Southport to Manchester Stns

[trainophile]

We have off peak day return tickets (from Southport) to Manchester Stns, intending to go initially to Victoria then visit a couple of others, before heading to Piccadilly for our next journey to Liverpool (TPE Advance tickets already bought for this leg).

Question is, what does "Manchester Stns" cover? Is the ticket "used up" on arrival at whichever station we first disembark at, even if we don't leave the station?

I'm not sure of the rail routings in Manchester, but assume that to get 'anywhere' from Victoria we'd have to take the Metro (or walk!)? So presumably we'd have to buy Metro tickets. Is there such thing as a day ranger for the Metro, or do you have to pay each time you board one?

If we decided, instead of Victoria, to go initially to Oxford Road with our Manchester Stns tickets, could we then re-board a train into Piccadilly? We're not planning to leave the station/s necessarily, it's really just to have a look at the stations themselves.

Don't mind paying for whatever means of transport we need to, but don't want to buy extra tickets and then find we were covered on our Manchester Stns tickets.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Manchester stations is Victoria, Piccadilly, Oxford Road and Deansgate, it does not include any tram travel, and getting off and on, along a line of route to Piccadilly is allowed. AFAIK there is a tram rover, but if you are staying in the centre it is unlikely to be of value. I believe you can break your journey on the tram but your journey must be completed within 90 minutes.

 

[snail]

If you want to 'change' at Oxford Road for a Piccadilly train, no one will stop you. You can walk from Victoria to Piccadilly in 15-20 minutes. It's often quicker than getting a tram.

You can get a tram day ticket but it's going to be cheaper to get a £1.10 single if you want to travel on a tram within the city zone. (it's Metrolink not Metro, btw). There are also free buses connecting the stations - see http://www.tfgm.com/buses/Pages/metroshuttle.aspx for maps.

 

[trainophile]

Thank you so much, both of you. Excellent helpful replies. Point noted about "Metrolink" .

Thanks to whoever amended the thread title too .

 

[clagmonster]

Question is, what does "Manchester Stns" cover?

Deansgate, Oxford Road, Piccadilly, Victoria.

Is the ticket "used up" on arrival at whichever station we first disembark at, even if we don't leave the station?

If that station is Victoria or Piccadilly, then yes. If that station is Deansgate or Oxford Road, the ticket will still be valid on to Piccadilly.

I'm not sure of the rail routings in Manchester, but assume that to get 'anywhere' from Victoria we'd have to take the Metro (or walk!)? So presumably we'd have to buy Metro tickets. Is there such thing as a day ranger for the Metro, or do you have to pay each time you board one?

There is a ranger type ticket, available from the ticket machines on the tram platforms. However, finding the price online is a bit of a pain. If your tickets from Southport are undiscounted, and you intend to make only one return journey on the tram, you could get an over distance excess through to your required tram stop. For the City Centre stops, this would cost £12.50 less the fare already paid.

If we decided, instead of Victoria, to go initially to Oxford Road with our Manchester Stns tickets, could we then re-board a train into Piccadilly? We're not planning to leave the station/s necessarily, it's really just to have a look at the stations themselves.

Yes. If you do choose to leave the station, I would show the ticket to the barrier attendent rather than insert them into the barrier, otherwise they might be swallowed.

 

[kieron]

If your tickets from Southport are undiscounted, and you intend to make only one return journey on the tram, you could get an over distance excess through to your required tram stop. For the City Centre stops, this would cost £12.50 less the fare already paid.

As a Southport-Manchester off-peak day return costs £11, this would cost an extra £1.50. An off-peak day single from Deansgate to Manchester costs only £1.40 and includes unlimited city centre metrolink travel. It's only worth it if trainophile plans to make more than one metrolink journey that day, though.

Splitting the fare so that one ticket was entirely within TfGM's area could have been cheaper still, but it's too late to worry about now.

 

[trainophile]

£7.35 with Senior Railcard . Only 10p more than a single, so thought we might as well keep our options open even though we probably won't use the return portion as we're heading to Liverpool two hours after arrival in Manchester.

Unless there's a way of building it into our schedule, hmmm....

 

[TOCDriver]

If your ticket has 'Manchester Stns CTRLZ' on it, then you can use the tram within city limits i.e anytime between the following - Victoria, Shudehill, Market Street, Piccadilly, Piccadilly Gardens, St Peters Square and Deansgate - Castlefield

 

[kieron]

£7.35 with Senior Railcard . Only 10p more than a single, so thought we might as well keep our options open even though we probably won't use the return portion as we're heading to Liverpool two hours after arrival in Manchester.

Unless there's a way of building it into our schedule, hmmm....

The return part of your ticket is shown as being valid via Liverpool or Wigan on all good ticket sites, so you could take a different train back with them if you wished to.

I wouldn't buy a Metrolink ticket in your situation, though, as Metrolink don't do railcards, whereas a Deansgate-Manchester ticket is only 95p with the discount. The 'buses are free, though.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

If your ticket has 'Manchester Stns CTRLZ' on it, then you can use the tram within city limits i.e anytime between the following - Victoria, Shudehill, Market Street, Piccadilly, Piccadilly Gardens, St Peters Square and Deansgate - Castlefield

It will be 'Manchester Stns' from Southport, 'Manchester CTLZ' is only used for tickets from Mobberley, Ashley, Knutsford and stations within the TfGM area.

 

[trainophile]

The return part of your ticket is shown as being valid via Liverpool or Wigan on all good ticket sites, so you could take a different train back with them if you wished to.

hock: So for the extra 10p paid, I could have saved us the cost of our Advance singles Manchester Stns to Liverpool Stns, and Anytime day singles Liverpool Stns to Southport?

The Southport to Manchester Stns tickets say "route any permitted", and "see restrictions" (which I assume relates to the off-peak only aspect). How is your average punter supposed to know what are permitted routes between any two points?

 

[John @ home]

How is your average punter supposed to know what are permitted routes between any two points?

I think the best way to learn this is to attend one of this forum's Fares Workshops.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

....How is your average punter supposed to know what are permitted routes between any two points?

Use a journey planner or ask ticket office or telesales staff.

 

[yorkie]

How is your average punter supposed to know what are permitted routes between any two points?

In this case you can use a booking engine (or the National Rail website - if it's shown as possible on one ticket), as they will correctly show Liverpool as being on a permitted route.

The more convoluted routes generally do not show up as valid on booking engines, though some booking engines are more likely to show such routes than others.

Using the routeing guide takes a few minutes of your time, and is available on the ATOC website, however determining that Liverpool is on a permitted route in this case requires additional knowledge of the fares history!

If the issue has been raised before, a Google search of this forum may find the result (or several, in this case! The most recent was 2 months ago).

 

[trainophile]

Thank you all, and because I saw and read that earlier thread, but for some stupid reason I didn't click that it was exactly the same situation as I was asking about :roll:.

Anyway we had our day out today, and I asked the TPE guard on the Manchester > Liverpool train whether he would have accepted the return half of the Southport > Manchester ticket. He studied it, looked a bit doubtful, but then said he supposes it's okay. So I did waste some money today, but I'll know next time.

Tried out the Metrolink, that was really good fun! Bought our tickets from a machine on the platform at Victoria, and thoroughly enjoyed our ride through to Piccadilly.

Windermere tomorrow...... .