Ticketing help.

[Phil.]

I have two friends who live in Horsham who wish to come and spend some time with me in my bungalow here in Penzance.

They are intending to travel down on Thursday the 12th of August and travel back on Sunday the 14th of August.

I know they will drive down but like me they're not in the first flush of youth and so I'd like them to travel by train.

It's a straightforward enough journey: Horsham -Gatwick -Reading -Penzance and I wonder if there's a (relatively) inexpensive way of ticketing it. Neither of them holds a railcard of any sort and indeed only one would be entitled to an old codger's railcard. There could be some flexibility on the travel dates.

Thankyou in advance.

 

[ainsworth74]

Do either of them have an annual Gold Card? Would they be happy to travel after 0930?

 

[sonic2009]

Another option to travel could be Horley - Clapham Junction - Exeter St Davids - Penzance.

 

[gray1404]

Another option to travel could be Horley - Clapham Junction - Exeter St Davids - Penzance.

This way can work out much cheaper if you combine some SWT Advances then XC/GWR Advances. Failing that split ticketing on walk ups. Trainsplit would be a good place to start.

Eg. For Horley to Exeter there are GWR and Connections advance but also SWT and Connections Advances. So if they see what is on offer. I have found it easier to get the SWT Advances in the past. Then from Exter to Penzance there are Advances on both GWR and XC. Remember to allow 6 minutes between trains at Exeter St Davids to be covered for split tickets.

 

[iantherev]

This way can work out much cheaper if you combine some SWT Advances then XC/GWR Advances. Failing that split ticketing on walk ups. Trainsplit would be a good place to start.

Eg. For Horley to Exeter there are GWR and Connections advance but also SWT and Connections Advances. So if they see what is on offer. I have found it easier to get the SWT Advances in the past. Then from Exter to Penzance there are Advances on both GWR and XC. Remember to allow 6 minutes between trains at Exeter St Davids to be covered for split tickets.

In which case I wouldn't recommend a combination of SWT/XC Advances as Waterloo trains arrive at St Davids xx.41-4 and most XC trains leave xx.41-5.
P

 

[gray1404]

In which case I wouldn't recommend a combination of SWT/XC Advances as Waterloo trains arrive at St Davids xx.41-4 and most XC trains leave xx.41-5.
P

Good point. Unless of course they were happy to wait approx an hour for the sake of getting a good fare.

 

[MikeWh]

And this is a classic case of the pitfalls of using the wrong CRS codes.

HOR = Horley
HRH = Horsham (which is where the friends live).

 

[Phil.]

Do either of them have an annual Gold Card? Would they be happy to travel after 0930?

Neither of them possesses a railcard
They would travel after 09.30 to secure a good fare.

 

[Romilly]

An offpeak return from Horsham to Penzance is around the £220 mark for two people: that could be reduced to around £147 by buying a Two Together railcard for £30, which would pay for itself even if never used again by your friends.

I would have thought that an August Sunday would be a busy day for travel from Cornwall towards London: could your friends postpone their return until the Monday morning? If so, that would avoid rail replacement buses between Three Bridges and Horsham on the Sunday, and also the lack of direct trains between Dorking and Horsham on the Sunday.

An alternative to the flexible offpeak return would be to buy Advances between Gatwick/Dorking and Penzance, and then day singles between Horsham and Gatwick/Dorking. Four Advances would cost a total of up to £150 (or just under £100 with a Two Together railcard).

Singles between Horsham and Dorking/Gatwick are under £6 per person per journey.

 

[Phil.]

Well thankyou all for that. I'll put it to them, perhaps they might consider it.