manchester-crewe

[woody505]

17/12/15
Manchester-Crewe 13.55 showing £10.50

Manchester -Wolverhampton 13.55 via Crewe 15.01 using only virgin trains £8.50

How can it be £2 cheaper to continue my journey going further with an extra train with same company?
Hypothetically am I allowed to book the second ticket and just go to Crewe with no intention of traveling to Wolverhampton ?

 

[crehld]

The £10.50 ticket you cite is a MANCHESTER STNS to CREWE, OFF-PEAK DAY SINGLE, routed VTWC TRAINSONLY (that's "Virgin Trains Only" in plain English). You may use this ticket on any Virgin (West Coast) train after 09:30.

The £8.50 ticket you cite is an ADVANCE ticket. Unlike the first ticket, advance tickets restrict you to a specific train. Furthermore they do not permit break of journey except to change trains, so hypothetically, no you are not allowed to book this ticket with the intention of just stopping short at Crewe. In very simplistic terms they are cheaper because train companies use them to draw in passengers on routes which would otherwise be quite quiet.

The Virgin Trains only ticket to Crewe is already discounted (compared with the ANY PERMITTED fare at £13.40) and so undercuts other operators on this route (Northern, Arriva Trains Wales and Cross Country). Furthermore this route is quite busy, so Virgin probably don't see any need in having to encourage passengers to make this journey - many do it already.

 

[Mag_seven]

How can it be £2 cheaper to continue my journey going further with an extra train with same company?

Demand and supply. Although Crewe is closer to Manchester than Wolves demand is greater to Crewe on that particular train. Ticket pricing is not done on the basis of distance.