Manchester STNS departing ticket

JuliaF · 24 Nov 2015

Hi all,
I have booked a ticket from Manchester Piccadilly to Northallerton in December. I know when I receive it will say Manchester STNS on it.
What I was wondering was, as I am going to be close to Manchester Oxford Road when the train is booked for, will I be able to use my STNS ticket to go from Oxford Road to Piccadilly to get my train to Northallerton? It won't be the same train so is it still valid? Or does the train you've booked have to go through multiple stations for this to be valid?
I don't mind paying the £1.30 or whatever it is at Oxford Road to get to Piccadilly - but I just wanted to know if I would be able to use the ticket I have booked.
Thanks in advance for the help.

RailUK Forums

yorkie · 25 Nov 2015

Manchester Stns includes Oxford Road, so unless there is any particular restriction preventing you doing that, then yes it's valid from Oxford Road.

If you want a definitive answer, you'll need to let us know the ticket type and any other relevant information printed on the ticket and the time of travel.

Fortunately the range of fares for this flow is quite small, so I am able to say that in this case an Off Peak or Anytime ticket would both be valid on any train from Oxford Road to Piccadilly and any train from Piccadilly to Northallerton.

A Club 55 ticket would also be valid, but technically only on TransPennine Express (TPE) trains, not Northern.

An Advance ticket is a potential can of worms; certainly not valid on Northern. It would have definitely been valid from Oxford Road if you had booked it to be, but if you didn't, then it really depends on when your booked departure from Piccadilly is timed for, and if there is an appropriate connecting TPE service.

In any case, the ticket is extremely likely, but not guaranteed, to operate the ticket barriers at Oxford Road.

snail · 25 Nov 2015

yorkie said:
In any case, the ticket is extremely likely, but not guaranteed, to operate the ticket barriers at Oxford Road.

The OP doesn't say what time of day they are travelling but they should be able to get through the manned gate with a Manchester Stns ticket. The sometimes clueless barrier staff at Piccadilly may be more of a problem when making the connection on the bridge or across the concourse.

Best advice if you're uncertain: Catch the free No.2 bus to Piccadilly from outside Oxford Road station.

Merseysider · 25 Nov 2015

Weekdays there are 3 Transpennine Express (TPE) services per hour from Oxford Road to Piccadilly, at xx07, xx24 and xx55. On the weekend, these times can differ by up to 5 minutes but for the best part of the day there are still 3 TPE services per hour. If you have an advance ticket, it will print as AP TPE ONLY, so you may travel from Oxford Road to Piccadilly only on any of these aforementioned services.

If you have an Off-Peak/Anytime ticket, you can travel on any service from MCO->MAN, of which there are 9 or 10 per hour.

JuliaF · 26 Nov 2015

More info:
It is the 14:57 TransPennine Express (18th Dec). It's an advance ticket with a 16-25 railcard. My only worry is that the barriers at Oxford Road will swallow my ticket up leaving me with no ticket and no way to get home!
Snail: the no.2 bus is a good idea but what I am doing that causes me to be near the station before finishes at 2 and I'm a bit panicky when it comes to timing! Do you know how long it takes?

bb21 · 26 Nov 2015

Strictly speaking as the fare is routed AP TPE ONLY, you must use only TPE services to complete your journey. As all TPE services are reservable, you must have a reservation for all the trains you use on an Advance ticket.

That said, I doubt anyone would bat an eyelid if you joined the train at Oxford Road, and I am pretty confident that the barrier will pass you.

I assume by "advance ticket" you mean a fare named Advance (as in printed in the "Ticket type" field or in the orange bar at the top) rather than a flexible walk-on fare that you happen to have purchased in advance.

gray1404 · 26 Nov 2015

Certainly do need to be booked onto a TPE service with an Advance ticket Route: TPE only. I had a Manchester Stations to Newcatle Advance ticket with the above routing. I had to reservation coopens, one from Oxford Road to Piccadilly and a second from Piccadilly to Newcastle. (not that I bothered finding the reserved seat for the first leg).

Starmill · 26 Nov 2015

I think we can also be realistic about what might happen if you were to use a train not operated by TPE from Oxford Road to Piccadilly...

James Wake · 26 Nov 2015

In your case I would either take the free service 2 as mentioned earlier, speak to TPE to get a reservation coupon for a TPE from Oxford Road to Piccadilly, or just buy a single between Oxford Rd and Piccadilly, and you will be able to get a 16-25 discount.

gray1404 · 26 Nov 2015

James Wake said:
In your case I would either take the free service 2 as mentioned earlier, speak to TPE to get a reservation coupon for a TPE from Oxford Road to Piccadilly, or just buy a single between Oxford Rd and Piccadilly, and you will be able to get a 16-25 discount.

Getting a reservation coopen may be hard as it counts as an amandment and it will also be subject to quota on the additional train. I think though, as someone said, being realistic between Oxford Road and Piccailly there will be no ticket check.

Bletchleyite · 26 Nov 2015

You could of course in the event of a manual check find yourself being stopped at Oxford Road. However, a single is hardly going to break the bank. I think for peace of mind I'd buy one, particularly given Northern's tendency to sending out bills for £80.

telstarbox · 26 Nov 2015

I often use VT Advances to/from Piccadilly to travel on to/from Oxford Road and the staff at both Piccadilly and Oxford Road have never questioned this.

The tickets are printed with Manchester Stations rather than Piccadilly or Oxford Road specifically. (This applies to the new format as well).

TOCDriver · 26 Nov 2015

Why not do yourself some good and do a 10 minute walk??? No potential problem then!

clagmonster · 26 Nov 2015

telstarbox said:
I often use VT Advances to/from Piccadilly to travel on to/from Oxford Road and the staff at both Piccadilly and Oxford Road have never questioned this.

The tickets are printed with Manchester Stations rather than Piccadilly or Oxford Road specifically. (This applies to the new format as well).

Is the ticket routed 'VTWC TRAINS ONLY' or 'VTWC &CONNECTNS'? If the latter, as long as you are on an unreservable Northern train, or have a seat reservation and are on the correct train, I don't see the problem. If the former, then the ticket is invalid to Oxford Road by virtue of the lack of a suitable Virgin service.

In the ticket originally enquired about, I would say not valid. Whilst it is unlikely, barrier staff at either station would be within their rights to ask for a seat reservation and if you fail to provide one, a byelaw offence and arguably a more serious Regulation of Railways Act offence would be committed. For future reference, if you book your ticket specifying an origin of Manchester Oxford Road, you will be provided with a suitable seat reservation.

In cases like this, I think it would save a lot of potential arguments if such tickets were actually printed with the specific origin and destination station, where there is only one possible answer.

snail · 26 Nov 2015

JuliaF said:
More info:
It is the 14:57 TransPennine Express (18th Dec). It's an advance ticket with a 16-25 railcard. My only worry is that the barriers at Oxford Road will swallow my ticket up leaving me with no ticket and no way to get home!
Snail: the no.2 bus is a good idea but what I am doing that causes me to be near the station before finishes at 2 and I'm a bit panicky when it comes to timing! Do you know how long it takes?

So you have almost an hour? It's just over half a mile between stations so won't take more than 10-15 minutes to walk at a reasonable pace. If you catch a train it will take you 2-3 minutes to get off the train, up the stairs and walk from P14 to P2/3 to get your connection. At that time of day it's around 5 minutes by bus but they are every 10 minutes and can get held up in traffic on Deansgate.

gray1404 · 26 Nov 2015

Depening on the TOC (fare setter for the ticket), for Liverpool Lime Street I've had some advance tickets print as being from/to "Liverpool L St" or "Liverpool Stations".

Manchester STNS departing ticket

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