Good value, non-loophole tickets

[Muzer]

I was recently told about the LONDON TERMINALS - CALAIS route P AND O NOT HS anytime day return for around £25 with railcard. This seems really good value to me, unless I'm crazy. Not as good as when it was valid on HS1, but still pretty good - high speed supplements seem pretty cheap as far as I can see.

This got me thinking - are there any other similar tickets that aren't loopholes, but are just really good value?

 

[transmanche]

I was recently told about the LONDON TERMINALS - CALAIS route P AND O NOT HS anytime day return for around £25 with railcard.

Ooh, if that's valid with a Network Railcard[*], then that's a day trip sorted, next time I'm in London for a break!

[*] They might claim that Calais is a bit outside the Network area!

 

[Muzer]

Ooh, if that's valid with a Network Railcard[*], then that's a day trip sorted, next time I'm in London for a break!

[*] They might claim that Calais is a bit outside the Network area!

It is!

http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=1072&dest=H426&rlc=NEW&rte=850&tkt=SDR

Clearly Calais is in the Network Area


If I get a free weekend in the near future, I might well go for it - combined with the SWT winter sale and even taking into account cross-London (if a travelcard isn't available with the winter sale...) and high speed supplement, it'll still be at most a little over £40...

 

[transmanche]

It is!

http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=1072&dest=H426&rlc=NEW&rte=850&tkt=SDR

Clearly Calais is in the Network Area

Get in!

 

[FenMan]

There are some very good value tickets in FGW-land, mainly so FGW can maximise price increases on their primary routes like Reading - Paddington.

For example, a Blackwater - Oxford off peak day return is £8 at weekends with the Network Card discount. The normal route by road is a 110 mile round trip.

 

[Muzer]

Nice. I've noticed that a lot of rangers/rovers are also what I'd call pretty good value - though I suppose they're usually only a little cheaper than a London Travelcard, so maybe not particularly.

 

[tsr]

I have found the Devon Day Ranger, if used wisely, can be excellent value for money, especially with a Railcard.

In fact, many Rangers, Rovers and even Travelcards are perfectly reasonable.

Some off-peak tickets from the North London Line towards Surrey/Sussex have comparatively good value for money, even if following the shortest route by rail, if you need to break your journey several times, but don't need a Travelcard.

EDIT: Oops, Muzer and I had the same idea...

 

[yorkie]

York - Whitby (or Sherburn to Whitby to really push it to the maximum!) is very good value, £13.70 for a CDR. It has to be so cheap because otherwise the market share for that journey would shift entirely to Yorkshire Coastliner. (Going via Darlington is a rip-off, but if you must go via Darlo, get a Northallerton-Thornaby route: Any Permitted CDR rather than an excess! Bonkers pricing, as always!)

 

[bb21]

I have found the Devon Day Ranger, if used wisely, can be excellent value for money, especially with a Railcard.

The Devon Day Ranger indeed offers excellent value. That said, if you only need to make one return journey within the county off-peak, it is effectively capped at the price of the Ranger, leading to some exceptional value fares, such as Gunnislake - Barnstaple, a journey of 105 miles each way, at £9.80.

 

[Goatboy]

The Devon Day Ranger indeed offers excellent value. That said, if you only need to make one return journey within the county off-peak, it is effectively capped at the price of the Ranger, leading to some exceptional value fares, such as Gunnislake - Barnstaple, a journey of 105 miles each way, at £9.80.

105 rail miles though, so its not quite a case of 'Look how far away I can go for £9.80!'.

They are 50 miles apart by road.

Still good value against the backdrop of the massive ripoff that is the single fare from Malvern Link to Worcester - a distance of 6 miles - at £4.80.

 

[ASharpe]

I was recently told about the LONDON TERMINALS - CALAIS route P AND O NOT HS anytime day return

Can somebody please post or tell me how to get an itinerary for that (with HS if worthwhile), sounds like an interesting day out if I had enough time in Calais.

Not as great on the distance but I think the West Yorkshire Family DayRover (Ranger) at £11.40 is good value for a day out on a Saturday.

Thanks

 

[cjohnson]

Three Bridges - Zones 1-6 super off-peak day travelcard at £10 is good value, considering a paper 1-6 alone is now £8.90.

 

[bangor-toad]

Penzance to Belfast via Ayr is £52

For the brave there is the Penzance - Birmingham - Leeds - Newcastle - Edinburgh - Glasgow direct XC Voyager service. Using this route it's 709 miles on the train and then with about 50 miles on a coach and ferry thrown in.

Days of fun!

Not bad for a more or less unrestricted anytime walk up fare in terms of pence per mile. Of course, whether or not using this XC service is a good idea has already been the subject of several threads before...

 

[CallySleeper]

Penzance to Belfast via Ayr is £52

For the brave there is the Penzance - Birmingham - Leeds - Newcastle - Edinburgh - Glasgow direct XC Voyager service. Using this route it's 709 miles on the train and then with about 50 miles on a coach and ferry thrown in.

Days of fun!

Not bad for a more or less unrestricted anytime walk up fare in terms of pence per mile. Of course, whether or not using this XC service is a good idea has already been the subject of several threads before...

Fortunately, this is possible in a 'day' but the only option is the 04.00 from Penzance, changing at Birmingham for the west coast to Glasgow. XC via York takes too long.

I do agree though, rail & sail is one of the hidden gems - one which I hope isn't exploited.

 

[trainfanatic]

Purchased this little lot about a month ago for travel mid March....all with Senior Railcard

SLR/DBY x 2 Off Peak Day return @£10.10 each

DBY/LMS x 1 Advance Single @ £5.15
LMS/DBY x 1 Advance Single - Ditto

SLR/HDB Advance Single @ £5.30 each way

Was considering Rail Rover/Ranger, but much more fun doing it this way!

 

[CyrusWuff]

How about a London Terminals - Wrexham General Super Off-Peak Return via High Wycombe? £38.90 for a 385.5 mile round trip...or 10.1p a mile.

 

[IanD]

Purchased this little lot about a month ago for travel mid March....all with Senior Railcard

SLR/DBY x 2 Off Peak Day return @£10.10 each

DBY/LMS x 1 Advance Single @ £5.15
LMS/DBY x 1 Advance Single - Ditto

SLR/HDB Advance Single @ £5.30 each way

Was considering Rail Rover/Ranger, but much more fun doing it this way!

Would probably be more impressive if you actually told us where each ticket was valid from and to.

 

[trainfanatic]

Do you mean the 3 x letter code...or something else?

SLR/DBY = Sleaford/ Derby

DBY/LMS = Derby/Leamington Spa

SLR/HDB = Sleaford/Hebden Bridge

Is this what you are looking for?

 

[John @ home]

SLR/HDB = Sleaford/Hebden Bridge

But HDB = Haydon Bridge.

This is a good example of why we have a rule which requires members to post station names in full on first use in a thread.

 

[IanD]

Do you mean the 3 x letter code...or something else?

SLR/DBY = Sleaford/ Derby

DBY/LMS = Derby/Leamington Spa

SLR/HDB = Sleaford/Hebden Bridge

Is this what you are looking for?

Yes, few people have an encyclopaedic knowledge of all the TLAs/TLCs or whatever they are, but I'm sure HDB is Haydon Bridge and Hebden Bridge is HBD.

 

[bb21]

Days of fun!

You realise that there won't be days of fun, don't you? The ticket is an Anytime Day Single so it expires at 0429 the following morning. Your journey opportunities are severely limited from Penzance.

On the other hand, if you purchase the return version it is an Anytime Return (no Day) so the outward portion is valid for 5 days.

 

[Goatboy]

You realise that there won't be days of fun, don't you? The ticket is an Anytime Day Single so it expires at 0429 the following morning. Your journey opportunities are severely limited from Penzance.

It surely falls into the realms of journeys for which an overnight break of journey is reasonable, therefore you do get '2 days' of fun with that ticket if you wish to go to Belfast from Penzance.

 

[bb21]

It surely falls into the realms of journeys for which an overnight break of journey is reasonable, therefore you do get '2 days' of fun with that ticket if you wish to go to Belfast from Penzance.

You won't. There has been no overnight break of journey permitted on Day tickets since the rules revision in October 2011.

Really this one should be an Anytime Single rather than an Anytime Day Single.

 

[CC 72100]

I have found the Devon Day Ranger, if used wisely, can be excellent value for money, especially with a Railcard.

... which judging by the current situation, will shortly become the best value ticket for replacement bus bashing
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Penzance to Belfast via Ayr is £52

For the brave there is the Penzance - Birmingham - Leeds - Newcastle - Edinburgh - Glasgow direct XC Voyager service. Using this route it's 709 miles on the train and then with about 50 miles on a coach and ferry thrown in.

Days of fun!

Not bad for a more or less unrestricted anytime walk up fare in terms of pence per mile. Of course, whether or not using this XC service is a good idea has already been the subject of several threads before...

But surely people could exploit that and use it as a way round XC's expensive walk up tickets - say If I was doing Plymouth - newcastle for example?

 

[LateThanNever]

You won't. There has been no overnight break of journey permitted on Day tickets since the rules revision in October 2011.

Really this one should be an Anytime Single rather than an Anytime Day Single.

Or perhaps a "There might not be the Time Single"?

 

[Muzer]

... which judging by the current situation, will shortly become the best value ticket for replacement bus bashing
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


But surely people could exploit that and use it as a way round XC's expensive walk up tickets - say If I was doing Plymouth - newcastle for example?

You could only do that if you only wanted to go to Newcastle station, and on from there to Belfast - the fare forbids BoJ.

 

[jkdd77]

Some people have questioned whether Anytime (Day) SDS/SOR tickets (which the 'Belfast' tickets are listed as) may have BoJ restrictions imposed on them at all, but, all the same, I would not recommend trying it, particularly as it would be a pity if the tickets were withdrawn.

 

[Paul Duck]

From stations in Teesside area,
Anytime return to Birmingham New Street: £184.50
Buy an Anytime return to Telford £128.80, no restrictions, any permitted route.

 

[CallySleeper]

Some people have questioned whether Anytime SOS/SOR tickets (which the 'Belfast' tickets are listed as) may have BoJ restrictions imposed on them at all, but, all the same, I would not recommend trying it, particularly as it would be a pity if the tickets were withdrawn.

No, Belfast tickets are sold as SDS or SOR.

SDS is valid only for one day, until 0429.
Meanwhile, I have SOS tickets for much shorter journeys which are indeed expressively valid for two days. You could argue SR tickets for this route should be sold as SOS, especially for longer journeys.
The outward portions of a SOR are valid 5 days.

Go figure.

 

[Paul Kelly]

SDS is valid only for one day, until 0429. But if it's required, travel can continue into a second day, providing it doesn't continue into a third.

That's not true, as bb21 said above - maybe you are thinking of the SVS (Off-Peak Single), to which this applies?