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Most pointless journey for which a fare is available

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NoMorePacers

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Barrow Haven to Hull, £41.20 Anytime Day Single.
To Barton it’s only £2.10.
Or Now a direct bus from Barrow Village and it’s no more than £6
Similar price from Barton I believe - either way, much easier (and cheaper) to just take the 250 across the bridge.
 
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Mcr Warrior

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Worcester Shrub Hill to Foregate Street, I walked it in 12 mins the other day.
Possibly slightly longer time in the other direction, being (mostly) uphill to Shrub Hill (The clue's in the name!) :)
 

Bletchleyite

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Luckily can get it from a TOC site for a mere 4.20 anytime single!

That'll be a 2 zone Day Saver (the Merseyrail site shows it as £4.10 but maybe it's gone up and they've forgotten to change it).

If you really wanted to do it, the cheapest fare to use would be Orrell Park-Rice Lane Anytime Day Single at £2.40.
 

2L70

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Possibly slightly longer time in the other direction, being (mostly) uphill to Shrub Hill (The clue's in the name!) :)
At one time Train Crew at Shrub Hill were diagrammed to walk to Foregate Street and pick up trains from there. About 20 years ago I think..
 

YorksLad12

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What would Hammersmith to Hammersmith be? I can't plan that journey, but I'm guessing the cost of a Zone 1 Travelcard... to travel 184-ish feet, according to Google.

Bradford Interchange to Bradford Forster Square would be via Leeds, about 1 hour depending on the timings. Ten minutes on foot.
 

Mcr Warrior

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What would Hammersmith to Hammersmith Bradford Interchange to Bradford Forster Square would be via Leeds, about 1 hour depending on the timings. Ten minutes on foot.
No point to point fares available from Bradford Interchange to Forster Square are there?
 

Killingworth

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Recently I heard that many years ago a number of stations sold a lot of season tickets for very short journeys, although very few journeys were made. The example I was given was Attercliffe - Sheffield. The reason was big discounts given on tickets that could only be bought by any season ticket holder, the likely savings greater than the cost of the season ticket.*

That might have made the first class Penzance - Wick return attractive. In those days there would have been first class available all the way.

Today a return standard class return from Penzance - Wick with railcard seems to be possible for about £450. With split ticketing probably less. Quite a lot of changes and night travel, but doable. I suspect it's been done and could be a rail enthusiasts challenge.

* About 30 years ago I spotted that if you sent in wrappers from Colgate toothpaste they'd return a voucher to be given Premium Bonds. It was too good to be true, but it was true. Buy £5 worth of toothpaste and be given £10 in Premium Bonds, a no brainer deal. That toothpaste must have lasted us over 5 years!! Marketing people can get things wrong, or maybe they get it right; these sort of delays get us hooked.
 

HSTEd

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That might be useful if you had a TOC specific Advance that only got you to Picc and were going to the university or around there. I've certainly bought a non-zero number of that ticket when I was at uni.

Slightly off topic - would you be covered when it tells you a specific train and connecting trains, since the ticket is notionally to Manchester Stations?
 

urbophile

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Someone else pointed out a while ago asking for Liverpool Central to Lime St (on a one way loop, trains travel in the opposite direction) which gives walk Central to Lime St., catch a train back to Central then walk, again, Central to Lime St.
That is bizarre! If you really want to go by train you'd get the Northern Line to Moorfields (one stop) and then Wirral Line to Lime Street (one stop). But the walk between the two lines at Moorfields takes almost as long as the walk on the surface between Central and Lime Street.
 

Ianno87

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Buxton to Matlock. £52 return via the very elongated train journey (compared to a direct bus)
 

AM9

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On the Underground there's also Aldgate to Aldgate East. About 260m on foot, but by train, 1307m via Liverpool St and 1255m via Tower Hill.
 

Fawkes Cat

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Today a return standard class return from Penzance - Wick with railcard seems to be possible for about £450. With split ticketing probably less. Quite a lot of changes and night travel, but doable. I suspect it's been done and could be a rail enthusiasts challenge.
Or maybe get yourself a seven day All Lines Rover (ALR) - £540, or £356.40 with a railcard (https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/pr20780b0a0400020167ed620a7e504e.aspx). Save almost £100 every time you make a Penzance-Wick return journey!
 

NorthOxonian

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Stourbridge Junction to Stourbridge Town for £1.10 single
I've bought that ticket (albeit for 75p with railcard discount). I was visiting the area and wanted. It was cheaper to have a bus day ticket (which I'd used all the way from Coventry) and that single fare than to buy a multimodal day ticket.

As for the main topic of the thread, Bicester Village to Bicester North - it costs £18.70 for a single which sends you via Princes Risborough or Haddenham and Thame Parkway. Bizarrely, a first class fare is also available, despite Chiltern's lack of first class.
 

Whistler40145

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One which I assumed would be quite cheap is Blackpool North to Blackpool South via Kirkham and Wesham and was quoted £25.20 single
 

Mcr Warrior

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One which I assumed would be quite cheap is Blackpool North to Blackpool South via Kirkham and Wesham and was quoted £25.20 single
As JonathanH has just pointed out, isn't that the price of a Lancashire Day Ranger?

Seen that quite a few times, when no point to point fare is available, day ranger type product pricing is instead suggested.
 

65477

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If you enter Hertford East to Hertford North you do get a message no fare and a 30 min walk. However add London as a via point and arrive at single fare of £35.20, oddly on the example I selected you are routed KX - Stevenage - Hertford North
 

Whistler40145

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As JonathanH has just pointed out, isn't that the price of a Lancashire Day Ranger?

Seen that quite a few times, when no point to point fare is available, day ranger type product pricing is instead suggested.
Isn't Kirkham and Wesham in a different ticketing group than Blackpool North?
 

Spandau

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Clitheroe to Skipton single is a mind boggling £38 Any Permitted or £23.20 via Burnley Manchester Road.

i wonder how much it is on the bus?
 

Bikeman78

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Two on London Underground..
I understand that a number of foreign visitors buy a £4.50 single to go on the Piccadilly Line from Covent Garden to Leicester Square a distance of less than quarter of a mile or 5 minutes walk.
Embankment to Charing Cross is also 5 minutes walk along Villiers Street.
The second is not even the length of Charing Cross station. It's almost certainly as quick to walk from the entrance of one tube station to the other as it would be to walk downstairs, take the train and walk back up again.
 

Watershed

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I've bought that ticket (albeit for 75p with railcard discount). I was visiting the area and wanted. It was cheaper to have a bus day ticket (which I'd used all the way from Coventry) and that single fare than to buy a multimodal day ticket.

As for the main topic of the thread, Bicester Village to Bicester North - it costs £18.70 for a single which sends you via Princes Risborough or Haddenham and Thame Parkway. Bizarrely, a first class fare is also available, despite Chiltern's lack of first class.
You can use that via Oxford and Banbury, between which points you could use CrossCountry and thus first class. However it wouldn't be the only place where there are first class fares that aren't usable on any services with first class.
 

Mag_seven

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How about Argyle St to Glasgow Queen St - only £1.30 but a 20 min round about route via Partick when you can walk it in about 5 mins.
 

ServerHoster

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Runcorn to Runcorn East is £19.20 for an anytime day single, however it just quotes the Cheshire Day Ranger during off-peak times for £25.201605808522313.png
 
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