Ridiculous fare for day trip Leeds-Birmingham

[tom73]

Totally shocked by the £332 return fare for a family of three (two adults and one child) wanting a day out in Birmingham. They have now booked with National Express coaches for £5.75 each way for the three of them, but can any ticket split experts find a more realistic fare for future reference.

 

[Deafdoggie]

A family Railcard is a good start!

 

[deltic]

A family and friends railcard takes over a third of the cost, then depends whether you can buy advance tickets to further reduce the cost

 

[mmh]

It would be 158.00 on trains after 9:30am - the 332.00 is the (yup, quite ridiculous!) "anytime" fare.

With a family railcard (costs 30.00), after 9:30am it would be 95.40, or before 9:30 would be 200.55.

 

[Merseysider]

Leave after 9.30, and split at Sheffield & Derby (for example) to bring the total price down to £80 ish with a Family Railcard and flexible tickets.

Advances/other splits may be even cheaper

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Totally shocked by the £332 return fare for a family of three (two adults and one child) wanting a day out in Birmingham. They have now booked with National Express coaches for £5.75 each way for the three of them, but can any ticket split experts find a more realistic fare for future reference.
View attachment 53465

That, of course, is the price for people who go and book without researching further options - i.e. the "average Joe". "Smart Joe", who asks for advice on this website, would discover that firstly obtaining a family Railcard, and furthermore travelling after 09:30, and finally splitting tickets and considering Advances, would save him anything up to 70-80%.

Unfortunately the rail industry is like that - they have the "uninformed" average passenger subsidise those in the know. It's not good, but it is not changing anytime soon without political intervention.

 

[Hadders]

That, of course, is the price for people who go and book without researching further options - i.e. the "average Joe". "Smart Joe", who asks for advice on this website, would discover that firstly obtaining a family Railcard, and furthermore travelling after 09:30, and finally splitting tickets and considering Advances, would save him anything up to 70-80%.

Unfortunately the rail industry is like that - they have the "uninformed" average passenger subsidise those in the know. It's not good, but it is not changing anytime soon without political intervention.

So the same as most other industries eg Mortgages, insurance, savings accounts,mobile phones, utilities. Even when buying a car the price displayed is unlikely to be what you pay...

 

[AndrewE]

Buying a car is more like buying a budget airline ticket: you will almost always have to pay more than the low initial quote displayed just to tempt you.

 

[Silverdale]

Unfortunately the rail industry is like that - they have the "uninformed" average passenger subsidise those in the know. It's not good, but it is not changing anytime soon without political intervention.

In this case the "uninformed" passenger chose not to contribute their share of the subsidy, but booked on the National Express coach instead.

I don't see why it should need political intervention to get retailers to tweak their online systems to at least advise a potential customer booking for e.g. two adults and a child, when the purchase of a railcard for that one booking would result in an overall saving. If the family wanting a day out in Brum had enquired at a station ticket office, I would hope they would have been advised.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Totally shocked by the £332 return fare for a family of three (two adults and one child) wanting a day out in Birmingham. They have now booked with National Express coaches for £5.75 each way for the three of them, but can any ticket split experts find a more realistic fare for future reference.
View attachment 53465

Hi there, tom73.



From the information given, I have been able to find a fare of £124.25 consisting of two single fares. A cheaper fare of £75.15 is available for Family & Friends Railcard holders on the same services.

The outward journey would be the 09:16 London North Eastern Railway service from Leeds to Doncaster arriving into Doncaster at 09:46, and then the 09:59 CrossCountry service from Doncaster to Birmingham New Street, arriving into Birmingham New Street at 11:27.

The return journey would the direct 20:03 CrossCountry service from Birmingham New Street to Leeds, arriving into Leeds at 22:02.



Please note that these fares are NOT flexible and as stated on the website (see attached screenshots below) it clearly says ‘specified train only’.

If this isn’t an issue then this happens to be a much more realistic fare than the anytime return fare of £332.00.



WITHOUT Family & Friends Railcard:


WITH Family & Friends Railcard:


I hope this helps.

 

[30907]

That, of course, is the price for people who go and book without researching further options - i.e. the "average Joe". "Smart Joe", who asks for advice on this website, would discover that firstly obtaining a family Railcard, and furthermore travelling after 09:30, and finally splitting tickets and considering Advances, would save him anything up to 70-80%.

Offpeak tickets, Advance tickets and Railcards are all widely advertised and the national rail and most TOC websites will show the options (No idea which the OP used).

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Offpeak tickets, Advance tickets and Railcards are all widely advertised and the national rail and most TOC websites will show the options (No idea which the OP used).

Indeed, and that alone will save OP a lot of money. Splitting is not nearly as well advertised (it's published in some newspapers' guides to saving money on train travel, as well as on websites like MoneySavingExpert), so that's the kind of thing that I think only a "Smart Joe" would realise. But even Railcards are not obvious if you just go to a train company's website and search for tickets - for a journey of that value, a Railcard pays for itself even with just that trip, so I think TOCs' websites should be forced to show a message saying that a Railcard would make the journey cheaper - even when including the cost of the Railcard.

 

[30907]

Indeed, and that alone will save OP a lot of money. But even Railcards are not obvious if you just go to a train company's website and search for tickets - for a journey of that value, a Railcard pays for itself even with just that trip, so I think TOCs' websites should be forced to show a message saying that a Railcard would make the journey cheaper - even when including the cost of the Railcard.

To make it low-tech - "check out discount prices with one of our National Railcards - see if there's one for you (link)."

 

[yorkie]

Totally shocked by the £332 return fare for a family of three (two adults and one child) wanting a day out in Birmingham. They have now booked with National Express coaches for £5.75 each way for the three of them, but can any ticket split experts find a more realistic fare for future reference.
View attachment 53465

Trainsplit finds return fares of around £55 for your group, if you purchase a Railcard departing 0911

Or £77 departing 0711 if you want longer in Brum

 

[tom73]

Thanks for the advice guys.