GWR Advances Fareham-BristolTM

[GarethW]

Sorry if this is a bit of a silly question.

This is a journey I used to do quite regularly but not since lockdown.

Always used to have no problems picking up a cheap advance but checked for journeys next month and January and none available.

Is this now a permanent thing on this route or as a result of recent events?

TIA

 

[alistairlees]

What sort of price are you expecting / did you used to get? On what day of the week / what time of the day would you normally travel?

For next Wednesday I can Advances at £27.80 on almost every direct GWR train; the bottom tier of non-promotional Advances is £20.80 - that the lowest you could possibly get.

I can see the same on (for example) Friday 17th December.

 

[Alex365Dash]

GWR significantly adjusted the cheaper Advances along that route back at the end of this June - if you’re looking for cheap advances, you unfortunately won’t find them as cheap as you could get them pre-COVID.

For example, the cheapest Advance tier for Portsmouth & Southsea to Cardiff Central in mid-June was £5.65 (or £5.70? Going off past ticket purchases so I have to convert the £3.75 railcard price back to a full fare), whereas the cheapest Advance tier now for that same journey is £26.80.

 

[GarethW]

Thanks for the replies.

I used to pay between £6-11 each way on advances for that journey up to Jan 20 so the current prices were a bit of a shock.

The travel would be midweek late lunchtime out and last train back. The only prices I saw for the Jan trip was £48 off peak return and maybe a quid cheaper next month.

Train split gets it down to £37 ish which is what I’ll have to do.
Theres no way Id buy advances just to save a measley quid or two.