Off-Peak more expensive than Anytime

[AlbertBeale]

I just looked up the price of a ticket from Chinley to Sheffield, for a possible journey later this month, and NRE is showing me an Off-Peak ticket for £13.70 and an Anytime for £11.00. What on earth is an Off-Peak for in a situation like this? Or is it a glitch?

 

[jfollows]

I just looked up the price of a ticket from Chinley to Sheffield, for a possible journey later this month, and NRE is showing me an Off-Peak ticket for £13.70 and an Anytime for £11.00. What on earth is an Off-Peak for in a situation like this? Or is it a glitch?

Anytime is a single, off-peak is a return
Anytime return is £16:20
See https://www.brfares.com/!expert?orig=CLY&dest=SHF:

 

[AlbertBeale]

Anytime is a single, off-peak is a return
Anytime return is £16:20
See https://www.brfares.com/!expert?orig=CLY&dest=SHF:
View attachment 132361

Thanks! Though I only "asked" NRE about a single, and there was nothing obvious to say that one of the prices it was showing me was actually a return price... That never occurred to me ... despite my devious and suspicious mind when it comes to anything to do with rail fares...

How is "an ordinary person", who wouldn't know about things like the brfares.com site, to realise?

 

[jfollows]

Thanks! Though I only "asked" NRE about a single, and there was nothing obvious to say that one of the prices it was showing me was actually a return price... That never occurred to me ... despite my devious and suspicious mind when it comes to anything to do with rail fares...

How is "an ordinary person", who wouldn't know about things like the brfares.com site, to realise?

NE only offers me £5.80, £6.20, £6.60 and £7.40 advance tickets as well as £11.00 anytime single for tomorrow, I don't see any £13.70 fares. Possibly it was "confused" at the time you asked it? It definitely shouldn't be offering the £13.70 for a single fare.

 

[Bletchleyite]

While it's not applicable to this case, there are examples in the South East and probably elsewhere where an Anytime Day Return is cheaper than an Off Peak (period) Return.

 

[AlbertBeale]

NE only offers me £5.80, £6.20, £6.60 and £7.40 advance tickets as well as £11.00 anytime single for tomorrow, I don't see any £13.70 fares. Possibly it was "confused" at the time you asked it? It definitely shouldn't be offering the £13.70 for a single fare.

Since there were just Advance fares showing on the first screen I got to when I put in my likely travel date and looked at the approximate time of day I wanted, then (since I probably won't know my exact travel time until the last minute) I clicked on where it said "Other tickets" (next to the Advance price) for one of the trains listed, so as to find what the walk-up fares would be on the day. And it was there that a list showed Anytime and Off-Peak with the latter more expensive, with no indication I could see that one of the prices it was showing was actually a return one.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Perhaps NRE shows the £13.70 (off peak day return) fare if "return" has been left ticked, unless two (cheaper) advance tickets (one each way) can instead be offered

 

[AlbertBeale]

Perhaps NRE shows the £13.70 (off peak day return) fare if "return" has been left ticked, unless two (cheaper) advance tickets (one each way) can instead be offered

As far as I can see, the screen is only dealing with single tickets - that's what I queried and that's what it says on the screen...

 

[jfollows]

Since there were just Advance fares showing on the first screen I got to when I put in my likely travel date and looked at the approximate time of day I wanted, then (since I probably won't know my exact travel time until the last minute) I clicked on where it said "Other tickets" (next to the Advance price) for one of the trains listed, so as to find what the walk-up fares would be on the day. And it was there that a list showed Anytime and Off-Peak with the latter more expensive, with no indication I could see that one of the prices it was showing was actually a return one.

OK, I'm with you now.
If you had clicked on "Anytime" it would then have told you:

whereas Off-Peak is a return:

 

[AlbertBeale]

OK, I'm with you now.
If you had clicked on "Anytime" it would then have told you:
View attachment 132364
whereas Off-Peak is a return:
View attachment 132365

Aha - thanks. But it would never have occurred to me to click a further layer into the system to discover that the single ticket I'd asked for the price of was actually a return ticket... It seems to me misleading and counterintuitive.

I just wanted the headline prices, and took the information at face value. Knowing - in broad terms - the difference between an Anytime and an Off-Peak, I had no reason to delve further. (And indeed the extra information you've displayed doesn't give any detail of the off-peak restrictions anyway; the only thing it tells me that I didn't already know is that one of the single ticket prices was in reality a return ticket price!)

 

[Llandudno]

A Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket will take you to Sheffield valid after 0900 costs £14 for an adult and £7 for anyone aged over 60

Can’t buy it on the train, but I gather that you can now buy them from Northern ticket machines, which Chinley station should have?

 

[oddiesjack]

A Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket will take you to Sheffield valid after 0900 costs £14 for an adult and £7 for anyone aged over 60

Can’t buy it on the train, but I gather that you can now buy them from Northern ticket machines, which Chinley station should have?

I have bought Wayfarers on the train for several years, without any trouble.
Also, the £14 full price ticket allows one child (or dog, I think) as well as the adult.

The £7 discounted wayfarer ticket for Chinley-Sheffield journeys compares very favourably to the senior railcard discounted off peak return at £9.

 

[jfollows]

(And indeed the extra information you've displayed doesn't give any detail of the off-peak restrictions anyway; the only thing it tells me that I didn't already know is that one of the single ticket prices was in reality a return ticket price!)

No, it says instead that the off-peak day return is valid on the 13:23 Chinley-Sheffield. It doesn't think you care about details other than that.
This is one of the major problems with on-line ticket purchasing and ticket machines at stations - they're geared up to get you to select a train and then tell you what tickets are valid for it.
So I roll up at Wilmslow station and go to the ticket office and I can ask for an off-peak return to Stafford and an off-peak day return from Stafford to University, Birmingham: this was a trip I used to make, splitting tickets at Stafford. But I can't ask a ticket machine for this, I've got to go through the faff of "choosing" a train I want first, and so on. NRE follows the same paradigm, in the end it has the information but it's presented differently to the way I normally want it. It's a compromise and I can work around it.
I'm reasonably happy with this site's ticket purchasing site, though, it's less of a hassle to get it to tell me what I want to know. I once bought a cheaper ticket than I intended because I went through the train selection thing and forgot that I wanted an open ticket not restricted to a particular operator, but I happened to use that operator both ways in the end so that was OK.

 

[Llandudno]

I have bought Wayfarers on the train for several years, without any trouble.
Also, the £14 full price ticket allows one child (or dog, I think) as well as the adult.

The £7 discounted wayfarer ticket for Chinley-Sheffield journeys compares very favourably to the senior railcard discounted off peak return at £9.

Derbyshire Wayfarers are not supposed to be available for purchase on board a train, but TfGM Wayfarers can be bought on the train

Derbyshire Wayfarers can be bought on board buses, whereas TfGM Wayfarers cannot be bought on buses

Go figure….!

 

[MrJeeves]

But I can't ask a ticket machine for this, I've got to go through the faff of "choosing" a train I want first, and so on.

I would argue the majority of ticket machines are likely the total opposite of this, but some TOCs prefer the journey planning option instead.

 

[AlbertBeale]

I have bought Wayfarers on the train for several years, without any trouble.
Also, the £14 full price ticket allows one child (or dog, I think) as well as the adult.

The £7 discounted wayfarer ticket for Chinley-Sheffield journeys compares very favourably to the senior railcard discounted off peak return at £9.

Well - thanks for that. NRE gave me no hint of anything like a Derbyshire Wayfarer! I presume the £7 Chinley-Sheffield for anyone over 60 isn't further reducible with any railcard, however? If it isn't, then the Wayfarer is only coppers cheaper than the £11 regular single with a railcard discount, if all I want is the one journey.

Looking at the Derbyshire Council info about this on their website, it seems that Chinley isn't one of the stations where you can buy the Wayfarer ticket anyway, and I'm unlikely to be anywhere that does sell them... The information implies that the ticket can't be bought on board a train - however, isn't it a rule that if you can't get the ticket you want at a station you can always board a train and get the ticket on board or at your destination? Why would this ticket be any different? Can any of the fares experts here suggest what would happen (and what should happen) if, intending to use a Wayfarer, I boarded a train at Chinley and tried to buy on board, or tried to buy on arrival at Sheffield?

In this connection - now I know this ticket exists, I might consider using one for some travel out and about (starting and finishing in Chinley) for the day, prior to the day I travel to Sheffield. But since there doesn't seem to be much of a bus service around Chinley, then any such trips would have to start on a train, So - again - the only way I could get the ticket would be after I boarded.

Thanks for anyone's further helpful thoughts on this.

 

[fandroid]

Looking at the Derbyshire Council info about this on their website, it seems that Chinley isn't one of the stations where you can buy the Wayfarer ticket anyway, and I'm unlikely to be anywhere that does sell them... The information implies that the ticket can't be bought on board a train - however, isn't it a rule that if you can't get the ticket you want at a station you can always board a train and get the ticket on board or at your destination? Why would this ticket be any different? Can any of the fares experts here suggest what would happen (and what should happen) if, intending to use a Wayfarer, I boarded a train at Chinley and tried to buy on board, or tried to buy on arrival at Sheffield?

The Derbyshire website might be out of date about Chinley. I'm assuming it has a ticket machine. Northern Rail have very recently made their machines capable of issuing tickets like the Wayfarer. It's worth checking. There is another current thread on here covering Northern Rail's upgrade of their machines. If you board a train without any ticket you potentially open yourself up to a lot of trouble and expense- far more than you save on the Wayfarer