Harrogate to Peterborough with and without granddaughters

[Nickt]

I hope I can explain this clearly enough.

Grandparents live in Harrogate (HGT) and granddaughters in Peterborough (PBO), granddaughters are aged 9 and 11 and generally travel with parents on a Family Railcard. Nana and Grumpy travel with a Senior Railcard each and we are trying to work out the cheapest way for small people to come up to HGT for half-term.

Their Dad could travel up with them but his Family Railcard won't be valid for his return to PBO, so he would need to buy an adult single. Grumpy could travel down to PBO, sweep up the small people and return to HGT, buying return child tickets for granddaughters if he subsequently returns them.

When the time comes for them to go home, Grumpy could travel down with them, using their return tickets. Or Dad buys an adult single for northward journey and uses the Family Railcard for going home.

What is the least damaging arrangement to wallets?

All advice gratefully received.

Nickt

 

[transportphoto]

Family Railcard for Grandparents, assuming the discount to the child fares makes this saving back?

Consideration to strategically choosing the named card holders (e.g. one of the grandparents, one of the parents) to make future journeys slightly easier? (The railcard can then be used by either set.)

 

[Watershed]

Family Railcard for Grandparents, assuming the discount to the child fares makes this saving back?

Consideration to strategically choosing the named card holders (e.g. one of the grandparents, one of the parents) to make future journeys slightly easier? (The railcard can then be used by either set.)

For @Nickt 's benefit it's worth noting that Family Railcards provide the discount for up to 4 adults and 4 children, provided at least one of the named cardholders is travelling (they count towards the 4 adults).

So what you are suggesting is that the Family Railcard could be issued with one of the parents (e.g. Dad) as one cardholder and one of the grandparents (e.g. Grumpy) as the second cardholder. That way, as long as one of those two (and at least one child) is travelling, everyone in the group can benefit from the discount.

If bought as a Digital Railcard from the official RDG website, the Family Railcard can be saved to the Railcard app on two devices at once. So it could be on both cardholders' phones, for example. I'm not sure whether other Railcard retailers allow the Railcard to be saved to multiple devices, you would have to check with the one you plan to use. NB you can use Clubcard points/vouchers at twice their face value, towards a Family Railcard bought through the RDG site.

It's unfortunate that LNER don't offer their Family Singles for this kind of journey, as it would avoid the need for Railcards and can often even be cheaper than a single person travelling on their own.

Forgive me if it's a silly question but are the daughters old enough to travel on their own? That would almost certainly be the cheapest solution. As many others no doubt did, I commuted to secondary school by train from the age of 11, including a change at a major station. Obviously it depends on the maturity of the older daughter and her level of experience with the journey.

Perhaps they could be accompanied to the train at PBO (the gateline staff should allow a parent through for this purpose) and then off the train at Leeds by a grandparent who'd then accompany them to HGT, and vice versa for the return journey?

 

[Nickt]

For @Nickt 's benefit it's worth noting that Family Railcards provide the discount for up to 4 adults and 4 children, provided at least one of the named cardholders is travelling (they count towards the 4 adults).

So what you are suggesting is that the Family Railcard could be issued with one of the parents (e.g. Dad) as one cardholder and one of the grandparents (e.g. Grumpy) as the second cardholder. That way, as long as one of those two (and at least one child) is travelling, everyone in the group can benefit from the discount.

If bought as a Digital Railcard from the official RDG website, the Family Railcard can be saved to the Railcard app on two devices at once. So it could be on both cardholders' phones, for example. I'm not sure whether other Railcard retailers allow the Railcard to be saved to multiple devices, you would have to check with the one you plan to use. NB you can use Clubcard points/vouchers at twice their face value, towards a Family Railcard bought through the RDG site.

It's unfortunate that LNER don't offer their Family Singles for this kind of journey, as it would avoid the need for Railcards and can often even be cheaper than a single person travelling on their own.

Forgive me if it's a silly question but are the daughters old enough to travel on their own? That would almost certainly be the cheapest solution. As many others no doubt did, I commuted to secondary school by train from the age of 11, including a change at a major station. Obviously it depends on the maturity of the older daughter and her level of experience with the journey.

Perhaps they could be accompanied to the train at PBO (the gateline staff should allow a parent through for this purpose) and then off the train at Leeds by a grandparent who'd then accompany them to HGT, and vice versa for the return journey?

Interesting ideas there, thanks. Not a silly question about letting them travel by themselves, I had suggested it but got shot down by their parents and my wife! I recall travelling from Chesterfield to Aberystwyth by myself, involving a change of stations in Birmingham (New Street to Snow Hill) but I guess I was 13 or 14.

 

[Haywain]

What is the least damaging arrangement to wallets?

I would suggest that Grumpy makes two round trips to Peterborough. In each case travelling one way with a Senior Railcard discounted ticket (all singles as there are no returns), and the other with Family Railcard discounted tickets and accompanying grandchildren. I expect the £35 for the Family Railcard with Grumpy's name on it will be covered by the overall savings.

 

[Tetchytyke]

This is one situation where LNER’s change to single leg pricing will be advantageous to the customer. Simply buy singles with the appropriate railcard- Grampy can travel one way on his senior and one way on his family railcard.

I also wonder whether meeting in the middle (e.g. at Doncaster) would be cheaper overall if adult singles must be purchased.

The cheapest overall way is likely to be for grumpy to do both the collection and the return, but it depends whether he’s up for that.

 

[Haywain]

This is one situation where LNER’s change to single leg pricing will be advantageous to the customer. Simply buy singles with the appropriate railcard- Grampy can travel one way on his senior and one way on his family railcard.

I don’t see any advantage - without single leg pricing Grumpy could have just bought two opposing returns with appropriate railcard discounts. There might now be an advantage in being able to mix Advance and walk-up fares though.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I don’t see any advantage - without single leg pricing Grumpy could have just bought two opposing returns with appropriate railcard discounts

True. I was thinking that dad could do one trip and grandad could do the other, but if the same person is doing both trips there’s no advantage.