Manchester Stns -> Ludlow (Day return)

[Mcr Warrior]

Suggestions please for walk up (split) tickets for a midweek day return from Manchester Stns to/from Ludlow. (Adult - no railcard, and no advances please).

Looking to be on either the 1031 or 1131 departures (direct services ex Manchester Piccadilly), but mindful that some Off Peak Day Return tickets priced by TfW don't allow return travel starting between 1600 and 1829.

Target overall price to beat is the through (Manchester - Ludlow) Off Peak Return priced at £50.10 which I note seems to be valid on any train.

 

[tomuk]

£36 if you split Ludlow-Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury-Wilmslow, Wilmslow-Piccadilly

 

[Watershed]

£36 if you split Ludlow-Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury-Wilmslow, Wilmslow-Piccadilly

Whilst noting that all of these tickets are Off-Peak Day Returns with TfW's usual restriction code of AW, barring trains before 09:30 and between 16:00-18:29 (inclusive). The latter restriction applies to the time that the return journey is started, so (at least in theory) splitting doesn't make tickets become invalid, as long as you start the return journey before 16:00 or from 18:30 onwards.

Due to the timings of trains, this restricts the OP to outward trains ranging between 09:31 and 12:31 from Piccadilly, and return trains ranging up until the 15:26, or from the 19:17 onwards.

If the OP did want to take trains in this restricted evening "peak", they could buy a slightly different combination of tickets. And just for the sake of comparison, Advances are currently available next week for £37 return, on basically any service, so in fact walk-up tickets are cheaper unless they want to travel during the evening "peak".

 

[Mcr Warrior]

£36 if you split Ludlow-Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury-Wilmslow, Wilmslow-Piccadilly

What ticket combinations get you to the £36 total?

 

[yorkie]

There is no longer any need to do this manually; there are websites that calculate this for you, such as Trainsplit. It automatically works out that in this case the places to split are Wilmslow & Shrewsbury.

You can choose to only show flexible fares.

If you select e-tickets you will get a PDF with each ticket in the correct order so it's really handy to use (and easy to exchange if required, as well as easy to claim Delay Repay if applicable, as you don't have to line up the relevant coupons for a photo)

The old days of manually figuring all this out and then faffing about getting individual journeys in your basket and checking all the times match up are long gone; it's all done for you

 

[Watershed]

There is no longer any need to do this manually; there are websites that calculate this for you, such as Trainsplit. It automatically works out that in this case the places to split are Wilmslow & Shrewsbury.

Although it's worth noting that, due to limitations in the electronic data (there is no way of implementing "journeys started before 16:00 are unaffected by this restriction"), TrainSplit will wrongly say you are unable to use CDRs if taking the 15:26. This is an issue common to all retailers, but it does mean there are still occasions where manual double checks are required to avoid being overcharged.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

So a combination of Manchester->Wilmslow, Anytime Day Return at £9.40, then Wilmslow->Shrewsbury Anytime Day Return (route not Wolverhampton) at £19.90 and finally Shrewsbury->Ludlow Anytime Day Return at £17.90.

Overall a £2.90 saving on the £50.10 through fare.

 

[Watershed]

So a combination of Manchester->Wilmslow, Anytime Day Return at £9.40, then Wilmslow->Shrewsbury Anytime Day Return (route not Wolverhampton) at £19.90 and finally Shrewsbury->Ludlow Anytime Day Return at £17.90.

Overall a £2.90 saving on the £50.10 through fare.

If you want to return during the period restricted by restriction code AW, then some or all of these Anytime tickets may be necessary, yes.

TfW's Anytime Day Returns are generally (outside of the Cardiff area and the Heart of Wales line) not a huge amount cheaper than their Off-Peak Returns, so the limited saving by splitting is not entirely surprising.

 

[sonic2009]

Replace the Manchester Piccadilly - Wilmslow Any Permitted to Route TFW only for more saving.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Replace the Manchester Piccadilly - Wilmslow Any Permitted to Route TFW only for more saving.

Noted. Not a bad shout that.