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Is Kidderminster an anomaly or is this the norm?

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Pumperkin

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Hi,

I've been looking at a return trip from Kidderminster (KID) to Oxford (OXF). If I do a straight return on a Saturday (changing at Worcester) it's £42.80. If I ticket split at Worcester it's £6.70 + £19.10 = £25.80 or 60% of the original cost.

I have noticed a lot of fares via Birmingham are like this too - it's much cheaper often to split at Birmingham when coming from KID.

I am aware split ticketing often can save but this amount seems high - are there any higher % savings across the network that people know about?

I think it has something to do with there being no more-than-one-day return from KID to Worcester/Birmingham, but surely when returning same day the costs should be relatively similar whether splitting or not?
 
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Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly

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The through fares are priced by CrossCountry, intended for travel via Birmingham and thus are very expensive. There would probably be a good case for GWR to introduce some cheaper "VIA EVESHAM" fares on this route, to win custom away from CrossCountry.
 
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alastair

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Pumperkin said:
Hi,

I've been looking at a return trip from Kidderminster (KID) to Oxford (OXF). If I do a straight return on a Saturday (changing at Worcester) it's £42.80. If I ticket split at Worcester it's £6.70 + £19.10 = £25.80 or 60% of the original cost.

I have noticed a lot of fares via Birmingham are like this too - it's much cheaper often to split at Birmingham when coming from KID.

I am aware split ticketing often can save but this amount seems high - are there any higher % savings across the network that people know about?

I think it has something to do with there being no more-than-one-day return from KID to Worcester/Birmingham, but surely when returning same day the costs should be relatively similar whether splitting or not?
Click to expand...

It's been like that for very many years. I think it goes right back to the days of Thames Trains which used to operate most of the Oxford/Worcester services, and Worcester was thus regarded as the outer boundary of the old Network Southeast area. In the same way, there is no day return fare from Kiddderminster to Oxford, but there is from Worcester to Oxford.

The same applies to routings through Banbury. If I want to make a day return trip from North Camp to Leamington (via Reading), the only through fare is an SVR fare of £59.75. If I split at Banbury the 2 CDR fares are £19.80 plus £9.10 total £28.90, less than half the price!
 
Gathursty

Gathursty

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Covering the same area, I just used this ticket today with my 26-30 railcard: Wolverhampton - Charlbury off peak return @ £23.00 valid and used via Leamington outbound and via Worcester returning.
 
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Pumperkin

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Ahh I see it's because there is no day return that the price is so high in comparison, despite the trip from KID - WOF/WOS being around 30 minutes.
 
ForTheLoveOf

ForTheLoveOf

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Pumperkin said:
Ahh I see it's because there is no day return that the price is so high in comparison, despite the trip from KID - WOF/WOS being around 30 minutes.
Click to expand...
Indeed - it's not unusual for there to be even bigger savings where there is a long-distance journey you're making a day return on.
 
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ashworth

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Pumperkin said:
Ahh I see it's because there is no day return that the price is so high in comparison, despite the trip from KID - WOF/WOS being around 30 minutes.
Click to expand...

This has always been very noticeable if trying to travel north from East Midlands Parkway. The station on the MML, often described as a white elephant, has very high fares to popular destinations in the north like Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester, Chester etc because there are no Day Returns available. Nearby Nottingham and Derby do have Day Returns available to these sort of destinations which can sometimes almost halve the price.
 
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Pumperkin

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It does annoy me. If travelling North or towards London I tend to drive to Stourbridge Junction (free parking and day returns readily available, vs £3 parking, no day returns and fewer trains). Thankfully I usually travel early enough on a weekend to avoid the carpark being full!

The only time I tend to actually start the journey from KID is if an advance has been available.
 
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