Northumberland Line fares (including impact on Tyne & Wear Metro maximum fares)

[DanNCL]

Doesn't follow: Off peak fares are available for other journeys via Newcastle: I've just just checked for Hexham and for Sunderland.

As far as I understood, affordable walk-on fares have not been abolished by LNER for journeys that have to be made, at least in part, by other operators.

LNER set the fares between Ashington and Kings Cross, they don’t set the fares from Ashington to the other examples you’ve given. LNER have abolished off peak fares between Kings Cross and any station on or diverging from the ECML between Newcastle and Edinburgh, Kings Cross-Ashington fits into that category.

 

[Tetchytyke]

LNER set the fares between Ashington and Kings Cross, they don’t set the fares from Ashington to the other examples you’ve given.

LNER set the fares from Hexham to London Terminals for route ANY PERMITTED. Avanti only set the VIA CARLISLE fares. Same from Haltwhistle too, but from Brampton and Wetheral there isn't an ANY PERMITTED.

LNER have abolished the off-peak and super off-peak tickets for some of the more obvious stations away from the ECML but certainly not all of them.

It may be that not all the fares have been added yet. BRFares won't let me input Ashington as an origin or destination to search.

 

[yorkie]

I wonder whether the issue with Newcastle to Sunderland is LNER? It certainly used to be when LNER started running through to Sunderland, with LNER at one stage refusing to accept T&W Day Rovers, Explorer North East, etc.

Ah yes, LNER's most notorious Guard refused to accept those tickets.

However, unfortunately for him, after wrongly charging someone on the 2300 on a Friday night (yes, really!), I contacted David Horne's office and his assistant arranged not only for a correction of the LNER's own guidance, to match the rules stated in the internal KnowledgeBase, but for the customer to be given a complimentary first class ticket from anywhere to anywhere on the LNER network, in addition to a refund of the fare charged (£3.30 if I recall correctly).

Otherwise it makes no sense. You have readers at Sunderland and now at Central Station and, whilst IIRC Heworth NR doesn’t have readers, they won’t be hard to install there.

It seems a massive own goal to not include the line in the TNE tickets, too. Penalising people who take the bus to the station seems an odd choice.

Indeed it is a massive own goal; the rail industry likes scoring own goals (and especially companies like Northern and LNER!)

 

[DanNCL]

LNER set the fares from Hexham to London Terminals for route ANY PERMITTED. Avanti only set the VIA CARLISLE fares. Same from Haltwhistle too, but from Brampton and Wetheral there isn't an ANY PERMITTED.

LNER have abolished the off-peak and super off-peak tickets for some of the more obvious stations away from the ECML but certainly not all of them.

It may be that not all the fares have been added yet. BRFares won't let me input Ashington as an origin or destination to search.

The poster I was replying to appeared to be referring to tickets between Hexham and Ashington rather than Hexham and Kings Cross, that’s what I was referring to anyway.

Indeed it is a massive own goal; the rail industry likes scoring own goals (and especially companies like Northern and LNER!)

And Nexus in this case who appear to have gone out of their way to make things more complicated here than they needed to be.

 

[Ghostbus]

So basically it is now considerably cheaper to live in Ashington and commute by rail+Metro to Newcastle airport, than it would be to live in Prudhoe and do the same commute with the same modes. Something like £4 to £8 a day cheaper, depending on your shifts.

Even though both Prudhoe and Ashington are both rural towns in Northumberland, with stations served exclusively by the government owned franchise Northern with direct regional train services to Newcastle, an interchange station with the Nexus owned and managed Metro network.

This is somehow supposed to makes sense to local tax payers even though Ashington is ten miles north of the Nexus boundary, but Prudhoe is only one mile to the west of it, and the airport is inside it, to the north west of Newcastle?

It is this kind of absurduty that feeds directly into the narrative that mainstream politicans aren't living in the real world and that you're better off always voting for the party that is pro-car and pro-voters keeping as much or their hard earned money as possible, because politicians will only waste it.

 

[norbitonflyer]

The poster I was replying to appeared to be referring to tickets between Hexham and Ashington rather than Hexham and Kings Cross, that’s what I was referring to anyway.

No, I was referring to fares from Kings Cross to various destinations in the Tyneside area via Newcastle. Sunderland, Hexham (and indeed Blaydon) all have off peak walk on fares. But Ashington does not.

 

[Tetchytyke]

commute by rail+Metro to Newcastle airport, than it would be to live in Prudhoe and do the same commute with the same modes. Something like £4 to £8 a day cheaper, depending on your shifts.

Who the hell commutes by train and metro to the airport? Talk about looking for a weird example.

This is somehow supposed to makes sense to local tax payers even though Ashington is ten miles north of the Nexus boundary, but Prudhoe is only one mile to the west of it, and the airport is inside it, to the north west of Newcastle?

Nothing to do with the Tyne and Wear boundary anymore. You’d have to ask NECA their rationale.

 

[Snex]

So basically it is now considerably cheaper to live in Ashington and commute by rail+Metro to Newcastle airport, than it would be to live in Prudhoe and do the same commute with the same modes. Something like £4 to £8 a day cheaper, depending on your shifts.

Even though both Prudhoe and Ashington are both rural towns in Northumberland, with stations served exclusively by the government owned franchise Northern with direct regional train services to Newcastle, an interchange station with the Nexus owned and managed Metro network.

This is somehow supposed to makes sense to local tax payers even though Ashington is ten miles north of the Nexus boundary, but Prudhoe is only one mile to the west of it, and the airport is inside it, to the north west of Newcastle?

It is this kind of absurduty that feeds directly into the narrative that mainstream politicans aren't living in the real world and that you're better off always voting for the party that is pro-car and pro-voters keeping as much or their hard earned money as possible, because politicians will only waste it.

The fares are 20p lower than the Pop price. They literally can't charge more as the Pop card is acting as a cap pretty much, similar with the Newcastle to Heworth / Sunderland fares. Integration between the Metro and Rail is never a negative and definitely isn't something that's loony - for once.

 

[Ghostbus]

Who the hell commutes by train and metro to the airport? Talk about looking for a weird example.

What's so bizarre about that? The fastest train to Newcastle will be 32 minutes, and the Metro to the airport takes 24 minutes. Public transport taking an hour when the car only takes twenty minutes is hardly unusual for this country.

Integration between the Metro and Rail is never a negative and definitely isn't something that's loony - for once

It does if it doesn't include the bus in the daily cap, but the train-Metro journey is no quicker than the bus-Metro, such as in the case of Ashington to the airport detailed above. All that does is endanger the viability of the Arriva express bus network connecting these south east Northumberland towns to the bus, Metro and train services in Tyne and Wear.

 

[Snex]

What's so bizarre about that? The fastest train to Newcastle will be 32 minutes, and the Metro to the airport takes 24 minutes. Public transport taking an hour when the car only takes twenty minutes is hardly unusual for this country.

It does if it doesn't include the bus in the daily cap, but the train-Metro journey is no quicker than the bus-Metro, such as in the case of Ashington to the airport detailed above. All that does is endanger the viability of the Arriva express bus network connecting these south east Northumberland towns to the bus, Metro and train services in Tyne and Wear.

People don't want to go to the airport from Ashington though they want to go to Newcastle.

That for Arriva to adapt it's network, not Northern's issue. People shouldn't be paying more to keep a bus running which large parts of Bedlington, Stakeford have no alternative anyway.

 

[Tetchytyke]

It does if it doesn't include the bus in the daily cap, but the train-Metro journey is no quicker than the bus-Metro, such as in the case of Ashington to the airport detailed above

Nobody is commuting to the airport by train and Metro, either from Prudhoe or from Ashington. Not least because the staff at the airport have to be there before the first Metros, which is why NECA funds the very early morning buses from Newcastle.

Everybody from Ashington is commuting to Newcastle, either the city centre itself or the large business parks within walking distance of Northumberland Park and Four Lane Ends/Longbenton. For the latter, that’s where the Metro integration becomes so important.

All that does is endanger the viability of the Arriva express bus network

Then that’s for Arriva to adapt or die.

 

[Haywain]

the staff at the airport have to be there before the first Metros,

Is there nobody at the airport working normal day shifts?

 

[A S Leib]

There seem to be no fares from London to Ashington except Anytime. No advance tickets, no off peak fares.

Looking at brfares.com, there's no advance tickets from Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham or Carlisle either; TransPennine Express seem to be the only ones offering advance fares involving the Northumberland line.

 

[SeanG]

Does anyone know whether the Tyne Tees Day Ranger is now valid up to Ashington. Logic says that it would be but there is no word from Northern on this

 

[A S Leib]

Does anyone know whether the Tyne Tees Day Ranger is now valid up to Ashington. Logic says that it would be but there is no word from Northern on this

I've emailed Northern to ask about that, the North East Rover and Explorer North East tickets; I haven't had a reply yet.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The Explorer North East ticket won't be valid just as the TNE Day Rover isn't valid, the only Metro inter-availability is if you are using POP.

 

[SeanG]

Confirmed by Northern on X that the Tyne & Tees Day Ranger is not valid to Ashington and that "this will be reviewed in the new year"

 

[androdas]

Has anyone tried using a purple POP PAYG card on the line yet? I tried at Ashington but got a message that said something had expired and since the train was waiting I just bought paper tickets. The card worked on the metro later in the day but I had used a metro ticket machine to add a further £5 to it (It came with £5 pre loaded). Could it be that the card was new and the first time I tried to use it was at Ashington?

 

[trek]

Has anyone tried using a purple POP PAYG card on the line yet? I tried at Ashington but got a message that said something had expired and since the train was waiting I just bought paper tickets. The card worked on the metro later in the day but I had used a metro ticket machine to add a further £5 to it (It came with £5 pre loaded). Could it be that the card was new and the first time I tried to use it was at Ashington?

There has been an issue with the readers. At the moment try to use another reader (the ones at either end of the platform seem to work).

If you are having problems at all of them I would recommend snapping a photo of the issue just to cover yourself, however it is known about and being worked on.

 

[androdas]

There has been an issue with the readers. At the moment try to use another reader (the ones at either end of the platform seem to work).

If you are having problems at all of them I would recommend snapping a photo of the issue just to cover yourself, however it is known about and being worked on.

Thanks - probably wont be back on the train now until the new year due to leave - hopefully the issues are ironed out by then.

 

[Russel]

I'm all for public transport being affordable, but why are the fares so low, compared to other similar branch lines?

With a rail card, it's less than £2 each way between Newcastle and Ashington making it cheaper than the bus!

 

[Snex]

I'm all for public transport being affordable, but why are the fares so low, compared to other similar branch lines?

With a rail card, it's less than £2 each way between Newcastle and Ashington making it cheaper than the bus!

The POP Card cap I'd assume. The single peak fares are pretty much just half the POP Card cap minus 10p or so.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

I've emailed Northern to ask about that, the North East Rover and Explorer North East tickets; I haven't had a reply yet.

Do post on here if and when you get a reply. I'm hoping to do the Ashington branch in the new year and will be using a 4 in 8 day North East Rover to get up to Newcastle. It would be nice if the rover was valid on the branch as well