When is 'off peak' at Preston?

[Condor7]

We are catching a train from Penrith on 21st December at 11.26am to Preston and can get an open off peak return at a good price coming back the same day however we won't be able to get a train back until the 16.58 at the earliest and may be a little later.

I am however struggling to find out what the off peak times are to qualify for this ticket. The return trip will be with either First Transpennine or VTEC.

Any help would be appreciated

 

[Romilly]

"offpeak" is not defined by station or route, but by the restrictions attached to any particular ticket.

The Penrith-Preston (Lancs) offpeak day return at £20.60 carries restriction B1. That restriction simply prohibits outward or return journeys starting after 0429 and before 0930. So the short answer is that there are no time restrictions on your afternoon/evening return journey.

That said, if you were happy to book your trains now and stick with the times you specify, you could get a £7 Advance for each of the outward and return legs, i.e. return for £14 per person.

 

[Puffing Devil]

Agree with Romilly.

I've noticed that the 20.60 fare has the following comment in the main fares list:

TEMPORARY FARE From Mon 19 Sep 2016 until Sun 20 Nov 2016

I've never seen that before, though NRE shows itineraries for 21st December.

 

[CheapAndNerdy]

As Romilly says, the off-peak day return is valid any time after 09.30. The details for that ticket can be found here. You can also use that very useful website to find all the ticketing options, their prices and restrictions.

Edit: as already posted by Puffing Devil!

Edit 2: The "temporary fare" warning applies to the Club 55 ticket.

 

[Romilly]

Puffing Devil's reference to the date-restricted temporary does not apply to this fare (it applies to the Club55 fare which appears below this fare in the list of Penrith-Preston fares on brfares.com).

 

[Puffing Devil]

Puffing Devil's reference to the date-restricted temporary does not apply to this fare (it applies to the Club55 fare which appears below this fare in the list of Penrith-Preston fares on brfares.com).

Ah - not very clear when viewed - most (all?) restrictions follow the fare. Makes sense, though.

 

[CheapAndNerdy]

Ah - not very clear when viewed - most (all?) restrictions follow the fare. Makes sense, though.

I agree it's not totally clear; when I saw it I had to double-check before realising that the colouring of the background was important.

 

[Condor7]

Thanks guys you really are a great bunch.

I've never seen that B R Fares site before.

So if I book now what is the best site to use?
There are two of us, one with a senior rail card (that's me) but my wife who is younger does not qualify.

We need to be in Preston by 12.15pm at the latest but happy to arrive earlier, and we cant leave until the 16.58 train or later.

Many thanks

 

[Romilly]

If you plan to buy the offpeak day returns for their flexibility, the cost will be the same whether you buy them now or on the day at the station. In case you end up not travelling (extreme weather, illness, etc) there is something to be said for not buying flexible tickets too early (unless you want to make seat reservations).

If you plan to buy the specified-train-only Advance tickets then, unless a particular retail website has a special offer, they should all charge the same price (although "The Trainline", unlike sites run by train operating companies, charges a booking fee on top of the fare).

 

[Puffing Devil]

To help the site, you could use the affiliate link to Trainsplit NB - you will need to book two journeys, one with the railcard and one without. Collect on the day from the ticket machine at Penrith to avoid charges.

If you're not going to take the advances, or don't want reservations, then you can simply walk-up and buy the £20.60 ticket on the day at Penrith, or call in the station to buy there and secure reservations.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Romilly beat me to it - the danger of opening multiple tabs before responding. At least we said the same thing!

 

[Condor7]

Thanks for all your help.

 

[SickyNicky]

NB - you will need to book two journeys, one with the railcard and one without.

My apologies about that - it's a limitation of the booking platform we use, but you can be sure that we're actively working on accepting multiple railcards at the moment.

By the way, a new version of TrainSplit is in the works, which is much faster and works properly with mobile devices. Watch this space...

 

[Puffing Devil]

My apologies about that - it's a limitation of the booking platform we use, but you can be sure that we're actively working on accepting multiple railcards at the moment.

By the way, a new version of TrainSplit is in the works, which is much faster and works properly with mobile devices. Watch this space...

No need to apologise - VTWC has the same limitation. The only issue, other than going through the process twice and maybe making a mistake in booking, is getting seat reservations together.

 

[Condor7]

My apologies about that - it's a limitation of the booking platform we use, but you can be sure that we're actively working on accepting multiple railcards at the moment.

By the way, a new version of TrainSplit is in the works, which is much faster and works properly with mobile devices. Watch this space...

That is good news.
I have your site saved in 'favourites' but must admit I did not book via yourselves for exactly the reasons Puffing Devil mentioned. I will look forward to hearing when you manage to sort things. All the best with it.