Group travel questions

[doubletrackemble]

How many adults need to be travelling together to qualify - is it 3? And are there set criteria as to how much discount you get depending on how many people there are - or are there wide variations depending on operator/time.
If there are advance tickets available for your route(s) can you get a Group save discount on these, or as they're discounted already does it not apply?
Thanks.

 

[yorkie]

GroupSave discounts are available for selected Off Peak journeys priced by participating TOCs (by no means all) and offer 4 or 3 people to travel for the price of 2. More info is on the National Rail site. It is not applicable to any other type of ticket such as Advance or Anytime.

Group Travel is the name given to special deals given to groups of 10 or more passengers, typically between 25% and 50%, and I believe this is for Advance as the idea is you are able to block book a part of the train.

 

[doubletrackemble]

Thanks. My query is prob for a max of 5 people so I see it will be GroupSave. I assume you get nothing extra off for a 5th person so it would work out 5 people for the price of 3?
The link is useful although the 'Applicable train operators & stations' section does not give any more details specifically on Group Save. As it's for Sat May 2 then I assume there are no specific restrictions as it's all off-peak. However the route (NWP-NMK) involves up to 3 TOC's (FGW, NXEA and poss FCC) so how do you go about buying a ticket - do they have to be bought beforehand? Also, if split tickets were the cheaper option (for one), would they allow you to apply them for the Groupsave as well?

 

[glynn80]

GroupSave discounts are available for selected Off Peak journeys priced by participating TOCs (by no means all) and offer 4 or 3 people to travel for the price of 2. More info is on the National Rail site. It is not applicable to any other type of ticket such as Advance or Anytime.

Actually Anytime Day tickets are valid for Groupsave discounts where an Off Peak Day does not exist.

 

[John @ home]

the route (NWP-NMK) involves up to 3 TOC's (FGW, NXEA and poss FCC) so how do you go about buying a ticket - do they have to be bought beforehand? Also, if split tickets were the cheaper option (for one), would they allow you to apply them for the Groupsave as well?

The NFM 02 CD gives the following fares from Newport S Wales to Newmarket:
1 Adult: Off-Peak Single (SVS) £71, Off-Peak Return (SVR) £72.
2 Adults: SVS 2*£71=£142, SVR 2*£72=£144.
3 Adults with GroupSave 3 (GS3): SVS 3*£46.85=£140.55, SVR 3*£47.50=£142.50.
4 Adults with GroupSave 4 (GS4): SVS 4*£35.50=£142, SVR 3*£36=£144.

Unfortunately, there is no extra discount for a 5th Adult.

You can buy split tickets with GroupSave discount for most splitting possibilities on this route.

If you are returning to Newport on the same day, then splitting at Swindon and Didcot seems to offer a saving with Off-Peak Day Returns (CDR), but you need to make sure your trains stop at Didcot as well as Swindon:
1 Adult: CDR £14.40 + £8.40 + £43 = £65.80
2 Adults: CDR 2*(£14.40 + £8.40 + £43) = £131.60
3 Adults GS3: CDR 3*(£9.50 + £5.55 + £28.40) = £130.45
4 Adults GS4: CDR 4*(£7.20 + £4.20 + £21.50) = £131.60

These are walk-up tickets which should be available from ticket offices immediately before travel, but my experience is that it sometimes takes 5 - 10 minutes for the member of staff to find the right buttons to press, so I would buy them a few days in advance, especially if splitting. You can now buy tickets with GroupSave discount online at http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=43

John