TRIVIA: Longest notionally free journey

[dcd]

What is the longest distance between two stations where the station to station off-peak ticket to another station on the same journey is the same. (Must not be a travelcard or other rover)

i.e.
Eastleigh to Three Bridges is £16.10 via Chichester which is 29m 43ch from Eastleigh.
Chichester to Three Bridges is £16.10 So notionally 29m 43ch free.



N.B. Eastleigh to Chichester is £14.80
Makes Eastleigh to Three Bridges splitting at Chichester a whopping £30.90 saving of -£14.80

 

[alistairlees]

Euston to Inverness on the sleeper vs Preston to Gleneagles on the sleeper? (not "off-peak" specifically though). About 300 'free' miles.

Basically this is a question about how big fares clusters can be.

 

[Silver Cobra]

Arlesey to Ashford International 'Any Permitted' (including HS1) is the same price as Huntingdon to Hastings 'Any Permitted' at £49.90 for an off-peak day return or £50.00 for an off-peak return. All combinations of stations between Arlesey and Huntingdon, and Ashford International and Hastings come to the same price. The 'Not via HS1' fares do vary in price, so this only applies to the fares valid on HS1.

The combined 'free' distance is 50m 52ch.

 

[Chris M]

The entire rail network in the London fare zones once you've reached the cap for the day/week.

 

[cuccir]

The entire rail network in the London fare zones once you've reached the cap for the day/week.

Although if we extend that logically, then any season ticket once youve gone beyond the number of journeys calculated to make the cost.

 

[700007]

London Liverpool Street to Rayleigh on a season ticket is the same price as London Liverpool Street to Hockley, Rochford, Southend Airport, Prittlewell and Southend Victoria. That's why customers who buy tickets from Hockley, Rayleigh and Rochford are told to actually buy one all the way to Southend Victoria so they can get more for their money.

 

[yorkie]

Euston to Inverness on the sleeper vs Preston to Gleneagles on the sleeper? (not "off-peak" specifically though). About 300 'free' miles.

Basically this is a question about how big fares clusters can be.

I doubt that can be beaten, but Sailrail can also provide some spectacular results, e.g. Belfast NI to Bristol is the same price as Belfast NI to Penzance, when going via Ayr.

 

[A Challenge]

Newtonmore to St Erth is the same price as Thurso to St Ives

 

[Merseysider]

Taunton to Leeds (234 miles) is £625 for an open First return ‘not via London’.

Penzance to Thurso (800 miles) is the same price.

Bargain

 

[paddington]

Not exactly what was asked, but once I paid £65 for Eurostar+ICE from St Pancras to Frankfurt.

I actually only needed to go to Brussels, but the asking price to Brussels on the same train was £75, so it would have been -£10 to go a further 400km.

Along the same lines, this sort of thing happens with airfares all the time. I recently flew Qatar Airways in 1st class Muscat-Doha-Bangkok for £750 return, but Muscat-Doha return on its own was selling for £1000+, so travelled an extra 3000 miles for "free".

And I had to get to Muscat in order to take that flight, but the Heathrow-Muscat ticket was selling for about £5 less than Heathrow-Barcelona + Barcelona-Heathrow-Muscat, so I chose the latter option....

 

[A Challenge]

In terms of the length in percentage terms not real distance Northfields to South Ealing (0 miles 19 chains) and Heathrow Terminal 5 to Upminster (via Gunnersbury and Gospel Oak) (the longest route is 42 miles 2 chains).

0 miles 19 chains = 19 chains
42 miles 2 chains = 3362 chains

3362 / 19 = 176.95 times the distance

 

[boxy321]

Marston Green to Birmingham International is £2.30 to travel the same distance in miles (should you be mad enough to make this journey). Coventry to Birmingham International is £1.90 for a distance of nearly 11 miles.