anytime to birmingham

[metromuppet]

Evening.
Is there anyway to reduce the cost of a anytime any permitted ticket London to Birmingham? Split tickets are not really do able as I will want the flexability to return on any train, not just those stopping at Milton Keynes.
Is there another station a ticket could be bought to to reduce cost?

 

[SS4]

Not really. Splitting as Rugby will save money but good luck finding a direct train that calls there.

 

[howittpie]

If it is the morning peak you are travelling northbound I recomend useeing chiltern as they have no northbound morning peak restriction to Birmingham

 

[LexyBoy]

Not really. Splitting as Rugby will save money but good luck finding a direct train that calls there.

This or get a Railcard (if you're eligible then there's huge savings travelling with Virgin in the peak).

Does it really have to be Any Permitted? The route High Wycombe tickets are cheaper (£75) and the Chiltern are pushing hard to compete on time.

 

[Daz28]

This or get a Railcard (if you're eligible then there's huge savings travelling with Virgin in the peak).

Does it really have to be Any Permitted? The route High Wycombe tickets are cheaper (£75) and the Chiltern are pushing hard to compete on time.

Route High Wycombe is £25.

 

[Oscar]

Route High Wycombe is £25.

That's a Super Off-Peak Return (OPR) via High Wycombe, not an Anytime Return (SOR) which is £95 via High Wycombe.

Someone seems to have made a mess of the London - Birmingham Via High Wycombe and Chiltern Only flows. For a start, why do both Via High Wycombe and Chiltern Only exist as the prices appear to all be meant to be the same and the difference in restriction is not a great one? Secondly, why does BR Fares list the SORs are £95 and £85 respectively while they are both £95 on redspottedhanky.com?

 

[Daz28]

That's a Super Off-Peak Return (OPR), not an Anytime Return (SOR).

Valid on all trains from Marylebone.

Or actually any train from Marylebone except 4pm to 7pm. Return train must not arrive back before 11am.

It's the SVR at £50 that has no outbound restrictions at all.

 

[LexyBoy]

The Chiltern Only fares are a fudge in order to make Chiltern's m-ticketing work. They had me worried that they were going to swap over to restrictive TOC-Only fares when I first heard of them!

Valid on all trains from Marylebone.

My bad, although OP did ask for an Anytime Return I hadn't noticed the direction, although I must admit that I thought the Super Off Peak did have morning restrictions - getting confused with the evening peak restrictions out of London methinks.

At that price it's hard to find a justification for using Virgin for the sale of saving half an hour!

 

[barrykas]

At that price it's hard to find a justification for using Virgin for the sale of saving half an hour!

It's now down to 20 minutes by the way. Chiltern's average off-peak journey time is 1 hour 44 (with four to eight intermediate stops) against Virgin's 1 hour 23 (with three).

It's getting reasonably common for people to travel down on Chiltern in the morning peak (with a £25 Super Off-Peak) and then get an alternate route excess (for £11 Single) to come back on Virgin.

Cheers,

Barry