Cheap day return Liverpool to Brum

[shuggie61]

Hi all looking for a cheap day return to Brum from Liverpool. Must travel peak - at around 8-30am. Only able to find single advance fares at £5-95. I have a railcard. Ta.

 

[northwichcat]

If you know which trains you are will travel on then buy the £5.95 singles as that's the cheapest you'll be able to get. The normal on the day price for when you want to travel is £45.60 return (not including railcard discount.)

 

[WestCoast]

You simply aren't going to beat £11.90 for the two advance singles! That's rather cheap....

 

[rail-britain]

Hi all looking for a cheap day return to Brum from Liverpool. Must travel peak - at around 8-30am. Only able to find single advance fares at £5-95. I have a railcard. Ta.

You could also split the fares, on any station which the service calls at
For example :
Liverpool - Stafford advance single
Stafford - Birmingham return
Stafford - Liverpool single
However, as above, this likely to be more expensive but will allow you to travel at any time on the return journey

 

[yorkie]

Hi all looking for a cheap day return to Brum from Liverpool. Must travel peak - at around 8-30am. Only able to find single advance fares at £5-95. I have a railcard. Ta.

'Cheap Day Return' (CDR) was the old name for Off Peak Day Return, which retains the CDR code to this day. CDR tickets may have existed for this journey a long, long time ago however since around the late 1980s (ish) only period returns have been available, which are valid for return within 1 month.

There are also not many CDR tickets that are valid as early as 0830, and it is unlikely that many - if any - such tickets would be valid from Liverpool this early, though the exact validity does depend on the ticket in question.

CDR tickets are cheaper, so the solution, if you want flexibility, is to "split" the journey into a "combination of tickets", this means you can get the cheaper CDR tickets for portions of the journey that, when combined, cover you for the entire journey.

A CDR from Liverpool to Crewe is valid from 0900, so this would not be valid and an SDR would be required instead, costing £13.20. Crewe-Stafford has no CDR fares and an SDR for that is £10.20. Stafford-Birmingham is £9.10 for a CDR, valid from 0900 but you cannot depart Birmingham between 1635 and 1800 on that ticket.

Other than that explanation, I can't really add much to the advice that has already been posted.

 

[First class]

How about a Liverpool-Crewe SDR (or a Liverpool-Stafford VT Only SDR) and a West Midlands Day Ranger?

 

[Smethwickian]

'Cheap Day Return' (CDR) was the old name for Off Peak Day Return, which retains the CDR code to this day. CDR tickets may have existed for this journey a long, long time ago however since around the late 1980s (ish) only period returns have been available, which are valid for return within 1 month.

It may be the pedantic newspaper sub in me, but he/she wasn't specifically asking for a Cheap (capital C) Day (capital D) Return (capital R), but a cheap return for a day trip.

Anyway, many of us on this forum aren't industry insiders with instant recall of every ticket type. Many passengers might be surprised that what they commonly understand as 'day returns' are not available for such medium-distance journeys one might reasonably make either for business or leisure.

 

[shuggie61]

Thanks for all your help/advice!

 

[All Line Rover]

Hi all looking for a cheap day return to Brum from Liverpool. Must travel peak - at around 8-30am. Only able to find single advance fares at £5-95. I have a railcard. Ta.

£5.95 single is a BARGAIN! You're never going to beat that - even with the most ridiculous routes in the Routeing Guide. (The cheapest "flexible" ticket combination possible is £12.10 return, with no restrictions between Birmingham and Crewe but an "after 0900" restriction between Crewe and Birmingham. The cheapest combination with no restrictions at all is £14.60 return.)

£5.95 single is still a bargain!