingwhere' and then wait a "fuckingage" at crewe and eventually get home at 11:30 pm having left work at 4:15pm Still at least I had only paid £36 to get home.