London to Maidstone Return

[unknown guy]

Hi all

I have a new job starting pretty soon in maidstone east, I went for the interview around two weeks ago and my ticket cost £24 return - as I hardly ever use national rail seeing as i normally take london underground and my new job is outside of London i didnt really know how the whole rail card system worked so just went to national rail website and bought a day return. Am just wondering if theres a cheaper option someone please tell me there is becuase that is ridiculously high

I recently bought a 16-25 railcard for students which should entitle me to 30% discount but went back to websit and couldnt find where to use the card.

So if someone could help me out i would appreciate it soo much,

So the details are

Manor Park (London) to Maidstone East
Would be going monday to friday so a weekly pass would be ideal but dont know where to get one of those, like travelcards in London weekly passes save you much more money than daily travelcards so am presuming its the same on train services outside London
Have a 16-25 student rail card

Hope this post makes sense looking forward to any advice as £24 daily will be a killer

 

[yorkie]

A ticket office can help issue whatever tickets you need.

All websites will accept railcards but you may need to go to the advanced search or enter basic details first, for example on Southern you can't enter details of your railcard on their home page, but once you click Buy Rail Tickets, then you can on the next page. This varies by site.

Return fares from Manor Park [[stn]MNP[/stn]] to Maidstone Stations

via NOT HS1:
Off Peak Day Rtn £17.30
Off Peak Rtn £26.20
Anytime Day Rtn £25.50

via ANY PERMITTED route:
Off Peak Day Rtn £22.50
Off Peak Rtn £26.30
Anytime Day Rtn £27.60

As Manor Park is within the Travelcard area, I don't think a point-to-point season is available, instead the prices for a Travelcard Season are as follows:

via NOT HS1
7 Day £104.40
1 Month £400.90
Annual (Gold Card) £4176.00

via ANY PERMITTED route
7 Day £125.60
1 Month £482.40
Annual (Gold Card) £5024.00

You can get a Season for a period of your choice greater than a month, assuming you travel Monday-Friday then it is generally best to get 1 month and however many days you require to make it up to 1 week expiring on the Friday, and then renewing the following Monday, but making allowances for Bank Holidays, days off, etc.

 

[unknown guy]

thanks just a few questions

what does via not hs1 mean

whats the difference between off peak day return day return and anytime return?? sorry for being a noob but i honestly dont get the difference

 

[cuccir]

'HS1' is the High Speed train service that runs from Kent to St Pancras via the Eurostar (Channel Tunnel) line.

National Rail shows that the fastest route from Maidstone to Manor Park uses this service: it suggests travelling from Maidstone Barracks to Strood, then catching HS1 to Stratford International, walking to Stratford station (about 400 yards!) and then travelling two stops to Manor Park. This also avoids travelling across London on the Tube!

 

[MikeWh]

HS1 is the high speed line between St Pancras and Ashford in Kent. Depending on how much you value time you might find it useful. Yorkie is right that there is no point-to-point season available, but that's not because Manor Park is in the travelcard area. I think it's more because the journey is a bit convoluted so no-one has requested it yet. You can split it into two tickets as follows:

Manor Park to Stratford (London): Weekly £11.10
Stratford International to Maidstone Barracks: Weekly £102.30

Your journey would be:
Manor Park to Straford (London)
Free bus between Straford (London) and Stratford International (will be replaced by DLR link soon)
Stratford International to Strood
Strood to Maidstone Barracks (which is a short walk from Maidstone East).

The journey from Stratford to Maidstone Barracks takes about an hour including changing at Strood. There are a few direct services from Maidstone West to Stratford, but they are largely aimed at people commuting TO London so probably won't help you.

 

[island]

Via NOT HS1 means you aren't allowed to use Southeastern high-speed services.

Off-peak day return tickets are valid for an outbound and a return journey on the same day. Off-peak return tickets are valid for an outbound journey on day of issue plus a return journey within the next month. Again, time restrictions apply. Anytime day returns are also valid for an outbound and a return journey on the same day, with no time restriction.

For this journey, the time restriction is that off-peak tickets can only be used after 0930.

A 16-25 Railcard entitles you to 34% off all journeys (with a minimum fare of £12 before 10am Monday-Friday September-June, although I don't see that coming into play here). There are no railcard discounts on season tickets, though.

Even assuming you will be travelling before 0930 and needing the Anytime fare, that's £16.85 without HS1 or £18.25 with, so in either case it's cheaper than a weekly season ticket for five days a week.

On a side point, next time you're at a London Underground station you should get them to register your 16-25 Railcard onto your Oyster card, which extends the 34% discount to all off-peak journeys and the off-peak daily cap.

 

[unknown guy]

Via NOT HS1 means you aren't allowed to use Southeastern high-speed services.

Off-peak day return tickets are valid for an outbound and a return journey on the same day. Off-peak return tickets are valid for an outbound journey on day of issue plus a return journey within the next month. Again, time restrictions apply. Anytime day returns are also valid for an outbound and a return journey on the same day, with no time restriction.

For this journey, the time restriction is that off-peak tickets can only be used after 0930.

A 16-25 Railcard entitles you to 34% off all journeys (with a minimum fare of £12 before 10am Monday-Friday September-June, although I don't see that coming into play here). There are no railcard discounts on season tickets, though.

Even assuming you will be travelling before 0930 and needing the Anytime fare, that's £16.85 without HS1 or £18.25 with, so in either case it's cheaper than a weekly season ticket for five days a week.

On a side point, next time you're at a London Underground station you should get them to register your 16-25 Railcard onto your Oyster card, which extends the 34% discount to all off-peak journeys and the off-peak daily cap.

thanks for everyones advice, anyway i will be travelling around midday so i guess il be all right

so i searched southern railway and found this

Off Peak Day Return 25% off
Origin:Manor Park, 12:02
Destination:Maidstone East, 13:37
Date:Mon 8 Aug 2011 Changes:3 Duration:1:35hrs
Valid on off-peak services. Return same day

so just so im right in my logic (and someone please correct me if im wrong, thats why im here) so this ticket will allow me to leave at midday and return at night around 10pm , someone mentioned off peak is anytime after 09:30 but what time is that untill?is it just anytime untill midnight on the same day?

btw that ticket is £15 roughly which is not bad, dont think i can find any cheaper than that tbh anywer, besides its only for a month or two before i go back to university, il probably ask the company for a transfer to a london branch, anyway if anyone could confirm my journey plan would be great thanks once again in advance

 

[MikeWh]

Off-peak is from 0930 until 0230 the next day, so you will be fine for what you wish to do. The last part of that journey is a walk from Maidstone Barracks to Maidstone East. If where you are going is somewhere between the two then you won't need all of that. Basically there are two lines through Maidstone, the East line runs roughly East-West and is the station you would normally arrive at from London, while the West and Barracks line runs roughly North-South between Strood and Tonbridge. The shortest distance between two stations on different lines is between Barracks and East. You might even find that Maidstone West is the best station for where you want to go.

 

[island]

An off-peak day return (in this case) is valid from 0930 on the day on the ticket until 0230 the following day. There is an assortment of rules about what you need to do if you break your journey overnight but I won't go into them.

Your journey plan seems fine; you can get the same ticket at a station on the day or order it online. You can during August save a further £1.95 a day by buying on Southeastern's website (not Southern's) an off-peak day return from Stratford International to Maidstone Stations (£11.20) and using your Oyster card between Manor Park and Stratford (85p×2).

 

[MikeWh]

and using your Oyster card between Manor Park and Stratford (85p×2).

Assuming that you have got your railcard discount attached to your Oystercard of course. Stratford may be able to do it as it is an Underground station as well, or take one of the Underground lines to the next stop.

 

[yorkie]

Off Peak Day Return 25% off

Last week Southern were issuing Off Peak Day Return tickets at a bona-fide 25% off, however they are no longer giving any discount, but have retained the 25% off description. In other words, false advertising.

They are only offering discounts off tickets priced by Southern, but nowhere is this mentioned and their site gives the false impression that all Off Peak / Off Peak Day tickets are discounted by this falsely appearing in the description. The price is, in fact, the same as you'd pay at the station, and costs more if the operator does their own disconts and you book through that operators website (e.g. London Midland & South East Trains).

 

[All Line Rover]

Last week Southern were issuing Off Peak Day Return tickets at a bona-fide 25% off, however they are no longer giving any discount, but have retained the 25% off description. In other words, false advertising.

They are only offering discounts off tickets priced by Southern, but nowhere is this mentioned and their site gives the false impression that all Off Peak / Off Peak Day tickets are discounted by this falsely appearing in the description. The price is, in fact, the same as you'd pay at the station, and costs more if the operator does their own disconts and you book through that operators website (e.g. London Midland & South East Trains).

Although I agree that their advertising is misleading, the T&C's (http://bitURL.net/sntc) says:

4. This promotion is open to all Southern owned inter-available journeys. (I assume this means flows priced by Southern)

8. Discounted tickets apply for any journey between any two stations served by Southern services.

So I assume that it wasn't their intention to apply the discount to all Off-Peak tickets, bit if so they should have made this clearer!

 

[yorkie]

So I assume that it wasn't their intention to apply the discount to all Off-Peak tickets, bit if so they should have made this clearer!

Agreed. And they should remove the "25% off" description when you click on a ticket that is shown at the full price. Someone who doesn't have Avantix to check the fares (or know what the fare normally is) may think they really are getting 25% off. (They would think the railways are even more overpriced than they already are!)

 

[All Line Rover]

Agreed. And they should remove the "25% off" description when you click on a ticket that is shown at the full price. Someone who doesn't have Avantix to check the fares (or know what the fare normally is) may think they really are getting 25% off. (They would think the railways are even more overpriced than they already are!)

Well if they are doing that then it should definitely be reported to the ASA - it's false advertising!

 

[yorkie]

Indeed. I have attached a screenshot.

 

[thefab444]

for example on Southern you can't enter details of your railcard on their home page

Can't you? Works fine here.

 

[EM2]

This might be a silly question, but why not find somewhere to live in Maidstone? Flats or bedsits are fairly plentiful and pretty cheap.
I know the area very well having lived there for seven years (and still have family there), if you let me know where you are working, I'll suggest some possibilities.

 

[yorkie]

Can't you? Works fine here.

I see now, but I can see how the OP could have missed it!

 

[unknown guy]

This might be a silly question, but why not find somewhere to live in Maidstone? Flats or bedsits are fairly plentiful and pretty cheap.
I know the area very well having lived there for seven years (and still have family there), if you let me know where you are working, I'll suggest some possibilities.

yes that was a possibility i was considering, its a job in the royal mail sorting office, its very near maidstone east rail station and that high street

 

[EM2]

yes that was a possibility i was considering, its a job in the royal mail sorting office, its very near maidstone east rail station and that high street

Perfect. The Buckland Hill/Buckland Road area (crossing the High-Level Bridge by the station brings you out onto Buckland Hill) is bedsit land, and the area around the prison and Boxley Road (round the back of County Hall) usually has plenty of places, including flat/house shares.
If you don't mind travelling a short way (a mile or two), heading out of town towards Ringlestone should also find you somewhere.