Cheap tickets from Bolton (or Radcliffe/Manchester) to Preston?

[faltskog36abba]

Hello everyone, I am looking at getting cheap tickets from Bolton to Preston[ return] to connect with the Caledonian sleeper. There are four people in our party with no railcards and we plan to leave on Tuesday 24th September at five pm-We will spend some time in Preston with friends until our departure time after midnight. We will return after half four in the morning on Saturday 28th, Wishing to get a train back to Bolton. We live in Radcliffe [Greater Manchester] so we could get the train from Manchester -but we would have to pay 36 pounds 80 for the tram tickets[return] before we even board the train. I drive too and I was told it was 56 pounds to park in Preston -but no way of picking up the car at that early time of the morning on our return. Any advice all the experts out there could give me would be much appreciated, Many thanks.

 

[30907]

Virgin Trains offer Advance fares (specific-train-only between Wigan and Preston) which might be the cheapest, but means you have to go via Wigan and probably change between stations there.
Otherwise, there are no period return tickets for Bolton-Preston (same goes for many short journeys) so you would have to buy singles each way.
Two Northern Duo tickets each way would be £64.00..

BTW what info do you have that says you can't use Preston station car park at 0430? It's a conventional pay-on-foot barriered car park and I can get the VT website to prebook it.

PS could you change the title to be more specific? You might get some better responses!

 

[yorkie]

PS could you change the title to be more specific? You might get some better responses!

Yes, our rules do require thread titles to be descriptive! I have changed it on @faltskog36abba's behalf (@faltskog36abba feel free to change it to something else if you prefer)

 

[Ianno87]

Hello everyone, I am looking at getting cheap tickets from Bolton to Preston[ return] to connect with the Caledonian sleeper. There are four people in our party with no railcards and we plan to leave on Tuesday 24th September at five pm-We will spend some time in Preston with friends until our departure time after midnight. We will return after half four in the morning on Saturday 28th, Wishing to get a train back to Bolton. We live in Radcliffe [Greater Manchester] so we could get the train from Manchester -but we would have to pay 36 pounds 80 for the tram tickets[return] before we even board the train. I drive too and I was told it was 56 pounds to park in Preston -but no way of picking up the car at that early time of the morning on our return. Any advice all the experts out there could give me would be much appreciated, Many thanks.

That time in the night/morning there *must* be some free street parking bays near Preston station that aren't charged, without needing to use the multi-storey.

E.g. West side of Bow Lane looks like it has a single yellow line that only applies 0800-1900 Mon-Fri (zoom to lamppost): 21 Bow Ln https://maps.app.goo.gl/bCyyhTaYS5UXnueS6

 

[faltskog36abba]

Cheap rail fares.
I'm sorry I got mixed up regarding car parking places. A few months ago I mentioned my plans on the [Caledonian sleeper thread] and after checking Preston station parking I thought it was a bit expensive, So I looked at private car parks around the area and it was those I couldn't enter early hours Saturday morning. Thank you for your time looking at the rail fares for me -But via Wigan would be unsuitable for us.

 

[Bertie the bus]

Buckshaw Parkway station car park is free. Leyland's is £4 for a week I think. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether you would like to leave your car at either of these for several days. My personal opinion is I don't have one about Buckshaw Parkway but I wouldn't leave my car overnight at Leyland.

 

[Mathew S]

Cheap rail fares.
I'm sorry I got mixed up regarding car parking places. A few months ago I mentioned my plans on the [Caledonian sleeper thread] and after checking Preston station parking I thought it was a bit expensive, So I looked at private car parks around the area and it was those I couldn't enter early hours Saturday morning. Thank you for your time looking at the rail fares for me -But via Wigan would be unsuitable for us.

If Transpennine have begun stopping their Manchester - Scotland via Bolton services at Bolton by then, you may be able to get a cheaper Advance or TPE Only ticket in either one or the other direction and save yourself some money that way. Something to check a little closer to the time.

 

[Starmill]

I am sure that organising car parking will be both cheaper and quicker than going by public transport. However, there are Manchester to Preston Advance tickets available at £4 for your outward journey, coupled with a £4.10 plusbus for Radcliffe to Manchester.