Birmingham to Bristol Temple Meads

[shuggie61]

Hi I'm looking for a saving on my fairly regular trips to Bristol.
Virgin/FGW/Chiltern all quote me £15-50 for an Advance single either way.Can I split a ticket or is there another way I can save money? Apart from travelling by coach...Ta.

 

[yorkie]

Split at Cheltenham.

Off Peak (return within 1 month):-

Birmingham-Cheltenham Off Peak Return £19.40 (Valid after 0930)
Cheltenham-Bristol Temple Meads Off Peak Return £15.00 (Valid from 0825)

Off Peak returning same day:-

Birmingham-Cheltenham Off Peak Day Return £18.00 (Valid after 0930 but not valid 1530-1815)
Cheltenham-Bristol Temple Meads Off Peak Day Return £7.40 (Valid after 0830)

Peak from Birmingham (return within 1 month) :-

Birmingham-Cheltenham Anytime Return £26.50 (Valid any train)
Cheltenham-Bristol Temple Meads Off Peak Return £15.00 (Valid from 0825)

(Above combination valid on 07:42 from Birmingham)

 

[glynn80]

Hi I'm looking for a saving on my fairly regular trips to Bristol.
Virgin/FGW/Chiltern all quote me £15-50 for an Advance single either way.Can I split a ticket or is there another way I can save money? Apart from travelling by coach...Ta.

Splitting tickets normally only works if you are trying to reduce the cost of walk on tickets. Advance tickets in most circumstances are the cheapest fare for the journey and it is very difficult to reduce that any lower. If you give some more details like dates, whether your travelling peak/off peak, when you are to return, if you have any railcards and if you need any flexibility from your ticket it would help us to assess it more thoroughly.

 

[shuggie61]

Thank you Yorkie and glynn 80.
I'm travelling to Bristol from Brum on Sat 21st March arriving before 11pm.
Travelling off-peak.
Returning Sun 22nd March on earliest train - after 6-00am.
I don't have a railcard.
I have to travel on those dates.
Hope you can work your magic! Ta.

 

[glynn80]

Thank you Yorkie and glynn 80.
I'm travelling to Bristol from Brum on Sat 21st March arriving before 11pm.
Travelling off-peak.
Returning Sun 22nd March on earliest train - after 6-00am.
I don't have a railcard.
I have to travel on those dates.
Hope you can work your magic! Ta.

Two Advance singles are your best bet, the walk on return fares will all be a higher price than combining two Advance singles.

The best trains to travel on price wise are the 0812 and 1312 from Birmingham New Street which are £11.00 on the Outward journey. For the return journey the best trains to travel on are the 1400, 1600, 1700, 1900, 2000, 2230 from Bristol Temple Meads which are again all £11.00.

Travelling on two of those services makes a £22.00 return fare. There are other timed trains with £13.50, £14.00 and £15.50 throughout the days.

 

[yorkie]

I wouldn't pay £14/£15 each way though when a flexible ticket is under £35 return; you never know when the flexibility may be useful.

 

[glynn80]

I wouldn't pay £14/£15 each way though when a flexible ticket is under £35 return; you never know when the flexibility may be useful.

Well you can split at Cheltenham Spa and buy an Off Peak Return- Birmingham New Street to Cheltenham Spa at £19.40 and another Off Peak Return- Cheltenham Spa to Bristol Temple Meads at £15.00, making a £34.40 total.

That's £12.40 more than the cheapest Advance Single combination but does allow you to travel on any train on the dates you are travelling so its up to you.

 

[John @ home]

Well you can split at Cheltenham Spa and buy an Off Peak Return- Birmingham New Street to Cheltenham Spa at £19.40 and another Off Peak Return- Cheltenham Spa to Bristol Temple Meads at £15.00, making a £34.40 total.

That's £12.40 more than the cheapest Advance Single combination but does allow you to travel on any train on the dates you are travelling so its up to you.

And you can save another 40p by getting two £7.30 Off Peak Day Singles between Cheltenham and Bristol instead of a £15 Off Peak Return. This gives a walk-on fare for a total of £34.

It's even cheaper if you split at Bromsgrove instead of Cheltenham: £18.50 Off Peak Return from Bromsgrove to Bristol TM (route Not Birmingham) plus two £4.60 Off Peak Day Singles between Birmingham and Bromsgrove, total £27.70. But the train must stop at Bromsgrove, which usually means a change at Worcester is necessary, giving a significantly longer journey. In addition, there is no Sunday morning service to Bromsgrove from the south.

John

 

[Gazman]

I make trips between BRI and BHM fairly regularly but since the fares increase at the start of the year, I have failed to find any availability for the cheapest £7 advance single fares. Does anyone know why this is?

Last year it was almost always possible to get the cheapest fare on the last services at night going in either direction, but now it's not. I've looked at various dates and times, ranging from the next day to 2 months ahead, without success.

I suspect it is a simple case of Virgin ripping people off...

 

[OwlMan]

How can Virgin rip people off between Bristol & Birmingham??
More likely Arriva