Route help please MHS-SYS

[matzie]

Hi. I'm currently doing a pretty rough daily commute - Meadowhall to Syston, a village near Leicester. Some days it takes more than three hours - but after years of living in Sheffield but staying away in London midweek, getting home to see my family every night is priceless, even if I am exhausted!

Anyway, I'm currently doing this:
0615 MHS to SHF
0647 SHF to LBO
0755 LBO to SYS

and in the evening...
1709 SYS to LEI
1735 LEI to SHF
... and whatever I can get on from there back to Meadowhall.

Doing all this on a £95.80 weekly season ticket, which compared to about £50 for return, is reasonable value

I'm wondering if anyone has any alternative suggestions for the route, any unusual ideas about changing in different places? Not expecting miracles on the cost front but even shaving a few minutes off the total journey time would be great. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

[bb21]

Five days a week?

Railcards?

 

[matzie]

Sorry, yes, 5 days a week. Not aware of any railcard entitlements - I'm 38 and travel alone.

 

[John @ home]

Doing all this on a £95.80 weekly season ticket, which compared to about £50 for return, is reasonable value

Yes. The weekly season ticket is a regulated fare, which means there are limits to price increases. The £53 Anytime Return is not regulated. This has had a dramatic effect. Nine years ago this weekly season ticket (£68.40) was 3.1 times the price of the open return (£22). Now the ratio is 1.8.

I'm wondering if anyone has any alternative suggestions for the route, any unusual ideas about changing in different places? Not expecting miracles on the cost front but even shaving a few minutes off the total journey time would be great. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

This MEADOWHALL - SYSTON £95.80 weekly season ticket is available at the same price over a wider area. Clicking on the link shows that can be bought from any of

KIVETON BRIDGE, CHAPELTOWN YORKS, SHEFFIELD, THURNSCOE, KIVETON PARK, ROTHERHAM CTL, MEXBOROUGH, GOLDTHORPE, DRONFIELD, SWINTON S YORKS, DARNALL, BOLTON ON DEARNE, MEADOWHALL, DORE or WOODHOUSE

to any of

NARBOROUGH, SYSTON, LEICESTER or SOUTH WIGSTON

My suggestion is that you buy the next ticket THURNSCOE - NARBOROUGH. This can be bought at Meadowhall. The ticket will then be valid for travel via Leicester, then doubling back to Syston. This may give you faster journey opportunities at times.

 

[Eagle]

Probably worth investigating: Meadowhall to Syston is possible with one change at Nottingham. (This would of course be valid on the above ticket too.)

 

[John @ home]

I suspect the first through Meadowhall - Nottingham train is too late for the OP. Timings are 0649 Meadowhall - 0802 Nottingham 0832 - Syston 0908.

But the afternoon timings are worth considering. There is a 2-minute connection at Nottingham each hour:
1432 Syston - 1513 Nottingham 1515 - Meadowhall 1624
1532 Syston - 1613 Nottingham 1615 - Meadowhall 1723
1632 Syston - 1713 Nottingham 1715 - Meadowhall 1824
1732 Syston - 1813 Nottingham 1815 - Meadowhall 1927.

This is less that the advertised minimum Nottingham connection time of 8 minutes, but it might well be worth trying a few times to see whether the connection is made more often than not.

If the connection is missed, you would leave Nottingham half an hour later, change additionally at Sheffield and arrive at Meadowhall 29 - 32 minutes later than planned. You would not be able to obtain Delay Repay compensation for missing the unadvertised 2-minute connection.

 

[matzie]

Thanks all! I'll try the Nottingham route home this week.

That hadn't shown up in my previous searches, because I started doing this journey while Nottingham station was closed for engineering work.

Hopeful that the 2-minute change will work! I'm working a 15-minute walk from Syston station, and can't really leave before 5pm... so I have to run to make the 5:09 to Leicester. A 2-minute run at Nottingham is better than a 9-minute one!

Thanks again - I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Paul Kelly]

Journey planners are currently showing Nottingham as having a minimum connection time of 15 minutes, so lots of perfectly reasonable connections won't be showing up either. Maybe it was put like that for when the station was closed, and not changed back? It seems like a terribly long time.

Anyway, the 1732 from Syston is shown in the working timetable as arriving at 1810 (even though the public time is 1813), so if it is on time you should have a very reasonable chance of making the connection.

 

[John @ home]

Thanks all! I'll try the Nottingham route home this week.

This evening, the 1713 arrival from Syston is planned to arrive Nottingham on platform 3c, and the 1715 departure to Meadowhall and Leeds is planned to leave from platform 1a.

The Nottingham Station Plan indicates that platforms 1 and 3 are opposite sides of the same platform island. It seems that 'a' is the west end of platforms and 'c' is the east end.

I hope the recent rebuilding has not made this information out of date.

 

[button_boxer]

I hope the recent rebuilding has not made this information out of date.

EMT have an updated plan with the new layout, which suggests 1 and 3 are still the same island.

 

[matzie]

Thanks for the help everyone.

I've tried the Nottingham route home a couple of times, leaving Syston at 1732, which is easier than running for the 1709. It's arrived at Nottingham around 1810, leaving plenty of time to cross to the opposite platform (yes, same island) for the 1815 to Sheffield. The two trains don't line up (opposite ends of respective platforms) so it's still a bit of a jaunt but no real problem.

I guess the only issues with this route are that for some reason the platform number of the 1815 doesn't show up in the timetable app I use (unlike almost all other trains) so I don't know for sure until I get there where it will be leaving from - and, that train's a jam-packed Northern Rail two-carriage one and even if you get a seat, there's not much room. But it's still a net win, so thanks again