Advance fares GWR Paddington to Exeter

[platypus]

Good evening,

[Posting for my mum]

My mum is looking at booking a train on Sun 02 Nov (probably around 2pm), from Paddington to Exeter St Davids.

She would normally travel on SWR from Waterloo, but they have rail replacement buses that day.

She prefers to buy advance single tickets, however for GWR their advance singles (£42.95) are basically the same price as their super-off peak singles (£43.75). She has a disabled Railcard, hence the discount.

Does anyone know if GWR release cheaper tickets on those routes ever? Seems silly that their advance singles are almost as expensive as their super-off peak single. Especially when she can get advanced tickets for like £12 from Waterloo often.

Appreciate the help in advance!

 

[sh24]

That sounds pretty normal pricing (albeit my experience is to Plymouth not Exeter). The significantly faster journey time justifies the GWR price premium over SWR, plus not being stuck on a cramped 159 for almost 4 hours.

 

[DelW]

That sounds pretty normal pricing (albeit my experience is to Plymouth not Exeter). The significantly faster journey time justifies the GWR price premium over SWR, plus not being stuck on a cramped 159 for almost 4 hours.

Though at least your 4 hours are spent sitting in a seat with padding, which isn't a given on GWR these days.

However unless SWR's embankments have improved by November, their WoE timetable may still be as awful as it is at present.

 

[TrainTraveler]

Personally I would (and did) pay the extra for the super off peak ticket as it's flexible (within limitations of validity) in case getting to Paddington doesn't go as planned.