Is it cheaper to book with train companies rather than Trainsplit?

[pemma]

There's no law against trying on a pair of shoes in a small shoe shop then buying them online for a lower price either, but it is incredibly self centred and inconsiderate to do it because it harms that small business.

You can buy from local small businesses online too. I purchased a watch online from a Cheshire based retailer that has 3 stores, just not one in the town where I live. I was hardly harming small businesses by doing that, even though it being sold for a competitive price.

Given how many posts you've made on this forum about people and businesses moving to 21st century ways of buying and selling, I'm surprised you've mentioned a small independent shoe shop. I have no idea where I would find one of those.

TrainSplit is a small business too.

They may not be a big business but they the same company as Raileasy. Therefore, it's actually possible to search on Trainsplit, then buy tickets on another site and for the same company to get the commission! Customers don't generally read small print and many will happily purchase from a different brand of the same company to save money without realising.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

There's no law against trying on a pair of shoes in a small shoe shop then buying them online for a lower price either, but it is incredibly self centred and inconsiderate to do it because it harms that small business. TrainSplit is a small business too.

It is this sort of action which has led to the decline of the High Street, not necessarily for just shoes. Sure many of us have used shops to research larger purchases and then bought on line. I did with my latest camera and saved £200. Agree that it is not the nicest thing to do, but we are all on a budget. Challenge for the business community is to reinvent the High Street to accommodate the new consumer behaviour.

Many business online are also small / sole traders, so it is possible to support small business and shop online

 

[Bletchleyite]

You can buy from local small businesses online too.

You can, but often the online prices are lower taking into account the fact that you aren't taking up staff time for a fitting, for instance, and to compete with the big boys. But at least if you buy online from the same shop they are getting some of your money. Using a shop for a fitting then buying from a DIFFERENT online retailer of any kind frankly stinks.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

You can, but often the online prices are lower taking into account the fact that you aren't taking up staff time for a fitting, for instance, and to compete with the big boys. But at least if you buy online from the same shop they are getting some of your money. Using a shop for a fitting then buying from a DIFFERENT online retailer of any kind frankly stinks.

No different IMHO of going into one shop trying something on but deciding to buy in a different shop.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It is this sort of action which has led to the decline of the High Street, not necessarily for just shoes. Sure many of us have used shops to research larger purchases and then bought on line. I did with my latest camera and saved £200. Agree that it is not the nicest thing to do, but we are all on a budget.

It's fine to buy online, but don't take advantage of a shop's in person services and then do it. Do your research online, or order a couple of sizes of the shoe you want and send the ones you don't want back, as most online sellers of that sort of product will offer.

Challenge for the business community is to reinvent the High Street to accommodate the new consumer behaviour.

It is a challenge. One option is to charge a sustainable rate for professional services at a profitable rate then sell the product at the online price in the shop. That already happens in some lines of business, e.g. financial advice, and free or heavily discounted eye tests on the basis that you'll probably get glasses there rapidly disappeared for the same reason.

No different IMHO of going into one shop trying something on but deciding to buy in a different shop.

If you wilfully go and try something on in one shop knowing you'll buy it from another, e.g. because the service at the former is better but the product is cheaper elsewhere, then yes, that is equally bad.

You are taking advantage of their professional advice and service, so it's only right that if you decide to buy you give them your business.

 

[py_megapixel]

I don't like Trainsplit's interface very much, otherwise I'd probably use them.

It's a shame really, as I like the customisation you get on the route and so on. The grid layout is fairly clever, but there are some things about the implementation that really annoy me: you can't click on the journey to see the legs as you can on almost every other booking site, for example.

 

[pemma]

The grid layout is fairly clever, but there are some things about the implementation that really annoy me: you can't click on the journey to see the legs as you can on almost every other booking site, for example.

That's something that can be quite important.

When I looked at getting to East Midlands Parkway from Knutsford I noticed some of the connection timed were just above the min required and two of the suggested legs on a journey planner had an hourly frequency. That was a major factor in me deciding that wasn't a viable option.

 

[Skymonster]

I think there’s a fair bit of hubris being expressed here, although perhaps understandable given the relationship between this website and a certain well-known rail ticketng site. To address the original question, I don’t think its ever been said that busing from a TOC will be cheaper than buying from that well-known site (not withstanding using that site for research and then buying directly, avoiding the “finders fee”). What has been prevalent in the past is encouragement not to use Trainline, primarily because of the booking fees imposed which typically make it more expensive for tickets purchased in advance.

As to Trainsplit, by and large I have no issue with buying from it paying a “finders fee” when that site finds a cheap split for me, for advance fares. Raileasy / Trainsplit is providing added value (i.e. a saving for me) and I believe it reasonable and fair to compensate the business for doing that for me.

However, I only rarely buy from TrainSplit it if offers (or I need) only walk up fares, even if it proposes a substantial saving. In the case of walk ups, I will admit to using Trainsplit (effectively for research) and then buying from the local TOC - although again I say I am happy and do buy split advances via TrainSplit where it shows a saving. The reason I don’t buy walk-up from Trainsplit is that I have a strong preference for paper tickets, and experience has shown that if there is a problem with TOD I get far more support from the ticket office at my local station if I have bought from the TOC that operates the station - even if I have bought from that TOC‘s website rather than a TVM or the ticket office.

 

[miklcct]

I don't like Trainsplit's interface very much, otherwise I'd probably use them.

It's a shame really, as I like the customisation you get on the route and so on. The grid layout is fairly clever, but there are some things about the implementation that really annoy me: you can't click on the journey to see the legs as you can on almost every other booking site, for example.

The web layout is a bit buggy that I still have to rely on other websites to check the journey I want, before I get to Trainsplit to buy my tickets. The mobile app doesn't have the problem though but it is not possible to customise the journey on the mobile app.

In concrete terms, Trainsplit sometimes failed to show the fastest non-overtaken journeys for a particular input, that I contacted the customer service for a few times, and now I have to use National Rail Enquiries to make sure that the journey shown on Trainsplit isn't overtaken by some faster trains before I have confidence to buy tickets.

Also, TOC websites generally do a better job to show the advance purchase availability on a whole day as well - they list all departures within a period and the corresponding Advance ticket price, while Trainsplit only shows 4x4 in a grid which is very limiting if I am looking for the cheapest trains in the whole morning / afternoon, while the cheapest button may sometime generate itineraries with undesirable routings and changes.

In such case I need to do my research to arrange my itinerary to fit on the trains with the lowest tiers of advance purchase tickets, then enter the exact time and the parameters to Trainsplit to ticket it.

So nowadays I only use Trainsplit to buy fixed-time tickets where my journey is at a fixed non-negotiable time, such as attending sports events, and when I don't need PlusBus or bike reservation. Otherwise, I buy from the TOC direct as they offers the features I need.

I don't like Trainsplit's interface very much, otherwise I'd probably use them.

It's a shame really, as I like the customisation you get on the route and so on. The grid layout is fairly clever, but there are some things about the implementation that really annoy me: you can't click on the journey to see the legs as you can on almost every other booking site, for example.

I can't reproduce this problem. I can always click on the journey to see the details.

 

[yorkie]

Or they would find an alternative way to finance themselves.

It would be impossible for such sites to be financially viable if everyone booked through train company sites.

I notice there's now an affiliate link for Trainsplit from Rail Forums. Would Rail Forums have disappeared if none of the split ticketing sites had agreed to this, or would you have looked at other options?

The forum isn't dependent on this income; it will be added to what we get through adverts. All money raised through advertising and/or affiliate links will either be paying for the running of the forum, or to run forum events (e.g. the free fares workshops we run, that sort of thing).

Our income isn't great at the moment but in the past the forum had a very healthu surplus, and as we are not for profit, we were able to give money to good causes (e.g. over £4k for the 125 Group)

Since when? I thought they were obliged to offer you the cheapest suitable ticket(s) for your journey.

Ticket, singular, unless a through fare isn't available.

I understand that doesn't mean they have to spend time searching for the best fare but if they know an alternative ticket or combination that is cheaper than what you requested they should mention it.

Under the rules of impartial retailing, they are not supposed to mention it.

Some booking office staff are grateful for any business that you have decided to do in person opposed to online.

Some are, but the last time I visited a ticket office (last week) I was sold an invalid ticket for my journey and also was incorrectly told that boundary Zone tickets require the company to run trains which call at the boundary station and the member of staff didn't seem particularly grateful either.

I'd presume most people on this forum know that it is possible to buy tickets without paying a booking fee if you choose an appropriate site.

Yes; such as Trainsplit.

There are many reasons I have to do this as mentioned before, e.g. PlusBus, bike reservation, cashback, etc.

That's not the point @skyhigh was making at all and is not what was being claimed in the opening post; I don't understand the relevance.

As for cashback, the amounts are so miniscule on comparison to the additional fares typically charged on train company websites for many longer (and even medium) distance journeys.

I don't like Trainsplit's interface very much, otherwise I'd probably use them.

It's a shame really, as I like the customisation you get on the route and so on. The grid layout is fairly clever, but there are some things about the implementation that really annoy me: you can't click on the journey to see the legs as you can on almost every other booking site, for example.

Are you referring to the old site? I guess you have not tried our affiliate website, which is what originally sparked the debate in this thread.

The web layout is a bit buggy that I still have to rely on other websites to check the journey I want, before I get to Trainsplit to buy my tickets. The mobile app doesn't have the problem though but it is not possible to customise the journey on the mobile app.

In concrete terms, Trainsplit sometimes failed to show the fastest non-overtaken journeys for a particular input, that I contacted the customer service for a few times, and now I have to use National Rail Enquiries to make sure that the journey shown on Trainsplit isn't overtaken by some faster trains before I have confidence to buy tickets.

Do you have an actual example where a fast journey on Trainsplit is overtaken by a result shown on NRE and not Trainsplit? This may be best done in a dedicated thread.

Also, TOC websites generally do a better job to show the advance purchase availability on a whole day as well - they list all departures within a period and the corresponding Advance ticket price, while Trainsplit only shows 4x4 in a grid which is very limiting if I am looking for the cheapest trains in the whole morning / afternoon, while the cheapest button may sometime generate itineraries with undesirable routings and changes.

What do you mean by 4x4 grid? Are you talking about the old site?

In such case I need to do my research to arrange my itinerary to fit on the trains with the lowest tiers of advance purchase tickets, then enter the exact time and the parameters to Trainsplit to ticket it.

Do you have an example where an appropriate itinerary for a journey is not available? Probably best done as a new thread.

So nowadays I only use Trainsplit to buy fixed-time tickets where my journey is at a fixed non-negotiable time, such as attending sports events, and when I don't need PlusBus or bike reservation. Otherwise, I buy from the TOC direct as they offers the features I need.

PlusBus is coming soon. Not sure about bike reservations.

I can't reproduce this problem. I can always click on the journey to see the details.

I will agree with this.

They may not be a big business but they the same company as Raileasy. Therefore, it's actually possible to search on Trainsplit, then buy tickets on another site and for the same company to get the commission! Customers don't generally read small print and many will happily purchase from a different brand of the same company to save money without realising.

Why would anyone search using Trainsplit and then buy through the Raileasy website?

The Raileasy website is an oddity in that it appears to be run by a different company on behalf of Raileasy.

 

[ABB125]

The following scenario might help make things clearer. Note that all prices are made up, because I can't be bothered to look anything up.

I want to go from London to Manchester today*. I go to Avanti's website (or any other TOC or 3rd party retailer), the through fare is £100. Great, I can buy this online, or go to a station and buy it from a ticket office or machine (or even on the train from the guard). It will cost me £100. No commission or booking fee or anything*. I can even put the journey into TrainSplit, specify "no splitting", and this fare will come up.

However, because I know a bit about railway ticketing, I know that I might be able to save money by splitting the ticket. So before I book, I put the same journey into TrainSplit. Wow! I can get the same train for £66! What a bargain. This saves me £34 compared to buying from a TOC (be it online or in person). So TrainSplit is cheaper.

Further examination reveals that TrainSplit is selling me a London to Crewe ticket and Crewe to Manchester ticket. These cost £50 and £10, respectively, so £60 in total. But wait a minute! Why is TrainSplit charging me £66? Well, as their website says, "If we find you a saving using split ticketing, we take a commission of up to 15%. If there's no saving, there's no fee". So, the £60 ticket cost saves £40 compared to the through ticket. 15% of £40 is £6, hence the TrainSplit price of £66.

I'm a cheapskate, and I don't want to pay the £6 commission TrainSplit wants (even though I'm saving £34 already), so I'm going to buy the two tickets separately. I don't mind carrying extra bits of paper/having multiple PDF documents. To do so, I can:

• Book two separate journeys (London to Crewe, Crewe to Manchester) on TrainSplit. Because the system isn't generating any splits for me, I don't pay any commission. Thus the total cost is £60.
• Do the above, but using a TOC or other 3rd party website. Again, this will cost me £60.
• Go to a station, and buy the tickets separately from a ticket machine. Again, this will cost me £60 (but I'll only be able to do this if the machine allows me to change the origin).
• Ask for "London to Manchester, split at Crewe" from the ticket office. If the seller agrees, and can find the correct fares, this will also cost me £60.

As can be seen, all four options here cost the same. Therefore, there is no disbenefit in buying the tickets from TrainSplit, which then benefits from the "retailer's commission**" from the tickets which helps to keep the splitting service going.

Hopefully this is a nice, clear example.
I'm happy to be corrected if I've made any errors in this post.


*Because I'm travelling today, Trainline won't charge a booking fee.
**Not to be confused with split saving commission, or booking fees. All retailers (online, at the station etc) keep a small proportion of the value of all tickets they sell to cover the costs of selling the ticket. I don't know how much this is, but I think it varies depending on the retailing situation (eg: ticket office retains more of the ticket price than online sales).

 

[yorkie]

The following scenario might help make things clearer. Note that all prices are made up, because I can't be bothered to look anything up.

I want to go from London to Manchester today*. I go to Avanti's website (or any other TOC or 3rd party retailer), the through fare is £100. Great, I can buy this online, or go to a station and buy it from a ticket office or machine (or even on the train from the guard). It will cost me £100. No commission or booking fee or anything*. I can even put the journey into TrainSplit, specify "no splitting", and this fare will come up.

However, because I know a bit about railway ticketing, I know that I might be able to save money by splitting the ticket. So before I book, I put the same journey into TrainSplit. Wow! I can get the same train for £66! What a bargain. This saves me £34 compared to buying from a TOC (be it online or in person). So TrainSplit is cheaper.

Further examination reveals that TrainSplit is selling me a London to Crewe ticket and Crewe to Manchester ticket. These cost £50 and £10, respectively, so £60 in total. But wait a minute! Why is TrainSplit charging me £66? Well, as their website says, "If we find you a saving using split ticketing, we take a commission of up to 15%. If there's no saving, there's no fee". So, the £60 ticket cost saves £40 compared to the through ticket. 15% of £40 is £6, hence the TrainSplit price of £66.

I'm a cheapskate, and I don't want to pay the £6 commission TrainSplit wants (even though I'm saving £34 already), so I'm going to buy the two tickets separately. I don't mind carrying extra bits of paper/having multiple PDF documents. To do so, I can:

• Book two separate journeys (London to Crewe, Crewe to Manchester) on TrainSplit. Because the system isn't generating any splits for me, I don't pay any commission. Thus the total cost is £60.
• Do the above, but using a TOC or other 3rd party website. Again, this will cost me £60.
• Go to a station, and buy the tickets separately from a ticket machine. Again, this will cost me £60 (but I'll only be able to do this if the machine allows me to change the origin).
• Ask for "London to Manchester, split at Crewe" from the ticket office. If the seller agrees, and can find the correct fares, this will also cost me £60.

As can be seen, all four options here cost the same. Therefore, there is no disbenefit in buying the tickets from TrainSplit, which then benefits from the "retailer's commission**" from the tickets which helps to keep the splitting service going.

Hopefully this is a nice, clear example.
I'm happy to be corrected if I've made any errors in this post.


*Because I'm travelling today, Trainline won't charge a booking fee.
**Not to be confused with split saving commission, or booking fees.

Absolutely right and very eloquently explained.

All retailers (online, at the station etc) keep a small proportion of the value of all tickets they sell to cover the costs of selling the ticket. I don't know how much this is, but I think it varies depending on the retailing situation (eg: ticket office retains more of the ticket price than online sales).

It has reduced a lot in recent years and it varies by retail channel. I can't remember what it is for web sales but the forum does get a proportion of this.

I will also add that it is very costly for retailers if people choose TOD; it won't cost the forum but it does cost the retailer. In many cases a retailer actually makes a loss on the sale.

Fortunately most journeys are now e-ticketable.

 

[miklcct]

That's not the point @skyhigh was making at all and is not what was being claimed in the opening post; I don't understand the relevance.

As for cashback, the amounts are so miniscule on comparison to the additional fares typically charged on train company websites for many longer (and even medium) distance journeys.

Before the Nectar scheme ended, I earned more than 1000 Nectar points in just a few months. The most expensive I had ever bought before the scheme ended was a Bournemouth - Edinburgh super off-peak return, and there were no splitting opportunities at all if I required a flexible journey. I bought the ticket with 4 PlusBus tickets as add-ons at GWR and earned hundreds of Nectar points in one go.

Do you have an actual example where a fast journey on Trainsplit is overtaken by a result shown on NRE and not Trainsplit? This may be best done in a dedicated thread.

The problem is that, there is no simple way to show all non-overtaken journeys on Trainsplit website. For, example, type in Bournemouth to London Waterloo, it doesn't simply show the all non-overtaken journeys to London Waterloo in grid mode. For example, the 11:45 - 13:49 journey (XC changing at Basingstoke) isn't shown on the grid. See the pictures below.

In timeline mode, there are a number of slower journeys scattering the view as well.



Back to the main topic. The "share of saving commission" by Trainsplit can be as high as 30% of the ticket price. This costs a lot if the through ticket in question is a very expensive one. For example, I know that Southern has cheap Advance tickets between Southampton and Clapham Junction, so I am willing to go this indirect route instead of using the direct service. However, such tickets are not available between Bournemouth and Clapham Junction so I need to use another Advance ticket from Bournemouth to Southampton to complete my journey.

However, if specify this on Trainsplit, it will charge a hefty share of saving commission because the cheapest through ticket is an Anytime Day Single! For example, see the screenshot below:



The split tickets cost £12.30 but the through ticket, which is an Anytime Day Single, costs £57.10. The split saving commission is £3.69. So the "privilege" of having the combination of tickets issued as a through journey costs 30% of the ticket price, which easily add up.

The point here is that, no one in his right mind will buy a £57.10 ticket to travel on the long way round Sussex, and this is only taken into consideration because this is a permitted route. If there is no through ticket there is no split saving commission. The same ridiculous commission can also be found in cases where the route is not a permitted route, but a through ticket is available in form of a Travelcard as well.

 

[DelayRepay]

I am old enough to remember the days before sites like Trainsplit existed, when finding splits was a dark art. You could spend ages trying different combinations of split points to try to find the best prices. You could try asking here in the hope that someone who'd made a similar journey before would have some ideas. And in the end you would give up and pay the full fare, or settle for something that was cheaper but probably not cheapest.

Last time I booked through Trainsplit, it found tickets that saved me about £15*. Not a huge saving but it wasn't a long journey. For this they wanted about £2.50* commission. I thought that was a good deal given that they'd saved me either time, money or both.

Like many things in life you can do it yourself, or pay someone else to do it for you. For me life is too short to waste hours trying random splitting points in the hope of hitting on the right one. All depends on how much you value your time I suppose.

*Figures are approximate, from memory. Life is also too short to go back through my records to confirm the exact amounts!

 

[miklcct]

For me life is too short to waste hours trying random splitting points in the hope of hitting on the right one. All depends on how much you value your time I suppose.

Honestly if you are buying flexible tickets the search is very simple. You are not wasting hours trying random split points.

The way to find the most appropriate split, guaranteed, is that:
1. Trace the route on a map.
2. Read the timetable to see which stations all train call at.
3. Find the split.

For most long-distance journeys there are only a few major stations where all the fastest itineraries will call.

For example, for a Bournemouth - London journey on Mon - Sat, the only possible split points are Southampton Central, Southampton Airport Parkway and Winchester, as these are the only stations where all trains call. On Sunday, Basingstoke, Woking and Clapham Junction can also be taken into consideration as well.

If you are making a London - York journey on a weekday, you don't even need to consider splitting at all as some trains run non-stop.

And with some knowledge, the search can be narrowed as well, for example, to try places where different TOCs price the fares, or to split a period return into a series of day returns, or to split an off-peak ticket into a series of super off-peak tickets.

 

[Skymonster]

All retailers (online, at the station etc) keep a small proportion of the value of all tickets they sell to cover the costs of selling the ticket. I don't know how much this is, but I think it varies depending on the retailing situation (eg: ticket office retains more of the ticket price than online sales).

ATOC ticket sale commission rates, last updates Sept 2021 - third parties get 5%.I almost understand the need to charge a booking fee in a £5 ticket, but 5% on a £200 ticket is IMHO more than enough and additional booking fees are unwarranted

https://www.atoctravelagents.org/clientfiles/File/Rail%20Industry%20Commission%20Rates.pdf

 

[Bletchleyite]

I am old enough to remember the days before sites like Trainsplit existed, when finding splits was a dark art. You could spend ages trying different combinations of split points to try to find the best prices. You could try asking here in the hope that someone who'd made a similar journey before would have some ideas. And in the end you would give up and pay the full fare, or settle for something that was cheaper but probably not cheapest.

Last time I booked through Trainsplit, it found tickets that saved me about £15*. Not a huge saving but it wasn't a long journey. For this they wanted about £2.50* commission. I thought that was a good deal given that they'd saved me either time, money or both.

Like many things in life you can do it yourself, or pay someone else to do it for you. For me life is too short to waste hours trying random splitting points in the hope of hitting on the right one. All depends on how much you value your time I suppose.

*Figures are approximate, from memory. Life is also too short to go back through my records to confirm the exact amounts!

It also offers a seat selector, for which I would* pay a small fee alone.

* If it was 100% bang-on all the time, which it isn't quite, albeit for understandable reasons.

 

[Watershed]

ATOC ticket sale commission rates, last updates Sept 2021 - third parties get 5%.I almost understand the need to charge a booking fee in a £5 ticket, but 5% on a £200 ticket is IMHO more than enough and additional booking fees are unwarranted

https://www.atoctravelagents.org/clientfiles/File/Rail%20Industry%20Commission%20Rates.pdf

Agreed. I think the share of saving fee really ought to be capped, as it can add up to quite a substantial sum otherwise.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Agreed. I think the share of saving fee really ought to be capped, as it can add up to quite a substantial sum otherwise.

You don't have to use them, to be fair.

 

[miklcct]

Agreed. I think the share of saving fee really ought to be capped, as it can add up to quite a substantial sum otherwise.

It is capped at 30% of the split ticket price, i.e. the less of 15% of savings or 30% of the split ticket price.

 

[Envoy]

I have just been onto Trainsplit & put in for a journey from Cardiff to Edinburgh on Tuesday 11 October. Trainsplit fare came in at £72.44 which is a saving of £92.56. Commission would be a whopping £16.34. (It is £30 Cardiff to Crewe plus £26.10 Crewe to Edinburgh = £56.10). So, I wonder what most people would do regarding booking this journey?

 

[yorkie]

Honestly if you are buying flexible tickets the search is very simple. You are not wasting hours trying random split points.

The way to find the most appropriate split, guaranteed, is that:
1. Trace the route on a map.
2. Read the timetable to see which stations all train call at.
3. Find the split.

For most long-distance journeys there are only a few major stations where all the fastest itineraries will call.

For example, for a Bournemouth - London journey on Mon - Sat, the only possible split points are Southampton Central, Southampton Airport Parkway and Winchester, as these are the only stations where all trains call. On Sunday, Basingstoke, Woking and Clapham Junction can also be taken into consideration as well.

But how do you know if it's cheaper to split once, twice, or more often? I've seen some journeys where it's cheapest to get 10 tickets!

I suspect most people don't have as much spare time as you do.

If you are making a London - York journey on a weekday, you don't even need to consider splitting at all as some trains run non-stop.

But anyone on a budget won't (typically) be getting the non-stop trains and will instead be on one of the stoppers, with splits at somewhere like Newark, Grantham etc.

I saw a journey from Harrogate to Hastings where the cheapest combination involved splitting at Wakefield, Grantham, Stevenage, High Brooms. Good luck finding that with your methodology; it would take you hours!

And with some knowledge, the search can be narrowed as well, for example, to try places where different TOCs price the fares, or to split a period return into a series of day returns, or to split an off-peak ticket into a series of super off-peak tickets.

How is the average person meant to work this out? You can't be serious...

I have just been onto Trainsplit & put in for a journey from Cardiff to Edinburgh on Tuesday 11 October. Trainsplit fare came in at £72.44 which is a saving of £92.56. Commission would be a whopping £16.34. (It is £30 Cardiff to Crewe plus £26.10 Crewe to Edinburgh = £56.10). So, I wonder what most people would do regarding booking this journey?

How many tickets was it? I personally think the share of saving commission is too high; if it's two tickets then I expect many people (and perhaps everyone on this forum) to add each segment manually and avoid the fee. If it's something like 10 tickets, then that would be a LOT of work (bearing in mind the need to ensure that for each segment the correct origin, destination, date and time must be chosen)

ATOC ticket sale commission rates, last updates Sept 2021 - third parties get 5%.I almost understand the need to charge a booking fee in a £5 ticket, but 5% on a £200 ticket is IMHO more than enough and additional booking fees are unwarranted

https://www.atoctravelagents.org/clientfiles/File/Rail%20Industry%20Commission%20Rates.pdf

If the average transaction was a 200 quid e-ticket then yes they'd probably be making very good money.

But do bear in mind many transactions are low value, and if they are issued through TOD (paper based tickets requiring collection from a machine), the retailer is compelled to make a loss on the transaction.

 

[DelayRepay]

Honestly if you are buying flexible tickets the search is very simple. You are not wasting hours trying random split points.

The way to find the most appropriate split, guaranteed, is that:
1. Trace the route on a map.
2. Read the timetable to see which stations all train call at.
3. Find the split.

For most long-distance journeys there are only a few major stations where all the fastest itineraries will call.

For example, for a Bournemouth - London journey on Mon - Sat, the only possible split points are Southampton Central, Southampton Airport Parkway and Winchester, as these are the only stations where all trains call. On Sunday, Basingstoke, Woking and Clapham Junction can also be taken into consideration as well.

Well I speak from experience of trying to find good splits before there were websites to do it for you. I don't normally restrict myself to flexible tickets - I'm happy to use Advances if cheaper. And yes I could trace the route on a map, but there are different routes and sometimes different calling patterns on the same route.

Obviously if you make a journey regularly, you learn where the best places to split are but if it's a new journey it's more difficult.

If you are making a London - York journey on a weekday, you don't even need to consider splitting at all as some trains run non-stop.

That assumes you're more interested in the speed of the journey than the price. I am not familiar with ticket prices on that route, but if I was planning to make the journey I would still look for split tickets, especially if I was avoiding Advance tickets for some reason. It may be a compromise between the speed/time of the journey and the price, but sites like TrainSplit will present the options for me.

The other point is your example journeys from Bournemouth to London and London to York are very simple journeys with one main route and one TOC.

But can you find me the cheapest ticket from Bournemouth to York, without using Trainsplit? I want to prioritise cost over time. I'd ideally like to travel on Tuesday morning, but would consider going on Monday, or Tuesday afternoon if it makes a big difference to price. TrainSplit would show me a range of options with a couple of minutes effort. How long would it take you to find the best fare manually?

 

[Bletchleyite]

ATOC ticket sale commission rates, last updates Sept 2021 - third parties get 5%.I almost understand the need to charge a booking fee in a £5 ticket, but 5% on a £200 ticket is IMHO more than enough and additional booking fees are unwarranted

https://www.atoctravelagents.org/clientfiles/File/Rail%20Industry%20Commission%20Rates.pdf

Additional booking fees a la Trainline I'd agree, but Trainsplit is charging for a specific service not provided as part of the standard offering.

The split tickets cost £12.30 but the through ticket, which is an Anytime Day Single, costs £57.10. The split saving commission is £3.69. So the "privilege" of having the combination of tickets issued as a through journey costs 30% of the ticket price, which easily add up.

The point here is that, no one in his right mind will buy a £57.10 ticket to travel on the long way round Sussex, and this is only taken into consideration because this is a permitted route. If there is no through ticket there is no split saving commission. The same ridiculous commission can also be found in cases where the route is not a permitted route, but a through ticket is available in form of a Travelcard as well.

Every rule has an exception. You can also pay nothing for splits through Trainsplit if there's no through ticket at all valid via that route. I used it once to go Cardiff to Bletchley via the Heart of Wales Line and Birmingham. There is no through ticket for this so I wasn't charged any extra.

 

[Mojo]

Every rule has an exception. You can also pay nothing for splits through Trainsplit if there's no through ticket at all valid via that route. I used it once to go Cardiff to Bletchley via the Heart of Wales Line and Birmingham. There is no through ticket for this so I wasn't charged any extra.

TrainSplit is also great at finding itineraries on a through ticket that are slower so either not available whatsoever or quite hard to find on other websites (eg. GC+Northern or HT+TPx), again on these you don’t pay anything as it isn’t a split.

 

[Envoy]

https://www.traintickets.com/?/ will also find splits and only charges 10% commission on the amount saved as opposed to Trainsplits 15%. They also have a very easy to use website.

 

[Bletchleyite]

https://www.traintickets.com/?/ will also find splits and only charges 10% commission on the amount saved as opposed to Trainsplits 15%. They also have a very easy to use website.

Has a very nice UI but failed completely on the first query I threw it - Bletchley to Wick single for later today. Yes, Avanti's compulsory reservations mess with things a bit, but Trainsplit can do it. It appears to have a more basic search engine which just looks for the fastest journeys then attempts to find splits on them.

 

[XAM2175]

It's a shame really, as I like the customisation you get on the route and so on. The grid layout is fairly clever, but there are some things about the implementation that really annoy me: you can't click on the journey to see the legs as you can on almost every other booking site, for example.

Have you tried the timeline view available at https://new.trainsplit.com/ (or indeed the forum affiliate site)?

What do you mean by 4x4 grid? Are you talking about the old site?

I repeat that the timeline view absolutely needs to be the default again, as it briefly was to begin with.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I repeat that the timeline view absolutely needs to be the default again, as it briefly was to begin with.

I personally really dislike the timeline view, and didn't use the new Trainsplit at all (other than once to see it) until the grid view was implemented there. I don't care which is the default, as long as the grid one is there and easy to switch to. The grid is probably more useful for the "layman" so it being the default is probably better.

One nice feature addition would be if the "hover over" showed you the detailed itinerary rather than the "changing at" list. I get why they'd not want to show the splits on there (too easy to go and buy them elsewhere) but the itinerary would be really useful.

 

[js517]

I personally really dislike the timeline view, and didn't use the new Trainsplit at all (other than once to see it) until the grid view was implemented there. I don't care which is the default, as long as the grid one is there and easy to switch to. The grid is probably more useful for the "layman" so it being the default is probably better.

One nice feature addition would be if the "hover over" showed you the detailed itinerary rather than the "changing at" list. I get why they'd not want to show the splits on there (too easy to go and buy them elsewhere) but the itinerary would be really useful.

There are "challenges" with both views. Plenty of non-expert users don't like the use of CRS codes on the timeline view.