Basingstoke - Leamington Spa, where to split?

[cookiescrumble]

Hello everyone, I wanted to ask some advice with regards to the above return journey made using a priv pass.

I've looked at fares and a priv return will set me back £20.25 but I believe I can get this cheaper by splitting the tickets. The cheapest I found by splitting is £10.70. I wanted to make sure I've got this right and as far as I can tell I can use this on the direct crosscountry service.

The splits I have are:

Basingstoke - Reading
Reading - Oxford
Oxford - Banbury
Banbury - Leamingston Spa

By doing this I seem to be dodging crosscountry set fares. I just wanted to check as this is the first time I have ever considered splitting a ticket.

 

[calc7]

Yes, this is perfectly acceptable and complies with NRCoC Condition 19(b) as all CrossCountry trains on the Birmingham - South Coast route (except one per week southbound on a Sunday evening or something like that which omits Banbury) call at all the stations mentioned.

Note it is cheaper for day returns to buy BAN-RDG rather than BAN-OXF and OXF-RDG.

 

[cookiescrumble]

Thanks for that, bring the total to £9.45.

 

[Central Trains]

Hello everyone, I wanted to ask some advice with regards to the above return journey made using a priv pass.

I've looked at fares and a priv return will set me back £20.25 but I believe I can get this cheaper by splitting the tickets. The cheapest I found by splitting is £10.70. I wanted to make sure I've got this right and as far as I can tell I can use this on the direct crosscountry service.

The splits I have are:

Basingstoke - Reading
Reading - Oxford
Oxford - Banbury
Banbury - Leamingston Spa

By doing this I seem to be dodging crosscountry set fares. I just wanted to check as this is the first time I have ever considered splitting a ticket.

Have you thought about the Thames Rover on Priv? It was around a tenner last time I used it.

 

[cookiescrumble]

Have you thought about the Thames Rover on Priv? It was around a tenner last time I used it.

I didn't think about rover tickets. I made the journey today using 3 tickets which were BSK - RDG - BAN - LMS. Came to £9.35 all together and used without issue on the direct Crosscountry service.

 

[Chester025]

Have a play around with this, I find it extremely useful for finding PRIV fares: http://brfares.com/#new

 

[yorkie]

By doing this I seem to be dodging crosscountry set fares.

I'd recommend using a different word to describe it, as what you are doing perfectly legitimate, and that word has negative connotations.

XC obviously hope that there are enough people out there who will simply pay their ludicrous fares. The reality is that many people who do not know how to "split" will generally drive instead, or cancel the trip.

The irony is that other operators will get a bigger slice of the money from the combination of tickets, rather than the through fare (which XC would have got almost all of), so it's not half the money for XC, it could be a third or even a quarter. Quite frankly it serves them right for having such a ridiculous anti-customer pricing policy.