Cheapest Ticket in the UK

[martyn29]

Anyone know of a cheaper Mainline ticket than Lichfield city to Trent valley?

 

[mumrar]

I've desperately been searching, but can't find any cheaper than that mainline. SDS £0.40, SDR £0.50, 7DS £2.30 and an annual season is just £92.00. Now, assuming it doesn't work out the same, I'd like to know what the cheapest Standard Single fare is in terms of pence per mile. No advance, just walk up totally unrestricted single ticket comparison only. This would be via the shortest available route, or the most commonly used logical route if it isn't the shortest.

 

[will1337]

Got Victoria - Southampton Central Advance yesterday 35p each way. That's 101m 56ch each way and 0.34p per mile.

 

[dan_atki]

Newhaven Marine is certainly an interesting issue.

There is a weekday service departing the station at 1852 for Lewes (arrives as ECS but departs in service!) but quite how you can board this service looking at http://disused-rlys.fotopic.net/p57885927.html I have no idea. The main problem with safety was the roof at the station.

There is indeed a poster at the entrance advising of alternatives: http://disused-rlys.fotopic.net/p57885917.html. Quite how anyone can have a valid ticket from the station to use the taxi is beyond me!

 

[mumrar]

Whilst not being sure this is the cheapest, I found an SDS from Ashchurch to Ebbw Vale parkway for £8.60, journey has to be via Cardiff so that's 98m78ch, which works out at 8.69ppm. I guess it's down to fare subsidy, but the Ashchurch to Caldicot SDS is £9.90, very odd. It also works out that anyone travelling between either Cheltenham or Gloucester and Newport or Cardiff on an SDR is better off buying an SDR to Ebbw Vale parkway and saving a few quid!

 

[yorkie]

Ashchurch to Ebbw Vale parkway may well be the cheapest as the CDR is £10.40, so that's about 5.2p per mile for the return.

That fare is an anomaly but I guess they all count!

Sherburn in Elmet to Whitby CDR £11.50 98 miles 60 chains each way is under 6 pence per mile via the shortest route. This is perhaps the cheapest 'deliberate'/'non-anomaly' fare.

The overall cheapest per mile via a long route will be a ticket that, due to the RG being generous, is valid via a long way round, but the people who price the ticket assume it will be used for a much shorter route for example Ipswich to Cambridge or similar.

 

[mumrar]

Ashchurch to Ebbw Vale parkway may well be the cheapest as the CDR is £10.40, so that's about 5.2p per mile for the return.

That fare is an anomaly but I guess they all count!

Sherburn in Elmet to Whitby CDR £11.50 98 miles 60 chains each way is under 6 pence per mile via the shortest route. This is perhaps the cheapest 'deliberate'/'non-anomaly' fare.

The overall cheapest per mile via a long route will be a ticket that, due to the RG being generous, is valid via a long way round, but the people who price the ticket assume it will be used for a much shorter route for example Ipswich to Cambridge or similar.

I agree with what you have said, but to stop all the routeing business was why I specified either the shortest or most logical route, and SDS or SOS only. Fare anomaly or not, the question's about the cheapest pence per mile, unrestricted walk on single fare I wanted to compare.

 

[krus_aragon]

Similar applies on the Heart Of Wales line for those within the Counties of
Carmarthen & Powys, thats around 100 miles for those on a senior or disabled
WAG bus pass. Some areas of these two Counties only travel option is rail.
Im sure there was also free travel on the Wrexham/Shotton line as well.

Yes, there's those as well. There isn't a 'fare' indicated for concesions on those routes, though. You do actually have to pay 10p on the Conwy Valley line.

 

[Spaceflower]

Ashchurch to Ebbw Vale parkway may well be the cheapest as the CDR is £10.40, so that's about 5.2p per mile for the return.

That fare is an anomaly but I guess they all count!

Sherburn in Elmet to Whitby CDR £11.50 98 miles 60 chains each way is under 6 pence per mile via the shortest route. This is perhaps the cheapest 'deliberate'/'non-anomaly' fare.

The overall cheapest per mile via a long route will be a ticket that, due to the RG being generous, is valid via a long way round, but the people who price the ticket assume it will be used for a much shorter route for example Ipswich to Cambridge or similar.

Is it actually possible to complete this journey? (sherburn - whitby)

 

[yorkie]

Is it actually possible to complete this journey? (sherburn - whitby)

Yes but with only 40 mins in Whitby as the 1550 service misses the last connection for Sherburn by 16 minutes at Middlesbrough! The fares for Sherburn, Cattal etc are all derived from York it's just a few extra bonus miles.

 

[glynn80]

Were there ever tickets available to Newhaven Marine?

Well certainly prior to NFM 40 (October 1988), if a ticket purchased to Newhaven BR was held, this was permitted for travel to Newhaven Marine. Whether after this fare ceased to exist a direct ticket to Newhaven Marine could still be obtained would be a question only really answerable by someone holding an NFM from the 1990s..

Newhaven Marine is certainly an interesting issue.

There is a weekday service departing the station at 1852 for Lewes (arrives as ECS but departs in service!) but quite how you can board this service looking at http://disused-rlys.fotopic.net/p57885927.html I have no idea. The main problem with safety was the roof at the station.

The service is definitely still operated by Southern but is currently ECS in both directions, obviously due to the Newhaven Marine roof issues.

 

[dan_atki]

The service is definitely still operated by Southern but is currently ECS in both directions, obviously due to the Newhaven Marine roof issues.

Well of course it's ECS at the moment with the platform fenced off!! Looking at photos, however, indicates that the 'dangerous' roof has been removed...

 

[tony_mac]

if you are allowing CDRs then across the GMPTE area is pretty cheap, £3.20 for a 70+ mile round trip.
If you are also allowing the cheap evening returns then it's only £1.60!

Not so good as a peak-time single, though, £5.40 for 36 miles.

 

[323235]

Bentley - Adwick Anytime Day Single is 50p.

It's 60p according to Avantix and 40p with a railcard

 

[glynn80]

It's 60p according to Avantix and 40p with a railcard

Your a bit late unfortunately, this was spotted in post number 5 within the topic (http://railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=329183&postcount=5).

 

[voyagerdude220]

Well, if we're going to open it up to concessionary fares, there's Llandudno-Blaenau Ffestiniog:

COR - WAG CONCES RTN
00000 - ANY PERMITTED
Non-standard discounts apply
1 Adult @£ 0.10 = £ 0.10
__________
£ 0.10

For senior bus pass holders who live in the Conwy area.

TVR - TRAVELLER
00474 - VIRGIN TRNS ONLY

1 Adult @£ 0.05 = £ 0.05
__________
£ 0.05

First Class Return
From : 1072 LONDON TERMINALS
To : 0433 GLASGOW CEN/QST

Officially, the traveller club offers free Virgin Trains First Class travel at weekends for members when booked in advance, so i assume that the 5p price is simply there in order to allow the ticket to be inputted into the system, with the charge not actually being made in practice?

 

[EM2]

I thought Slough to Windsor & Eton Central might be in with a shout, but it's £1.90 off-peak single!

 

[cyclebytrain]

TVR - TRAVELLER
00474 - VIRGIN TRNS ONLY

1 Adult @£ 0.05 = £ 0.05
__________
£ 0.05

First Class Return
From : 1072 LONDON TERMINALS
To : 0433 GLASGOW CEN/QST

Officially, the traveller club offers free Virgin Trains First Class travel at weekends for members when booked in advance, so i assume that the 5p price is simply there in order to allow the ticket to be inputted into the system, with the charge not actually being made in practice?

Traveller tickets are indeed not charged for, the £0.05 charge gets taken off as "internet discount". Even if you book over the phone.

 

[ChrisEJ1993]

I know this probably doesn't help this topic, as I can't remember the places it was for, and it is also slightly off-topic as well, but:

I was talking to a Conductor on a South Eastern train once, and he mentioned that if you get a return from 1 specific place to another, off-peak, then the fare, because of a problem somewhere that has never been fixed, was £0.01. Aparently it was something conductors where getting very annoyed about because nobody had fixed the problem within a few years, so they just started charging the customer the 1p for that journey!

Sorry I can't remember what the places where, but I remember they where VERY far apart, one was in England somewhere, and one was in Scotland!