Evening Out Returns

[winks]

How is it cheaper to switch the out and return legs of a ticket with respect of Evening Out Rtns, for example:

Basingstoke > Clapham Jct
£15.15

Clapham Jct > Basingstoke
£13.20

Apologies if I have missed something !?

 

[greatkingrat]

Supply and demand. There are more people in Basingstoke wanting an evening out in London, than people in London wanting an evening out in Basingstoke!

 

[JonathanH]

How is it cheaper to switch the out and return legs of a ticket with respect of Evening Out Rtns, for example:

Basingstoke > Clapham Jct
£15.15

Clapham Jct > Basingstoke
£13.20

Apologies if I have missed something !?

The faresetter has taken the view that the market will accept a higher price travelling towards London, than away from London. Nothing particularly unexpected about that.

 

[JB_B]

It's not particularly uncommon for rail fares to have different prices in different directions.

An anytime day return from Haywards Heath to Banstead (route: not via Clapham Junction) is double the price for the same ticket type and route in the opposite direction.

Look up fares for any train journey in Britain

Full details of all British rail Single, Return & Season tickets and Travelcards. Built-in Season Ticket Calculator.

www.brfares.com

Look up fares for any train journey in Britain

Full details of all British rail Single, Return & Season tickets and Travelcards. Built-in Season Ticket Calculator.

www.brfares.com

 

[winks]

So it would be acceptable to purchase the cheaper ticket, As after all its a day return?

 

[Watershed]

So it would be acceptable to purchase the cheaper ticket, As after all its a day return?

You could do that for a one-way journey (you would effectively 'throw away' the outward portion). But you couldn't then return, because the outward portion of a ticket is only valid if the return portion is unused (and indeed carried with you, for possible inspection).

In reality it's highly likely that you would get away with using the ticket in the wrong direction, but if you were checked on the return journey, you could get into serious trouble.

 

[winks]

Thanks for clarifying

 

[Capvermell]

The Basingstoke to Calapham Junction example is an odd one because the fare difference is usually the other way round with fares travelling out of London to a destination outside it usually being 20% or more expensive than a journey between the same two stations originating from out in the sticks.

But of course from a railway point of view Clapham Junction is not actually London in terms of any tickets with Not Valid Via London restrictions.

 

[Benjwri]

What can be cheaper, although not in this case as the fares are all day fares, is if an open return is valid for a month and you’re sure you will make the journey again within 30 days, buying the return on the way back, obviously using the outward portion for your journey back, then using the return portion for the ‘our ward’ journey of your next trip, and repeating this cycle.