Good value, non-loophole tickets

[CallySleeper]

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

Thanks, retracted. Other arguments still stand.

 

[island]

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.

Getting to Devon to use the ticket might not be straightforward at the minute though...

 

[Starmill]

Some local ones:

Littleborough to Appley Bridge via Bolton is almost 80 miles round trip for £4.20: just over 5p a mile. If your journey commences after 1830 its just £2.10 - around 2.5p a mile! A GM Evening Ranger is £2.50 and you can get a remarkably long way between 18:30 and the last train home sometimes.

Bristol TM to Severn Beach is only £3 for >25 mile round trip

A Merseyrail 'nothwirrallines' ticket (could someone who knows the area well confirm?) is only £4.80, Is this valid on all Merseyrail services? Crazy if so because it appears to be cheaper than Chester to Southport! If not the Merseytravel All Areas Saveaway is still only £4.90 (the GM one has gone up more sadly) and if still valid to Ormskirk and Chester/Ellsmere Port that could potentially be cheaper than many return tickets too.

 

[bnm]

Bristol TM to Severn Beach is only £3 for >25 mile round trip

And an even bigger bargain at £1.50 SDR for Railcard holders.

 

[button_boxer]

A Merseyrail 'nothwirrallines' ticket (could someone who knows the area well confirm?) is only £4.80, Is this valid on all Merseyrail services?

It's valid on all services that are actually operated by Merseyrail Electrics, i.e. the northern line and Wirral lines, but not the "city line" services as those are actually operated by Northern (even though branded Merseyrail). You need a Saveaway for those ones.

It seems a bit of a con given the Saveaway is only 10p more expensive, but presumably it's done because MR get to keep all the revenue from the day saver but have to share Saveaway revenue with buses/ferries/Northern.

 

[RochdalePioneers]

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.

As I understand it a break of journey overnight is accepted on via Cairnryan tickets where the journey can't be completed on the day - otherwise you are being sold a ticket for a journey you cannot complete. Another poster did Belfast - Kyle breaking overnight in Inverness with no issues at all.

Clause 16.2 in NRCOC has been quoted as entirely appropriate here - a break of journey "to stay in overnight accommodation where you cannot reasonably complete your journey in one day

 

[JB_B]

Getting to Devon to use the ticket might not be straightforward at the minute though...

You can get from London Waterloo to Devon (as far as Feniton so that or Axminster would be OK for the Devon day ranger) on SWT's current £10 weekend day return winter-sale offer which isn't bad value.

(Looks like that line is running OK - for the moment at least.)

http://www.brfares.com/#!fares?orig=BFR&dest=AXM

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/Winter-Sale-Terms-and-Conditions.aspx



The Ride Cornwall offer at £10 is also great value but again maybe something for when the situation improves.

http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/devon_cornwall/tickets/ride_cornwall/

 

[Hadders]

I've done a couple of Belfast journeys that continued into the next day.

The first was Belfast-Kyle of Lochalsh last summer (there's a trip report somewhere).

More recently I did Stevenage-Belfast using the lowland sleeper then continuing on to Belfast via Cairnryan the next day. No issue whatsoever using my 'out of date' ticket between Glasgow and Belfast. I even managed to get an itinerary from NRE for it as well by playing around with the via points and extending the connection time allowed!

It's shame that the sleeper arrival at 0718 doesn't make an official connection with the 0730 departure to Ayr (because the connection time at GLC is 15 minutes), meaning I had to wait until the 1130 departure. While the train part of the ticket is Anytime you have a ferry reservation (which I don't think has any flexibility unless you are delayed).

 

[Goatboy]

It's shame the sleeper that the sleeper arrival at 0722 doesn't make an official connection with the 0730 departure to Ayr, meaning I had to wait until 1130.

It's not an Advance so there is no reason why you couldnt board the 07:30?

 

[martinsh]

Stafford - Nuneaton offpeak day return (not via Birmingham) isn't bad value at £6.60.

(cheaper than Stafford to Wolverhampton)

 

[Hadders]

It's not an Advance so there is no reason why you couldnt board the 07:30?

I watched the 0730 depart but I figured that I wouldn't be able to get the 1130 ferry from Cairnryan as my ferry reservation was for the 1330.

I decamped to Wetherspoons for breakfast as it seemed better to spend a couple of hours in Glasgow rather than Ayr/Cairnryan.

 

[bb21]

As I understand it a break of journey overnight is accepted on via Cairnryan tickets where the journey can't be completed on the day - otherwise you are being sold a ticket for a journey you cannot complete. Another poster did Belfast - Kyle breaking overnight in Inverness with no issues at all.

Clause 16.2 in NRCOC has been quoted as entirely appropriate here - a break of journey "to stay in overnight accommodation where you cannot reasonably complete your journey in one day

This may well be the agreed practice. The problem is that this is not documented anywhere that I can see so if a member of staff takes exception, you will be royally screwed unless you have an appropriate itinerary to validate your journey.

An Anytime Day Single ceases to be valid after 0429 the day after, and that is a specific condition of the fare. All Condition 16(ii) does is clarifying that staying in overnight accommodation is not considered a break of journey. It has no relation to any extension of the validity of any specific fare.

 

[RochdalePioneers]

This may well be the agreed practice. The problem is that this is not documented anywhere that I can see so if a member of staff takes exception, you will be royally screwed unless you have an appropriate itinerary to validate your journey

That's appreciated. As Hadders reports above there appears to be some common sense involved in Scotland where the railway will sell you a day single ticket for a journey impossible to complete in a day. An unrestricted day ticket allows travel on any train at any time, so what do we do if you can't complete the journey you are permitted to make at any time before the ticket expires? In essence they are selling a ticket you can't use, especially as its from anywhere in the UK to Belfast, with longer journeys a physical impossibility inside the validity period.

In reality this is the single version of an AnytimeReturn which has been incorrectly coded as a Day Single.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Hadders]

I was a bit nervous using the ticket the Belfast ticket the following day but felt reassured as NRE gave me an itinerary which continued into the next day for the SDS ticket.

It would be interesting to see what would happen in the other direction. I wonder what an FCC RPI would say if I presented an 'expired' ticket for the final part of a journey from Belfast to Stevenage. I might have to give it a try...

 

[orpine]

Peterborough to Leamington (and reverse) - £9.30 for an Advance - 100+ rail miles. About a 3hr journey (half that in a car!).

For the belfast one - there are plenty of offpeak singles for just a little more looking at it (£58 rather than £52 for the Anytime). Do they allow BoJ?

There don't seem to be any returns for that journey.

 

[RochdalePioneers]

Off peak singles are via Dublin....

Sent from my HTC One mini using Tapatalk 2

 

[TQ]

I was very happy with £16 off peak day return Shrewsbury to West Kirby route any permitted.

I don't know the mileage but I went via Crewe and Liverpool. Off peak day return Shrewsbury to Crewe is £13 so hell of a lot if extra mileage for three quid!

I'm fairly sure it would be valid via Wrexham as well.

 

[Starmill]

I was very happy with £16 off peak day return Shrewsbury to West Kirby route any permitted.

I don't know the mileage but I went via Crewe and Liverpool. Off peak day return Shrewsbury to Crewe is £13 so hell of a lot if extra mileage for three quid!

I'm fairly sure it would be valid via Wrexham as well.

Is it actually permitted via Runcorn!?

 

[TQ]

Is it actually permitted via Runcorn!?

I went Shrewsbury to Crewe on ATW then Crewe to Lime Street on a pendalino and finally a Merseyrail service to West Kirby.

 

[extendedpaul]

I reckon Rainham (Kent) to Kidderminster advance for £10.50 including HS1 takes some beating !

 

[kieron]

Is it actually permitted via Runcorn!?

Of course. Shrewsbury-West Kirby costs the same as Shrewsbury-Birkenhead, so that's a valid routeing point.

If there are no problematic easements, Shrewsbury-Birkenhead (or Liverpool, as the routeing guide calls it) should be valid:
via Wrexham and Chester, or via Crewe, Runcorn and Liverpool on maps AW+CV;
via Wrexham, Shotton and Chester on AW+CH;
via Wolverhampton, Stafford and Runcorn,
or even via Birmingham, Nuneaton, Stafford and Runcorn, on CA+NV.
It shoul also be valid on ME, but that doesn't add any journey opportunities unless you're really creative in how you interpret the unbroken line between Shrewsbury and Chester.

It is also valid via Wrexham, Shotton and Bidston as the shortest route. This isn't a mapped route as the Shrewsbury-Shotton single is dearer than the Shotton-West Kirby one, even though the returns and the season ticket are the other way around.

On that basis, it is a pretty good value ticket!

 

[Francis]

Has anybody tried the Northern Rail Carlisle-Whitby anytime return SOR at £30.60, which routing maps show as valid not only via Hexham but also via Manchester (NW+GM+WY+LY+NE) or the Settle and Carlisle (MM+TP) or Lancaster and the Little NW (NC+MH+TP), or even using Hellifield-Blackburn?

I'm not sure I'd have the nerve to try it, but on paper it seems to be perfectly legal, if absurd. You could see most of the north of England on it.

Another good one seems to be Kirkby (Merseyside) to Shenstone (nr Lichfield) priced by LM. £16.50 for a super off=peak LM trains only, or £23.80 for an CDR day return after 08.45 any permitted route (via Wigan also allowed). Certainly knocks a lot off the Wigan-Birmingham fare. Nothing to say it isn't valid on Virgin.

Anyone got any comments or tried to use them?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Must correct myself. Sorry, I was using the old routing maps. The Dec 13 issue is more restrictive. Only two map options left: GN and MG+MT.

The Carlisle to Middlesbrough or Whitby tickets are still shown as valid via Manchester (maps MG+MT) and via Hexham (map GN) but not via the Settle and Carlisle, because there's a big gap between Hellifield and Bradford which isn't on (MG+MT).

Bizarre that they have eliminated the intermediate route (Settle Leeds) but left the extremely long one (via Manchester). Is there any logic behind it??

 

[transmanche]

I'm not sure I'd have the nerve to try it, but on paper it seems to be perfectly legal, if absurd.

I'd say that definitely falls outside the category of 'non-loophole' tickets...

 

[bb21]

Is there any logic behind it??

No, there isn't, and by bringing attention to it, it increases the likelihood of this being closed down sooner than it would otherwise be.