Salford - Coventry on August 16

[Merseysider]

I'm looking for suggestions on cheap tickets.

I'm travelling from Salford Crescent to Coventry on August 16, arriving no later than 4pm.

At about 11pm, I'll have two possible courses of action.

Option 1 is travelling back to Manchester.

Option 2: Whether I do this or not will depend on how much the fare would be. There is a music event the following day, August 17, that I'd like to attend in Kettering, Northamptonshire. This would mean travelling at 11pm from Coventry to Kettering and at about 10pm on August 17, travelling back to Manchester from Kettering.

I have a 16-25 Railcard. I don't mind creative ticketing and I don't mind waiting 5 hours in a station overnight if it brings the price down or is the only available way of making the journey.

Can anybody advise any estimates for either/both of these journeys?

Thanks

 

[sonic2009]

Advance fares are available from Manchester Piccadilly to Coventry

£13.35 for STD and £17.50 for 1ST

The above fares are available on the 0827,0927,1027,1127,1227,1327 from Manchester Piccadilly. The journey time to Coventry is 1hr 57min.

You mention the need to get to Kettering for the 17th, i would suggest getting the train from Coventry to Northampton around 2200 on the 16th and then the X4 bus from Northampton to Kettering at 2305 arriving Kettering at 0006 on the 17th.

 

[kieron]

Only the Crosscountry advance tickets are out now. The Virgin ones are typically cheaper (starting at £4.60, which is available the week before for the 13:09-15:28 journey), so I'd wait a bit.

If JakeF wishes to stay for the end of the Coventry thing, there's a 23:21 train to Northampton, but no 'buses or trains to get him to Kettering until the NX coach at 9:10. I don't know how much a taxi would cost.

And, while there are Virgin+Connections and Crosscountry+Connections tickets from Salford Crescent to Coventry, there are only advance tickets available from Kettering to Manchester (the earliest reaching Manchester at 4:20). A ticket to Salford Central (stopping short at Salford Crescent) is only £1.20, but there aren't many trains around at that time of night.

I'd definitely wait for Virgin and EMT advance tickets to be released before deciding anything, though.

 

[Merseysider]

Advance fares are available from Manchester Piccadilly to Coventry.
£13.35 for STD and £17.50 for 1ST

£17.50 seems quite reasonable for 1ST, any idea of what XC's 1st offering is like midday/early afternoon?

Only the Crosscountry advance tickets are out now. The Virgin ones are typically cheaper (starting at £4.60, which is available the week before for the 13:09-15:28 journey), so I'd wait a bit.

I'd definitely wait for Virgin and EMT advance tickets to be released before deciding anything, though.

Ah right, I saw that advances had become available so just assumed that was the lot and there wouldn't be TOCs releasing their own on later dates.

I've heard that XC priced flows can be open to splitting, do you think that approach would save money here? I'm not familiar with the route to Coventry at all.

Would it be next weekend then, that Virgin & EMT advances reach us? Also, I'm aware that in the Watford area there's going to be disruption on the weekend I'm travelling. Would that affect my journey plans or be cause for delay?

Thanks for all info so far!

 

[kieron]

Ah right, I saw that advances had become available so just assumed that was the lot and there wouldn't be TOCs releasing their own on later dates.

It usually works like that when only one TOC offers advance tickets for a route. When 2 or 3 do, like here, they can do it at different dates.

I've heard that XC priced flows can be open to splitting, do you think that approach would save money here? I'm not familiar with the route to Coventry at all.

It's possible, but I doubt you'd get anything to beat a £4.60 advance fare.

Would it be next weekend then, that Virgin & EMT advances reach us? Also, I'm aware that in the Watford area there's going to be disruption on the weekend I'm travelling. Would that affect my journey plans or be cause for delay?

The timetable which is up for that weekend should be the final one now, so you can tell how the engineering works are intended to affect your journey.

I don't know exactly when the advance tickets will be released, but I have found that Virgin's twitter team can help with that sort of query in the past. I haven't tried EMT's, though.