London to Bow Brickshill

[wenx]

I'm checking for return fares for London to Bow Brickshill on nationalrail.co.uk, and it says

London to Bow Brickshill £18.5 return

but that doesn't feel very right, so I tried

London to Bletchley £14 return
Bletchley to Bow Brickhill £2.2 return

So there they're selling a combined journey for more than separate ones via the same route and don't let you know! At the same time they claim £18.5 is the cheapest available.

Any idea what should be done with this? It probably happens on other routes too.

 

[generalvegitable]

buy the seperate tickets, for example northampton to lets say newquay is about £50 advance return, but by buying multiple tickets it can be reduced to about £30

 

[wenx]

buy the seperate tickets, for example northampton to lets say newquay is about £50 advance return, but by buying multiple tickets it can be reduced to about £30

No it's not a matter of which ticket to buy. The point is you're not told so. Or rather, you're told the higher fare is cheapest. Of course most of us won't bother checking out all the options before hand. If the train makes 10 stops then there are 9 options to break it in two, 9*8/2=36 options t break it in three, then 84 options to break it in four ... that's just unimaginable.

 

[yorkie]

So there they're selling a combined journey for more than separate ones via the same route and don't let you know!

Welcome to the forum! You must be new to railway ticketing too, as this is extremely common. In fact, it's true of many fares (perhaps the majority of mid to long distance fares?) that you can get the ticket cheaper by either splitting it into a combination of tickets or buying further, particularly if travelling at peak times.

At the same time they claim £18.5 is the cheapest available.

They are not obliged to offer combinations of tickets.

Any idea what should be done with this?

Yes. Buy the combination and tell anyone else you know who is doing this journey Don't complain as there is nothing they can do - except put the price of the individual tickets up!!

It probably happens on other routes too.

It's rife throughout the country, and even the newspapers have reported that splitting the journey into multiple tickets can be cheaper.

Take a look through old topics in this forum to see many examples where it is cheaper to split the ticket or to start/stop short on a longer distance ticket!

If there are any other journeys you do it is well worth investigating cheaper ways to do it, particularly if your journey involves leaving at a peak time.

 

[A60K]

Any idea what should be done with this? It probably happens on other routes too.

You're new here then

Seriously, welcome on board - you'll find that such a situation is often the subject of (sometimes heated) discussion. Basically the situation arises because fares are 'market' priced, rather than by strict distance travelled, and have been since British Rail days.

There are quite a few ways to beat this system, one of which you've mentioned - Yorkie will be along shortly to make your acquaintance

 

[yorkie]

No it's not a matter of which ticket to buy. The point is you're not told so. Or rather, you're told the higher fare is cheapest. Of course most of us won't bother checking out all the options before hand. If the train makes 10 stops then there are 9 options to break it in two, 9*8/2=36 options t break it in three, then 84 options to break it in four ... that's just unimaginable.

You've answered your own question as to why they are not obliged to offer split tickets

Oh, and it goes further than that - if a through ticket exists, they are not even allowed to offer a split. Some staff will offer split tickets, but they do so at great risk, as if their manager finds out they can be told off. If any staff do offer this, then the details should be kept away from where managers can see it to avoid them getting into trouble. It was reported that Potters Bar got a ticking off for advising people how to get round FCC's unfair peak restrictions, for example.

But that's what this forum's for!

 

[wenx]

Thanks for the relies - that feels very warm and kind indeed.

But I have another question - is there a way to find out what the price is to travel from the boundary of a London travelcard zone? Seems you can buy it from the ticket office and there's no way to know the price beforehand.

What happened yesterday is that I bought a ticket from boundary of zone 3 to Bletchley but later found out I was charged more than the fare from an arbitrary London terminal to Bletchley. This is, obviously, against any common sense.

 

[yorkie]

Thanks for the relies - that feels very warm and kind indeed.

You're welcome

But I have another question - is there a way to find out what the price is to travel from the boundary of a London travelcard zone? Seems you can buy it from the ticket office and there's no way to know the price beforehand.

There is, but you need Avantix Traveller (recent topic about it here)

What happened yesterday is that I bought a ticket from boundary of zone 3 to Bletchley but later found out I was charged more than the fare from an arbitrary London terminal to Bletchley. This is, obviously, against any common sense.

The Off Peak Day Return (CDR) fare is £14.00 from London Terminals, but £14.30 from Boundary Zone 3. I agree this is against any common sense. Railway ticketing often makes no sense, but this is exceptionally ridiculous and unheard of even by their crazy standards!

There is, however, a benefit in that the restriction code for London to Bletchley is as follows:-

Restriction : DM
OUTWARD TRAVEL
By any train except those
timed to depart Mondays to
Fridays from London Terminals
before 0915.
Also not valid on any train
departing London Terminals
between 1645 and 1845
inclusive.

However from Boundary Zone 3 the evening peak restriction does not apply:

Restriction : B2
OUTWARD TRAVEL
By any train except those
timed to depart Mondays to
Fridays before 0915

In both cases they are valid at any time returning from Bletchley to London.

So if you are leaving Euston in the evening peak, the Boundary Zone 3 fare is cheaper. Otherwise, it's cheaper from Euston. Crazy, but it doesn't totally surprise me.

Another random example (out of probably many thousands) where it is cheaper to go further because of differing restrictions, a customer wanting to leave Woverhampton for Manchester before 0930 is charged £53 for an Anytime as the Off Peak is not valid. However get the ticket to somewhere like Huddersfield and you are charged nearly £20 less, £34.70, because the Off Peak is valid on any train.

It's like that up and down the country. If you know your way round the system you can avoid most rip-off Anytime fares for mid to long distance journeys.

 

[A0wen]

I'm checking for return fares for London to Bow Brickshill on nationalrail.co.uk, and it says

London to Bow Brickshill £18.5 return

but that doesn't feel very right, so I tried

London to Bletchley £14 return
Bletchley to Bow Brickhill £2.2 return

So there they're selling a combined journey for more than separate ones via the same route and don't let you know! At the same time they claim £18.5 is the cheapest available.

Any idea what should be done with this? It probably happens on other routes too.

Depending on the London station you put to start from, presumably a valid route could also be via Bedford - which might account for the higher fare value?

If it was 'London Terminals' , I'd expect validity via Bedford as well as Bletchley.

 

[yorkie]

Depending on the London station you put to start from, presumably a valid route could also be via Bedford - which might account for the higher fare value?

If it was 'London Terminals' , I'd expect validity via Bedford as well as Bletchley.

But all tickets from London are from "London Terminals" (except in unusual cases, e.g. Thameslink tickets that include the 'core' section and some newly introduced route specific fares such as Southern are doing into Victoria) irrespective of which terminals they are valid from. Just because a ticket says "London Terminals" that doesn't mean it has validity on routes from more than one London terminal.

And why would a ticket from London Terminals be any more valid via a different route than a ticket from Boundary Zone x?

In the case of London Terminals to Bow Brickhill, the Route Bletchley fares actually cost more than the Any Permitted fares, despite the fact that splitting at Bletchley is so much cheaper. The pricing makes absolutely no sense, which is quite normal for rail tickets in this country.