Alfreton and/or Nottingham to Manchester - every weekday for a fortnight

[Intercity 225]

Hi,

There’s a possibility that I’ll need to make a return journey between Alfreton and/or Nottingham and Manchester every weekday for a fortnight at some point in September.

Could someone let me know my best ticketing options please? I can travel off peak if necessary. I can also commit to travelling between just Alfreton and Manchester if cost savings are considerable.

Also if anyone is able to provide advice regarding the best value car parking at or near to both Alfreton and Nottingham stations that would be massively appreciated.

Many Thanks

 

[sheff1]

A Super Off Peak Day Return from either Nottingham or Alfreton to Manchester is £25. It is not valid on trains timed to depart after 04:29 and before 09:30 or after 15:28 and before 17:47 in both directions. I would be suprised if you could undercut this by a worthwhile amount unless you can take advantage of the Northern offer (see below).
For comparison a 7-day season ticket is £137.40 from Alfreton and allows travel at any time.
>>>>

Despite Northern claiming all the 10 pence tickets (see this thread https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/northern-flash-sale-10p-advance-tickets.189371/) are sold out they actually are not - a quick search just now found plenty of times still available on, say, 9th September. To get a return from Nottingham or Alfreton for 40p you would need to change at Sheffield and be willing to commit to specific trains and have a longer journey time.

 

[Hadders]

Bear in mind that the Super Off Peak tickets have both morning and evening restrictions.

A 7 day season ticket from Nottingham to Manchester is £159.10 and from Alfreton it's £137.40. Nottingham - Manchester is also valid via Alfreton and a season ticket means that you can make unlimited journeys at any time and start and finish short as you see fit.

 

[FrankieGTH]

There are some tricks the OP can use, which I have PMed.

On a completely unrelated note, my understanding of the routing guide is Ilkeston to Manchester can be double backed into Nottingham? So an Ilkeston ticket would cover both Alfreton and Nottingham? The OP could in theory do Ilkeston > Nottingham > Manchester.

Would my understanding be correct?

Raileasy and NRE website don't have any issues with it.

 

[ChrisC]

Parking charges at Alfreton are quite reasonable in comparison to Nottingham at only £14.50 for a weekly ticket. There are some streets where you can park for free only a few minutes walk away from the station up the hill towards the town centre, but I always use the station car park.
I’ve been using Alfreton for journeys when travelling north for many years. Cheaper fares than from Nottingham, cheaper parking and shorter overall journey time from many locations on the northern side of Nottingham. Always good on the return journey to get off the train at Alfreton knowing that I can be down the M1 and back in the Hucknall area before the train I’d alighted from has arrived in Nottingham.

 

[Hadders]

Parking charges at Alfreton are quite reasonable in comparison to Nottingham at only £14.50 for a weekly ticket.

£14.50 for a week?!!! It's more than that for a day at some stations I know...

 

[tom73]

There are some streets where you can park for free only a few minutes walk away from the station

Sorry but I don't agree with this practice. I live 9-10 minutes walk from a station and some of my neighbours coming home from work sometimes have to park in the next street due to the number of parked vehicles belonging to commuters. Not being able to park outside your own house is totally reasonable but being unable to park in the street where you live is not.

 

[Hadders]

Sorry but I don't agree with this practice. I live 9-10 minutes walk from a station and some of my neighbours coming home from work sometimes have to park in the next street due to the number of parked vehicles belonging to commuters. Not being able to park outside your own house is totally reasonable but being unable to park in the street where you live is not.

I do understand this but with car parking charges at up to £15 per day I can understand why people do it.

 

[Llandudno]

I do understand this but with car parking charges at up to £15 per day I can understand why people do it.

Yep, this is the real issue.

 

[ChrisC]

Sorry but I don't agree with this practice. I live 9-10 minutes walk from a station and some of my neighbours coming home from work sometimes have to park in the next street due to the number of parked vehicles belonging to commuters. Not being able to park outside your own house is totally reasonable but being unable to park in the street where you live is not.

I totally understand this. That is why I added ‘but I always park in the station car park’ to the sentence of mine which you quoted. At Alfreton, where station parking is reasonably priced, there should be no need for people to park in neighbouring streets.

At large city stations, where land is at a premium, I can understand why station car park prices are high. There’s also usually good public transport to get to the station rather than driving too. It’s the cost of parking at stations in smaller market towns that is a problem, especially if they happen to be on a main line where parking charges are very high. I can understand why people park in neighbouring streets at places like Newark, Grantham, Retford and Chesterfield. These smaller places often do not have good public transport to reach the station from surrounding villages and parking charges in excess of £10 for a day does add a lot to the price of a rail ticket. I am not saying that I agree with parking in nearby streets but I do understand why people do it.

 

[Intercity 225]

Thank you for all the responses so far, you've all been a great help! And cheers @FrankieGTH for your PM, I'll respond to you in a moment.

Parking charges at Alfreton are quite reasonable in comparison to Nottingham at only £14.50 for a weekly ticket. There are some streets where you can park for free only a few minutes walk away from the station up the hill towards the town centre, but I always use the station car park.
I’ve been using Alfreton for journeys when travelling north for many years. Cheaper fares than from Nottingham, cheaper parking and shorter overall journey time from many locations on the northern side of Nottingham. Always good on the return journey to get off the train at Alfreton knowing that I can be down the M1 and back in the Hucknall area before the train I’d alighted from has arrived in Nottingham.

£14.50 for a week's worth of parking is very reasonable indeed, if I end up travelling from Alfreton I'll certainly get a weekly pass even if I only end up using it about three times... works out a lot cheaper than parking in the centre of Manchester or Nottingham! Suppose it's fitting that a station originally classed as a parkway has retained great pricing for parking. For both security and courtesy reasons I always try to avoid parking on the street unless absolutely necessary.

I'll actually be making very similar journeys to the ones you do as I'll ultimately be travelling to/from NG15 to Alfreton/Nottingham. I've usually used Alfreton over Nottingham when making similar journeys in the past but sometimes need to go via Nottingham for work purposes, hence the flexibility required for this upcoming fortnight.

 

[ChrisC]

For both security and courtesy reasons I always try to avoid parking on the street unless absolutely necessary.

They are the very reasons why I usually park in a station car park. I don’t like leaving my car in dodgy looking streets and I also don’t want to return at the end of the day to be met by annoyed residents because I have taken their parking space.
That’s why I try to check before using an unknown station that there is plenty of parking available. The only time that I may park away from a station car park is if it is in a safe feeling area where everyone on the street obviously have their own parking on drives or in garages. Even there I would be very careful not to park too close to someone’s access. Incidentally a day ticket for parking at Alfreton is £4.50. It’s only £2.50 off peak which I find very useful for trips out on Saturdays.

 

[FrankieGTH]

There are some tricks the OP can use, which I have PMed.

On a completely unrelated note, my understanding of the routing guide is Ilkeston to Manchester can be double backed into Nottingham? So an Ilkeston ticket would cover both Alfreton and Nottingham? The OP could in theory do Ilkeston > Nottingham > Manchester.

Would my understanding be correct?

Raileasy and NRE website don't have any issues with it.

Would anyone be able to verify my above understanding? I have given the OP some ticket advice over PM but would just want to make sure my double back understanding is correct.

 

[JB_B]

Would anyone be able to verify my above understanding? I have given the OP some ticket advice over PM but would just want to make sure my double back understanding is correct.

Assuming you want to go Ilkeston->Nottingham and then continue on to Manchester via Ilkeston the answer is yes.

Both Nottingham Routeing Point Group (=Nottingham, Attenborough, Beeston) and Chesterfield count pass the fare check and so are valid origin routeing points for a route:Any Permitted Ilkeston-Manchester Stations ticket.

You only need to worry about passing through a station twice on the mapped part of the journey (which starts at your origin routeing point.)

 

[Intercity 225]

Assuming you want to go Ilkeston->Nottingham and then continue on to Manchester via Ilkeston the answer is yes.

Both Nottingham Routeing Point Group (=Nottingham, Attenborough, Beeston) and Chesterfield count pass the fare check and so are valid origin routeing points for a route:Any Permitted Ilkeston-Manchester Stations ticket.

You only need to worry about passing through a station twice on the mapped part of the journey (which starts at your origin routeing point.)

Thank you for this, I think I understand it. So just to clarify, the following are either valid or invalid:

Valid Outward

• Ilkeston to Nottingham, Nottingham to Derby, Derby to Stoke, Stoke to Manchester
• Ilkeston to Nottingham, Nottingham to Manchester
• Ilkeston to Manchester directly or by changing at one of Sheffield/Chesterfield/Alfreton

Valid Return

• Manchester to Stoke, Stoke to Derby, Derby to Nottingham, Nottingham to Ilkeston
• Manchester to Nottingham (providing the train bypasses Ilkeston without stopping), Nottingham to Ilkeston
• Manchester to Ilkeston directly or by changing at one of Sheffield/Chesterfield/Alfreton

Invalid Return

• Manchester to Nottingham (if the train stops at Ilkeston), Nottingham to Ilkeston

Have I got that correct?

Many Thanks