Best ticket Manchester - Liverpool - Formby - Manchester

[gray1404]

19 October Manchester to Liverpool
20 October Liverpool to Formby (stop for a few hours)
20 October Formby to Manchester (ideally via Southport as this provides last journey of the day at 22.22)

Which is the cheapest and best ticket for this please?

 

[yorkie]

What have you found so far?

Unless there is a loophole fare in this area (which, if posted here would potentially be fixed before you even commenced the journey ) I don't see why you wouldn't just get a return to Formby or Southport?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

I suspect (unless, as Yorkie says, there's a loophole out there) that you're even more limited to singles. If I have read brfares.com correctly, the only return other than various sorts of day returns is an Anytime Short Return with validity of '1DYOUT 1MTHRTN'. And the available singles are day tickets too, so I don't think there's much clever that can be done with them. Maybe there's some room for saving pennies by booking from off Merseyrail Electrics - from Edge Hill or something?

 

[yorkie]

I suspect (unless, as Yorkie says, there's a loophole out there) that you're even more limited to singles. If I have read brfares.com correctly, the only return other than various sorts of day returns is an Anytime Short Return with validity of '1DYOUT 1MTHRTN'. And the available singles are day tickets too, so I don't think there's much clever that can be done with them. Maybe there's some room for saving pennies by booking from off Merseyrail Electrics - from Edge Hill or something?

Good point; we don't know the journey time requirements but an Off Peak Return may well have fit the bill. However, as discussed previously on the forum, it appears that the TOCs have introduced "Anytime Short Return" fares that offer less validity than Off Peak Returns (and in some cases, the Saver Returns they replaced):

...I take Indigo2's point about validity, I had blithely assumed they would not give an Anytime ticket fewer rights than a Off Peak....

 

[gray1404]

Exactly guys, an off peak return or even an anytime return would have been good but there's only anytime short return now with outward validity of 1 day sadly

 

[gray1404]

Best I found is off peak return Manchester to Hightown.

Using outward part Manchester to Liverpool on day 1, overnight break of journey and using outward portion Liverpool to Hightown day 2, switching to return portion at Hightown and staying on the same train to Formby. Then break journey and continue later on in the day using return portion to go from Formby to Manchester changing at Southport.

All this would be fine provided the Manchester to Hightown off peak return is valid via both Liverpool and Southport. I do not see why it would not be...

 

[yorkie]

Yes, that's valid.

 

[gray1404]

Sadly with likelyhood of problems between Liverpool and Hightown on day 2.

 

[kieron]

NRE doesn't like Hightown-Manchester via Southport, but is happy with Hightown-Salford Central that way. I think this is based on its interpretation of the "shortest route" rule, so other web sites could calculate it differently.

If gray1404 used the return part of the ticket at the barriers in Liverpool on the Sunday, it would be accepted without question, and wouldn't be swallowed. Travel would have to involve the outward part as far as Hightown, so I'd keep a copy of the off peak return terms to hand anyway.

 

[gray1404]

Thanks Kieron Much appreciated. That will get my friend through the barrier and onto the train without problems.

If there are any problems I shall advise him to accept a penalty fare, if a simple explanation about the outward portion being valid on day 2 following overnight break of journey isn't accepted, and pay it on the spot and get a receipt. I'll then draft an appeal.