Best Possible Ticket Combination to Worcester

[joke2711]

Hi

Five Adults are travelling to Worcester on 10th September, to arrive around 11am and leaving Worcester on 11th September mid afternoon.

Four will be originating their journey at Warrington (either Bank Quay or Central) whilst one will be travelling from Liverpool. None of the Adults have any railcards. Journey Planner suggests that the Warrington People would come via South Parkway from Central to change on the outbound journey. However, there can be a joining at Crewe or Stafford if that is a cheaper option?

Are there any savings to be made? Can you buy any tickets that allow 4 or 5 to travel together.

All responses gratefully received ..

Thanks

 

[LexyBoy]

"Best possible" is almost impossible to answer - there are too many combinations, and in any case your willingness to lose flexibility or have a longer journey will be a factor.

There must be ways of avoiding the overpriced Warrington-Crewe section, but I'm not familiar with that area so don't know.

Price to beat: 4 x 63.70 + 56.90 = £311.70 (Off Peak Returns from origin to destination all round)

So, some options:

4 x Warrington-Wolverhampton Advances for the 0839 on 11/9 @ £10 = £40
1 x Liverpool-Worcester Advance @ £9.50 (couple of departures)
4 x Wolverhampton-Worcester SVR @ £15.60 = £62.40 (NB: with Groupsave this would be £41.20, but you'd not be able to use Virgin between Wolves and Birmingham, which is the fastest route on most of the return trips).
4 x Wolverhampton-Warrington Advance for the 1737 @ £8.50 = £34
1 x Wolverhampton-Liverpool Advance @ £11.50 (couple of departures)
total £155.40 (£134.20)

Flexible tickets:

4 x Warrington-Crewe SOR @ £20.70 = £82.80
1 x Liverpool-Crewe SVR @ £17.60 = £17.60
5 x Crewe-Worcester SVR (Groupsave) @ £28.90 = £144.50
total £244.90 - travel either direct or via Liverpool S Parkway, but you must use LM trains between Crewe and Worcester.

4 x Warrington-Liverpool S Parkway 'Duo' (2 for Sat, 2 to return on Sun) @ 8.80 = £35.20
2 x Liverpool - Liverpool S Parkway SDS @ £3.30 = £6.60
5 x Liverpool S Parkway - Worcester SVR (Groupsave) @ £37.55 = £187.75
total £229.55 - but you're limited to the route via Liverpool S Parkway and travel from there must be on LM, not Virgin. Slightly cheaper still to split at Birmingham but hardly worth it.

2 x Two Together Railcards @ £30 = £60
4 x Warrington-Worcester SVR (Railcard) @ £42.05 = £168.20
1 x Liverpool-Worcester SVR @ 56.70 = £56.70
total £284.90 No restrictions on route, plus you get the Railcards, if either of the pairs concerned need to travel together in future.

 

[centraltrains]

Never mind, was more expensive.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
If you don't mind getting back late and starting early...

0739 Warrington Bank Quay - Crewe 0748
0822 Crewe - Stafford 0840
Advance x4 = £24

0747 Liverpool Lime Street - Stafford 0840
Advance x1 £4 (I think this is part of a sale ending tomorrow)

Stafford - Worcester Off-Peak RETURN GroupSave £63

If you get the 1836 back from Worcester (Arr Stafford 2009)

2133 Stafford - Crewe 2153
2213 Crewe - Warrington Bank Quay 2229
Advance x4 = £24

2133 Stafford - Liverpool Lime Street 2229
Advance x1 £4 (I think this is part of a sale ending tomorrow again)

Total: £119

And that is cheaper, but not the best hours...

 

[SickyNicky]

Although I hate to say it, with five people travelling, it would probably be cheaper to hire a car (if any of you drives) - you should be able to do the trip for well under £100, including hire costs and petrol.

 

[kieron]

And that is cheaper, but not the best hours...

Splitting at Stafford doesn't seem like a bad call, though. You'd really need to use London Midland south of there as so few Virgin trains to or from Birmingham call there (and the tickets are only valid on trains which stop at Stafford).

Using flexible tickets it could be:

Off peak return Warrington-Stafford - 4 x £22.60
Off peak return Liverpool-Stafford - £28
Off peak return Stafford-Worcester with GroupSave - 5 x £12.60
Total £181.40

Using advance tickets on the way out gives:

Advance single Warrington-Stafford - 4 x £6
Advance single Liverpool-Stafford - £4
Off peak return Stafford-Worcester with GroupSave - 5 x £12.60
Web-only off peak single Stafford-Warrington - 4 x £11.30
Off peak day single Stafford-Liverpool - £20.90
Total: £157.10

A Web-only off peak single from Stafford-Liverpool costs £12.35 (for a total of £148.55), but is only valid on Virgin trains. They're roughly hourly, except that the train which reaches Liverpool at 19:22 doesn't stop in Stafford.