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Greater Manchester "Saver Seven" ticket (mid 1970s onwards)

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Mcr Warrior

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Anyone got any more details of the Greater Manchester "Saver Seven" ticket product, which was introduced in the mid 1970s and available for quite a few years thereafter.

It was a multi-modal type travel ticket, with availability on both buses within the Greater Manchester area and local trains, the latter depending on how many zones the ticket was valid in (the greater the number of zones, the higher the ticket price).

Think that there was also a monthly variant.

Anyone got any more info?

GMT Saver Seven leaflet.jpg
 
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47296lastduff

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I think it was just a weekly ticket, no monthly option. Any version included all buses, with the zones applying to rail travel. As an example, the cheapest ticket covered rail to Ashton-under-Lyne, but Stalybridge was the next zone up. All zones were centred on Manchester, so zone 2 included zone 1 plus the extra area. I cannot remember how many zones there were. There were no time restrictions as far as I can recall.
 

Mcr Warrior

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Definitely a "Saver Monthly" variant available for a time, but much less common.
 

Trackman

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I had one for a couple years in the early 80's.
I think there were 4 zones.
I suppose the modern day equivalent would be a System One ticket.
 

jp4712

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I'm a trustee of the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester (and the author of a book on Greater Manchester's buses) so this is a topic I know a little about.

There was indeed a Saver Monthly, and yes there were four rail zones. Saver Seven was introduced in October 1975, and Monthly a year or two later (I don't have the exact date to hand). GMT's retail outlets were branded 'Saver Sales' to suit, and a former Lancashire United Bristol RE was converted for use as a Saver Sales outlet, visiting a set rota of locations to the west of Manchester each week. By the early 80s there was also Saver Annual, and from May 1983 there was - briefly and unsuccessfully - 'Sector Seven' weekly and monthly, which covered all GM bus services but only rail services in a local area that didn't include central Manchester.

The museum's online shop collectables area sometimes has Saver Seven leaflets etc on sale here.

I won't clog up the thread with images but I do have other relevant photos of Saver Seven tickets, posters, the mobile outlet etc.
 

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Mcr Warrior

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Thanks.

I've seen a pic of an old poster advertising fares for the product (effective May 1983?) as follows...

Saver Seven
Zone One: £6-00
Zone Two: £7-00
Zone Three: £8-80
Zone Four: £9-70

Saver Monthly (actually a 4 week ticket)
Zone One: £22-80
Zone Two: £26-60
Zone Three: £33-50
Zone Four: £36-90

Assuming that the £2-50 ticket advertised in the 1975 publicity leaflet (pictured upthread) was a one week Zone One ticket, that's some price inflation in not many years.

Anyone know when this multi modal ticket type was discontinued?
 

TheSel

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From the Greater Manchester Transport Museum's website comes this:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gmts/16290067421/

... showing prices from May 1983. Unsurprisingly, the 'Saver Seven' was valid for ... wait for it ... seven days. Maybe the clue was in the name? The monthly version was called the "Saver Monthly", which just goes to show how inspired the publicity team of the time were.
 

Mcr Warrior

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The monthly version was called the "Saver Monthly", which just goes to show how inspired the publicity team of the time were.
And as the small print in the pic confirms, the 'Saver Monthly' ticket was actually only valid for 4 weeks rather than a full calendar month.

The zonal map also confirms why I would have had to get a one-off excess ticket from Stockport onwards to/from Alderley Edge when travelling from Stretford with a Zone One 'Saver Seven' pass in c. 1979.
 

alistairlees

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I'm a trustee of the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester (and the author of a book on Greater Manchester's buses) so this is a topic I know a little about.

There was indeed a Saver Monthly, and yes there were four rail zones. Saver Seven was introduced in October 1975, and Monthly a year or two later (I don't have the exact date to hand). GMT's retail outlets were branded 'Saver Sales' to suit, and a former Lancashire United Bristol RE was converted for use as a Saver Sales outlet, visiting a set rota of locations to the west of Manchester each week. By the early 80s there was also Saver Annual, and from May 1983 there was - briefly and unsuccessfully - 'Sector Seven' weekly and monthly, which covered all GM bus services but only rail services in a local area that didn't include central Manchester.

The museum's online shop collectables area sometimes has Saver Seven leaflets etc on sale here.

I won't clog up the thread with images but I do have other relevant photos of Saver Seven tickets, posters, the mobile outlet etc.
Whilst the product looks ahead of its time the map is... terrible. It manages to make a simple proposition look absurdly complex.
 

Mcr Warrior

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Thanks. So "Saver Sevens" were around for the best part of a decade!

Interestingly, "The Railways of Marple and District from the earliest days to 2015" brochure/booklet by Warwick R. Burton makes a reference to "Saver Seven" tickets, and asserts that when introduced they largely removed the need for weekly season rail tickets in the Greater Manchester area.

In addition, when the scheme first started in 1975/6, Romiley was included in Zone Two, whilst Marple and Rose Hill were apparently both in Zone Four. This resulted in a jump in the price of the pass from £3-00 a week to £4-00 a week, with the result that many passengers now boarded at Romiley.

After various complaints, Marple and Rose Hill were both then re-designated as Zone Three (as is shown in the zonal map kindly provided by @jp4712 upthread), so that the price differential was then no longer quite so great.
 
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