Hi there
I was wondering if somoene could help. I have some friends, two adults and a child, who are visiting me this coming week. They are going to be making various journeys but the longest will be Guildford to Hastings, which is next Friday. It takes forever to get to Hastings from Guildford. The quickest journey in the morning after peak rush hour is 2 hours 24 minutes and that involves 3 train changes. If one wishes to make less train changes it takes even longer! In fact a journey involving the slow train from Guildford to Redhill is the quickest!
Now the first off peak ticket is at 9.48am which means one doesn't get into Hastings until 12pm. This is rather late when you have a 6 year old child who can't be out to all hours of the night and you actually want to spend some time in Hastings when you get there.
Now I think a friends and family is the cheapest point to point ticket, if getting 9.48 but in a network area it isn't valid before 9.30. This is quite a restriction when travelling such long distances and doesn't seem so fair in my opinion.
A groupsave is available before 9.30am, with the child classed as an adult. However it is very expensive to travel before 9.30 even with a groupsave. Bear in mind only 1 person is paying for all the tickets.
So is there any split ticketing or over distance ticket combinations which might be cheaper? Perhaps getting a peak ticket and switching to an off peak for the next part of the journey.
In addition to that journey they are making other journeys this week:
Monday - single from Gatwick to Guildford using friends and family [is during off peak hours]
Tuesday and Thursday - return to London with myself (groupsave 4 is cheapest here)
Wednesday - Guildford to Brighton - just the three of them so potentially friends and family
Friday - Guildford to Hastings as above
Saturday - single from Guildford to Gatwick using friends and family
Adding up all the friends and family savings, it makes sense to get the discount railcard, even though it is unlikely to be used again in the coming year.
I was wondering if somoene could help. I have some friends, two adults and a child, who are visiting me this coming week. They are going to be making various journeys but the longest will be Guildford to Hastings, which is next Friday. It takes forever to get to Hastings from Guildford. The quickest journey in the morning after peak rush hour is 2 hours 24 minutes and that involves 3 train changes. If one wishes to make less train changes it takes even longer! In fact a journey involving the slow train from Guildford to Redhill is the quickest!
Now the first off peak ticket is at 9.48am which means one doesn't get into Hastings until 12pm. This is rather late when you have a 6 year old child who can't be out to all hours of the night and you actually want to spend some time in Hastings when you get there.
Now I think a friends and family is the cheapest point to point ticket, if getting 9.48 but in a network area it isn't valid before 9.30. This is quite a restriction when travelling such long distances and doesn't seem so fair in my opinion.
A groupsave is available before 9.30am, with the child classed as an adult. However it is very expensive to travel before 9.30 even with a groupsave. Bear in mind only 1 person is paying for all the tickets.
So is there any split ticketing or over distance ticket combinations which might be cheaper? Perhaps getting a peak ticket and switching to an off peak for the next part of the journey.
In addition to that journey they are making other journeys this week:
Monday - single from Gatwick to Guildford using friends and family [is during off peak hours]
Tuesday and Thursday - return to London with myself (groupsave 4 is cheapest here)
Wednesday - Guildford to Brighton - just the three of them so potentially friends and family
Friday - Guildford to Hastings as above
Saturday - single from Guildford to Gatwick using friends and family
Adding up all the friends and family savings, it makes sense to get the discount railcard, even though it is unlikely to be used again in the coming year.