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Transport for Wales January Fares Revisions - some good news!

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Llandudno

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Transport for Wales have kept to their word and have made significant fares reductions on parts of their network from January.

Not only are there a range of fares not being increased there are actually reductions in walk up and advance fares on the North Wales Coast.

Examples include £6.50 advance singles most of the day from Llandudno and Colwyn Bay to Chester, currently £21!

Even the day return fare from Deganwy to Llandudno has been reduced to £2.50, compared to £5.50 on Arriva Buses!

There are also various free and discounted fare initiatives for children as well.

Unfortunately I am not techy enough to post a link on here, perhaps someone else can, but all the info is on the TfW website!
 
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Llandudno

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Here’s a challenge:

Holders of TfW season tickets are entitled to 34% discount for themselves AND a travelling companion on off peak trains operated by TfW.

Which is the cheapest season ticket available on the TfW network to enable purchase of these discounted day returns?

Although I guess a Two Together railcard is still probably better value, unless you travel with numerous different companions I suppose!
 

mikeg

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I see the Ecml fare war has had its effect. Tpe are finally reducing the any permitted CDRs from Thirsk to York. Has anyone noticed any nasties yet?
 

Wallsendmag

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I see the Ecml fare war has had its effect. Tpe are finally reducing the any permitted CDRs from Thirsk to York. Has anyone noticed any nasties yet?
Single leg pricing is live from January halving the walkup single fare effectively between London and Leeds,Newcastle and Edinburgh
 

Belperpete

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I see the Ecml fare war has had its effect. Tpe are finally reducing the any permitted CDRs from Thirsk to York. Has anyone noticed any nasties yet?
What's this to do with Transport for Wales fares (subject of this thread)?
 

Belperpete

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Holders of TfW season tickets are entitled to 34% discount for themselves AND a travelling companion on off peak trains operated by TfW.
The sting in the tail is that the discounts are only available on fares set by TfW. Many fares for journeys going outside the TfW area are set by other TOCs, e.g. fares for journeys on the Cambrian going beyond Birmingham seem to be set by Virgin.
 

Starmill

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7 Day Season from Aberdare to Cardiff Central reduced from £29.40 to £29.10.

Return from Chester to Colwyn Bay reduced from £23.10 to £21.40.

Single from Cardiff Central to Maesteg reduced from £6.10 to £5.
 

416GSi

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I'm slightly sceptical about this claim by TfW. Every journey I and my wife makes the price has gone up, including those were the trains and route is TFW and the fares are set by TFW (according to BR Fares).
 

Llandudno

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7 Day Season from Aberdare to Cardiff Central reduced from £29.40 to £29.10.

Return from Chester to Colwyn Bay reduced from £23.10 to £21.40.

Single from Cardiff Central to Maesteg reduced from £6.10 to £5.
These reductions may not seem a lot, but the current fares would probably have increased by over 2% so quite useful.

check out the new advance tickets as well, as not previously offered on TfW trains to/from Chester on the North Wales Coast
 

Llanigraham

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I'm slightly sceptical about this claim by TfW. Every journey I and my wife makes the price has gone up, including those were the trains and route is TFW and the fares are set by TFW (according to BR Fares).

How can you be sceptical when people on here have shown that some fares have decreased?
 

Dr Day

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The 'free travel for under 11s' and 'child fares for under 18s' have been watered down a bit from what was implied in the original winning bidder announcements, and have the potential to create issues on the many routes where TfW overlap with other TOCs, as well as on the Borders bits where they aren't valid at all.

Which, in fairness, was always likely to happen given the way fares are set and managed in a semi-devolved environment (ie other operators in Wales and DfT wanting to protect the earnings of 'their' franchises wherever they share revenue with TfW both sides of the border).
 

Starmill

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These reductions may not seem a lot, but the current fares would probably have increased by over 2% so quite useful.

check out the new advance tickets as well, as not previously offered on TfW trains to/from Chester on the North Wales Coast
There's a typo in my Aberdare fare. It's actually £26.10, an 11.2% reduction in the fare. As you say in real terms we can perhaps put another 2pp on so anyone doing a daily commute from Aberdare to Cardiff City Centre would be looking at more than 13% lower costs in 2020.
 
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Y Ddraig Coch

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The 'free travel for under 11s' and 'child fares for under 18s' have been watered down a bit from what was implied in the original winning bidder announcements, and have the potential to create issues on the many routes where TfW overlap with other TOCs, as well as on the Borders bits where they aren't valid at all.

Which, in fairness, was always likely to happen given the way fares are set and managed in a semi-devolved environment (ie other operators in Wales and DfT wanting to protect the earnings of 'their' franchises wherever they share revenue with TfW both sides of the border).

As I read it, as long as you are on a transport for Wales service the child free or reduced tickets should be sold and valid anywhere on their network no matter who else shares it, I don't think the border has anything to do with it. So long as the ticket is valid on the TfW service you are on even if that is wholly in England.
 

greatkingrat

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Here’s a challenge:

Holders of TfW season tickets are entitled to 34% discount for themselves AND a travelling companion on off peak trains operated by TfW.

Which is the cheapest season ticket available on the TfW network to enable purchase of these discounted day returns?

Although I guess a Two Together railcard is still probably better value, unless you travel with numerous different companions I suppose!

Llanbedr - Pensarn is currently the cheapest TfW set season ticket, at £188 per year.
 

Llandudno

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Llanbedr - Pensarn is currently the cheapest TfW set season ticket, at £188 per year.
Brilliant, I guess this may even fall slightly in price from January.

So £188 for an off peak railcard for use on TfW trains for solo use and also for a travelling companion.

Don’t need too many long distance trips to pay for itself, I wonder if there will be many takers!
 

kieron

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By my reading, the free travel and 33% offer are only for journeys in the white area on the map (Wales, Chester, Lydney and Shrewsbury-Gobowen/Hereford/Knighton/Nantwich).

On the other hand, it doesn't mention any restrictions on what the season ticket could be. For this year, the cheapest season ticket I can see happens to be a TfW one anyway. It's for the 901 bus between Blackwood and Ystrad Mynach, and costs £112 a year. I haven't found anywhere online which will sell it, though, so I don't know what the price will be in January.

One thing I notice is that the web page talks quite a lot about various railcards, but i can't see any reference to how you would buy them or even how much they cost, or any way to buy tickets discounted with them on the TfW web site. I'm sure this will be sorted out one in the next few weeks, one way or another, but it does make it harder to plan ahead.
 
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smsm1

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https://tfwrail.wales/sites/tfwrail.wales/files/2019-11/Zonal Maps.pdf

My understanding is that the child fares are only valid within the 'available' area, so if you travelling from Aberystwyth to Birmingham the child would be free as far as Shrewsbury, but would need a separate ticket beyond that (even staying on a TfW train)
Would splitting still be worthwhile with 1 child and the family Railcard? What about multiple children? Splitting has got yet more complex for families.
 

Andrew*Debbie

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This is good news. While most other TOCs are putting up prices, TfW are reducing them.

Spot checking BNG <----> CTR


Current off-peak return is £30.70. The cheapest advance singles are £9.50.

An off-peak return in January is £28.40. Advance Singles are £8.50.

The off-peak tickets appear to be valid on Avanti as well as TfW. Advance Singles on Avanti are £22.10, so this could be a back-door to a less expensive fare on Avanti West Coast.



Screenshot 2019-12-05 at 09.07.01.png
 

Andrew*Debbie

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One thing I notice is that the web page talks quite a lot about various railcards, but i can't see any reference to how you would buy them or even how much they cost, or any way to buy tickets discounted with them on the TfW web site. I'm sure this will be sorted out one in the next few weeks, one way or another, but it does make it harder to plan ahead.

It is a tick box at the bottom or a drop down menu.


Screenshot 2019-12-05 at 09.22.32.png




Screenshot 2019-12-05 at 09.20.50.png
 

ValleyLines142

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7 Day Season from Aberdare to Cardiff Central reduced from £29.40 to £29.10.

Return from Chester to Colwyn Bay reduced from £23.10 to £21.40.

Single from Cardiff Central to Maesteg reduced from £6.10 to £5.

That is impressive to be fair. And remember a Sunday service is soon to be introduced on the Maesteg Line!
 

Shotton

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Does anybody know whether it will be possible to use the annual season ticket discount in conjunction with a Railcard?
 
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