TFW Chester to Liverpool

[Cheshire Rover]

With the new TFW service from Chester to Liverpool (hopefully) starting in May, our local Facebook page has posts querying the likely cost of tickets.
Would anyone know how soon before a new service starts do the ticket prices get issued please?

 

[kieron]

There are ticket prices available now (for example, 12.60 for a Chester-Liverpool return). Others may be created nearer to the start date as there's nothing on tfwrail.wales yet to promote the line.

There are no Frodsham-Runcorn fares at the moment, but I'm sure they'll work something out.

If you want to know what their plans are, though, the best course of action is probably to ask TfW Rail.

 

[Merseysider]

TfW can't reduce their Lime Street - Chester fare in price without undercutting the (ridiculous) Warrington - Chester fare, so I don't expect them to compete on price with Merseyrail for end-to-end passengers.

Pax at South Parkway may well pay more for the direct service, though, if it were a little more reasonable.

 

[Ianigsy]

Once the new Merseyrail units arrive, even with 150s TfW will probably be able to compete on passenger experience if not on price. It's been a sore point around Chester ever since electrification that Chester-Liverpool travellers have to use an all-stations service formed of commuter stock.

 

[gray1404]

I would hope once the new stock arrives Merseyrail will finally introduce limited stop services on at least the Southport and Chester lines. This could cut around 10-15 minutes off a journey if they had an express leaving a minute before a stopper.

 

[M28361M]

I would hope once the new stock arrives Merseyrail will finally introduce limited stop services on at least the Southport and Chester lines. This could cut around 10-15 minutes off a journey if they had an express leaving a minute before a stopper.

I think you would have some difficulty doing that if the stoppers remain at a 15 minute frequency - any express train would catch up to the preceding stopper fairly quickly.

TfW can't reduce their Lime Street - Chester fare in price without undercutting the (ridiculous) Warrington - Chester fare, so I don't expect them to compete on price with Merseyrail for end-to-end passengers.

Could a cheaper "via Runcorn" or "not via Warrington" fare be introduced? Is Chester-Lime Street even valid via Warrington on an Any Permitted ticket? I know there are specific "via Warrington" fares in the system which I suspect are a hangover from the short-lived service (around 1994/95 I think) which ran from Liverpool to Chester via Warrington Bank Quay.

 

[kieron]

Could a cheaper "via Runcorn" or "not via Warrington" fare be introduced? Is Chester-Lime Street even valid via Warrington on an Any Permitted ticket?

It's valid via Warrington because the "via Warrington" fare is cheaper. The Chester-Liverpool South Parkway fare is valid that way anyway because the JG map shows it.

None of this prevents TfW from adding a new fare, though. They could add a "TFW ONLY" one if they wanted to, at least temporarily.