Chester to London ticket

[robert2000]

Can anyone tell me the cheapest available route for a day return please, the only one i could think of is chester to crewe, then crewe to euston/london midland only ticket. I'm sure there must be restrictions.

 

[John @ home]

Can anyone tell me the cheapest available route for a day return please, the only one i could think of is chester to crewe, then crewe to euston/london midland only ticket. I'm sure there must be restrictions.

Do you want the cheapest combination of flexible tickets, where you are free to choose any train or trains within known time and route restrictions?

Or would you be content to book in advance and to have no flexibility regarding the trains you catch?

The latter option is likely to be cheaper.

John

 

[robert2000]

well i have a new deal travel pass, i get half price tickets and i dont think i can book in advance with it.

i was only told by word of mouth that i could travel cheaper on london midland only tickets for £10 from crewe

 

[tony_mac]

The london midland super off-peak return is £20 but is quite restrictive - unless it's a weekend.

It's not very good for a day return, you can't arrive until 2pm, and if you don't want to leave before 4:30pm then you have to wait until after 7:30pm and travel via Birmingham, so it's about 4 hours to Crewe.

The off-peak day return is £28 but not as restrictive.

You can travel from Chester to Crewe with a ticket to Liverpool South Parkway, it might save a couple of pounds.

 

[John @ home]

well i have a new deal travel pass, i get half price tickets and i dont think i can book in advance with it.

i was only told by word of mouth that i could travel cheaper on london midland only tickets for £10 from crewe

http://www.railsaver.co.uk/railcard-vs-railpass.html claims that New Deal Railcards give 50% discount on all Standard Class rail fares:

The Department for Work and Pensions, through its executive agency the Employment Service (Jobcentre Plus), administers a scheme whereby unemployed people can gain discounts of 50% on a wide range of travel and Season tickets. This is intended to assist them in their search for employment, although they can be used for discounts on leisure journeys as well.

The Employment Service authorises and issues the cards, which are valid for three months at a time. Discounts are available on all Standard class travel tickets within England and Wales, Peak and Off Peak One Day Travelcards, Seven Day Season Tickets and Travelcards, and Longer Period (one month and more) Season Tickets and Travelcards, subject to the validity of the Photocard.

In addition, the current National Fares Manual CD shows a 50% discount on Standard Class Advance fares between Chester and London Terminals when entering discount code NDC (New Deal Card). If this is correct, you may well find half price Advance fares is a good option.

Alternatively, if you book promptly from 0900 today (Wednesday) or tomorrow, you may get a free ticket valid on Virgin Trains only for one of the next two weekends with a voucher in the Daily Mirror. See http://www.mirror.co.uk/virgintrains/

John

 

[glynn80]

http://www.railsaver.co.uk/railcard-vs-railpass.html claims that New Deal Railcards give 50% discount on all Standard Class rail fares:



In addition, the current National Fares Manual CD shows a 50% discount on Standard Class Advance fares between Chester and London Terminals when entering discount code NDC (New Deal Card). If this is correct, you may well find half price Advance fares is a good option.
John

50% discount is available on the following fare types with a New Deal Railcard as stated in the FRPP:

Anytime: SDS, SDR, SOS, SOR

Off-Peak: BVS, BVR, CDS, CDR, OPS, OPR, SSS, SSR, SVS, SVR

Other: WKR

ADT, ODT (Travelcards)

7DS, 7TS and Month or longer period Season Tickets – not exceeding the expiry date of the New Deal Card

The Advance ticket types are not listed and therefore in my interpretation they are not valid for discounts when using a New Deal Railcard.

It also lists under the Not Valid heading:

Not valid

· for travel to/from/within Scotland

· for travel in Sleepers with First ScotRail Caledonian and First Great Western

· on Rail/Air Coach Links except for through tickets between Reading and Heathrow

· TOC-specific tickets and special offers

Obviously if a WebTIS does apply the discount, then I would certainly take advantage of the situation even with RailEasy's booking fees. The FRPP's position is however that the New Deal Railcard is not valid for Advance fare discounts.

 

[yorkie]

Presumably this is for a job interview or similar and not a leisure journey? If you can advise what time you need to be in London for, and what time you need to leave, we can find the best combination of tickets to allow you to do that.

 

[robert2000]

no its just a day out, i want to make some good use from the travel card.

what about the WSMR route, how can i buy a new deal ticket with them, i think i would have to buy a day return on the train costing me something like £26 or therebouts

 

[yorkie]

It's not possible to use that railcard to just go out for the day unfortunately.

The railcard is only permitted for use to help with jobseeking e.g. attending interviews etc.

I don't think it's a fair system, it would be far fairer if they had a National railcard for anyone who does not have a driving license. That would benefit less well-off people, including job seekeers, as well as those who choose to be green, and it would be available for leisure journeys as with any other railcard. Sadly our Government will never implement such a railcard as they're all talk when it comes to being 'green'.

 

[tony_mac]

if you can't get a London Midland only ticket with it then I suspect you can't get a WSMR only ticket either.

 

[glynn80]

It's not possible to use that railcard to just go out for the day unfortunately.

The railcard is only permitted for use to help with jobseeking e.g. attending interviews etc.

This is incorrect and john@home has already posted regarding this.

The Department for Work and Pensions, through its executive agency the Employment Service (Jobcentre Plus), administers a scheme whereby unemployed people can gain discounts of 50% on a wide range of travel and Season tickets. This is intended to assist them in their search for employment, although they can be used for discounts on leisure journeys as well.

 

[robert2000]

WSMR does accept new deal, it says so on their website

 

[John @ home]

no its just a day out, i want to make some good use from the travel card.

what about the WSMR route, how can i buy a new deal ticket with them, i think i would have to buy a day return on the train costing me something like £26 or therebouts

Your difficulty with the WSMR route is the quote from glynn80 above stating that the Railcard is not valid with TOC-specific tickets. That will include WSMR's cheap tickets, which are route WSMR only. It could also exclude some, but not all, Advance tickets. For example, route NXEC ONLY would not be allowed, but route AP SLOUGH would be OK.

John

 

[robert2000]

ok, to save bother i will take the normal boring direct route from chester.

i was hoping for something different.

wats the point of LM having a crewe to euston service if no1 can use it due to different tickets

 

[tony_mac]

WSMR does accept new deal, it says so on their website

You're quite right - it seems that they don't have to accept them, but I guess that they can if they want to.

Railcards

Railcards offer discounts on all tickets on Wrexham & Shropshire and many tickets on other National Rail operators.

Wrexham & Shropshire accepts the following railcards:

* Young Persons
* Senior
* Family
* Disabled Persons
* HM Forces
* New Deal

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

wats the point of LM having a crewe to euston service if no1 can use it due to different tickets

As far as I know, everyone can use it except New Deal railcard holders have to pay full price. They may not enforce that rule, but you will have to ask them about it.

 

[robert2000]

why cant i buy an advanced ticket with new deal on wsmr, unless u have a link tht wud be appreciated

 

[yorkie]

I didn't realise that. A big kick in the teeth for people on low income who like to travel - may as well go on benefits!! What an absolutely daft rule to say you can use them for leisure journeys but it's not intended to be used as such. We should scrap all these railcards with different restrictions and age discrimination (e.g. Senior having the best conditions), and have a National railcard for all with standard terms, like many European countries do.

 

[tony_mac]

why cant i buy an advanced ticket with new deal on wsmr, unless u have a link tht wud be appreciated

The scheme rules say that it can't be used for advance tickets - but as WSMR say that they accept it for all of their tickets then it shouldn't be a problem, although I guess you will have to ring them up to book it.

I would be rather annoyed if I was a 54-year old going from Carlisle to Inverness this month, £86 return for standard, when it's £19 return in first-class if you are 55!

 

[John @ home]

WSMR does accept new deal, it says so on their website

Certainly, it says on http://www.wrexhamandshropshire.co.uk/railcards.php

Wrexham & Shropshire accepts the following railcards:
* Young Persons
* Senior
* Family
* Disabled Persons
* HM Forces
* New Deal

What is not clear to me is whether they give New Deal Railcard discount on their cheap, TOC-specific fares. It's not possible to find out on the web site, because New Deal is not one of the Railcards offered when buying a ticket online. glynn80's statement that TOC-specific tickets are Not valid suggests that they probably don't.

If that is so, your best WSMR fare is £33.20 (NDEAL SVR Chester - London). If they do allow the discount. it's £2.15 (Chester - Wrexham) + £27.50 (Wrexham - Marylebone) = £29.65. The £33.20 fare can also be used on Virgin and the advantage of that is that there are no time restrictions on Vrigin trains with a Railcard on a journey like this, where Virgin set the fare.

John

 

[robert2000]

aint people with low incomes allowed to travel then.

for example, a £60 rail ticket for you, is like £30 in a low income persons money.
so its about the same, even though people on the JSA get about a 1/5 of what normal workers get.

 

[tony_mac]

What is not clear to me is whether they give New Deal Railcard discount on their cheap, TOC-specific fares.

I was going from the following:-

Railcards offer discounts on all tickets on Wrexham & Shropshire

Although, I suppose it doesn't say that all railcards offer discounts on all tickets on Wrexham & Shropshire

 

[John @ home]

The scheme rules say that it can't be used for advance tickets

Do they? They say they can't be used for TOC-specific tickets, but that's not always the same thing. The FGW Advance tickets I buy are usually AP SLOUGH, which is not TOC-specific.

WSMR say that they accept it for all of their tickets

Do they? They say they accept the New Deal Railcard, but I haven't read where they say they accept it for all their tickets.

John

 

[tony_mac]

But discounts are not available on:
First Class or Silver Service accommodation, ScotRail Services, Rail Air Coach
Links (except between Heathrow and Reading); Most connecting Ship Ferry Links;
Caledonian Sleeper; Eurostar; Special Excursions and Charters; Rover and Ranger
Tickets; Special Offers eg Apex or most other special purchase tickets, unless
specified otherwise.

They said that railcard discounts are available on all their tickets, then give a list of railcards without any further qualification. That, at least, implies that any of those railcards gives a discount on all of their tickets.

 

[yorkie]

aint people with low incomes allowed to travel then.

for example, a £60 rail ticket for you, is like £30 in a low income persons money.
so its about the same, even though people on the JSA get about a 1/5 of what normal workers get.

Anyone is allowed to travel, but I have two issues with it:-

1) New Deal is for job seekers, not people on low incomes!
2) If it is permitted for leisure journeys, then why not say everything is half price, e.g. CDs? half price fuel? half price computers? Where do you draw the line?

It seems crazy that someone with a low income job who has an interview to get a better job cannot get a discount, yet someone who is not employed can go on leisure journeys (despite it not being intended for that) at half the cost of the person who has a low income job.

 

[robert2000]

the thing tht bothers me is tht people over 25 get more dole money thn ppl under 25, i mean, people under 25 dont get food slightly cheaper than older people

 

[metrocammel]

I must agree with Yorkie. Although the scheme as it stands does permits leisure travel, I honesty cannot see how that is any incentive to get the 'long-term unemployed' back in employment. At the end of the day, while an unemployed person is traveling around the country, heavily subsidised with taxpayers money, they could be out looking for a job. Sadly, these days, it seems it is beneficial to be on 'the dole' than having a job.

If this scheme had been going in the 1980s, I can't imagine many bashers' having jobs! In Ireland (IE), it's even better for the unemployed- they get free travel!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

the thing tht bothers me is tht people over 25 get more dole money thn ppl under 25, i mean, people under 25 dont get food slightly cheaper than older people

You're lucky you get anything at all. Go to most countries other than this nanny-state of ours, and you'd soon be thankful.

 

[robert2000]

yea but im spending tax payers money on the train most of the time.

if i bought a ticket to sugarloaf once a month, it keeps the numbers up on tht station. not tht i particually want to go to tht station, nice area though i must admit.