St Albans to Cromer Cheapest?

[suzanneparis]

Hello everyone

I wonder if someone could please help with some advice.

My daughter will be travelling, occasionally (once a month) from St Albans to Cromer.

She can travel on ANY day of the week and would stay in Cromer for about a week.

She can travel at any time of day.

She has an Oyster card, if that makes any difference.

Can someone please suggest her cheapest option for the return journey from St Albans to Cromer?

Many thanks for any help.

 

[30907]

I assume your daughter will take advantage of half fare if under 16 or buy a YP Railcard if 16-25 which will reduce fares by 34%.

An initial check on www.brfares.com suggests:

If she can commit to a specific date and train, and book some way in advance, it may be worth splitting in London with an Advance ticket from Liverpool Street to Cromer or v.v.

If travelling at short notice or wanting to be flexible, the through Offpeak return ticket from St Albans is only £5 more than the one from London, so splitting isn't worth it.

Experts here will be better placed to reply in detail, mine is just a first response.

 

[yorkie]

Can someone please suggest her cheapest option for the return journey from St Albans to Cromer?

The cheapest option will generally be to travel at less popular times and to purchase a through Advance single fare for the entire leg of the journey, bought as soon as Advance tickets go on sale (approximately 12 weeks before the travel date, but this can be less, especially on weekends!)

Sometimes it's not possible to do this, and sometimes a through fare may be undercut by "Splitting" the journey into a combination of tickets. It can be very time consuming to calculate the cheapest combination of fares, but fortunately some members of this forum made a website that can calculate this for you, it's at www.trainsplit.com

 

[suzanneparis]

Many thanks 30907 and Yorkie.

Sorry I should have mentioned that my daughter is a full adult fare and does not qualify for any railcard, she is not a student or YP.

She would prefer a flexible ticket but is able to travel at any time of day. On the nat rail site I came up with a (semi?) flexible fare of £59-30 for an off peak return.

I tried the fare splitting site and it came up with the same fare, but thanks for pointing me to it. It may prove useful for future journeys.

Thanks again. And all the best from Cromer. Shame it's grey today it was lovely yesterday.

 

[yorkie]

She would prefer a flexible ticket but is able to travel at any time of day.

That's rather expensive, at £128.50 for the Anytime Return (SOR)

On the nat rail site I came up with a (semi?) flexible fare of £59-30 for an off peak return.

Yes, the £59.30 Off Peak Return (SVR) fare is valid by any train between St Albans and London (there is no restriction on this ticket for that part of the journey, in either direction), includes cross-London transfer (also at any time) and also valid at off peak times between London and Cromer.

 

[OwlMan]

Depending on where you live in St Albans it might be easier to travel from Hatfield, the off-peak reurn fare to Cromer being £41.40

 

[richa2002]

Depending on where you live in St Albans it might be easier to travel from Hatfield, the off-peak reurn fare to Cromer being £41.40

Is that via Cambridge instead of London?

 

[OwlMan]

Is that via Cambridge instead of London?

Yes via Cambridge, changing at Stevenage & Cambridge and then Norwich,

 

[47421]

Query whether the £144 investment in a Lichfield City to Trent Valley gold card would be worth it, travelling monthly it may well be.

For benefit of the OP annual season tics in London, South East, Anglia and West Midlands are issued as gold cards and give gold card benefits Inc 1/3 off most fares in the gold card area. Key restriction is that disc only applies after 0930 Monday to Friday, anytime weekends and bank holidays. Check out annual gold card page on national rail enquiries web page. Any ticket office should issue that season ticket, you don't need to live in Lichfield or ever travel where the season tic is valid.

 

[Hadders]

And there'd be nothing stopping you getting a change of route excess if you fancied going via London on one of the legs. This would cost half the difference between the +Any Permitted and Not London Fares, in this case £8.95.

 

[Kite159]

Query whether the £144 investment in a Lichfield City to Trent Valley gold card would be worth it, travelling monthly it may well be.

For benefit of the OP annual season tics in London, South East, Anglia and West Midlands are issued as gold cards and give gold card benefits Inc 1/3 off most fares in the gold card area. Key restriction is that disc only applies after 0930 Monday to Friday, anytime weekends and bank holidays. Check out annual gold card page on national rail enquiries web page. Any ticket office should issue that season ticket, you don't need to live in Lichfield or ever travel where the season tic is valid.

Although you will need to buy the season ticket at a ticket office inside the Gold card area as it is on special stock.

If not a Gold Card, how about a regular Network railcard and splitting the journey at Manningtree?

 

[yorkie]

how about a regular Network railcard and splitting the journey at Manningtree?

What are your calculations?

According to my calculations, it would cost £1.45 more for each journey, in addition to being more restrictive

SAC - MNG SVR (discounted) £29.65
MNG - CMR SVR (undiscounted) £31.10
Total £60.75

 

[Kite159]

I hadn't done any calculations, just a through of it might be cheaper splitting at the boundary.

 

[Hadders]

Assuming the OP's daughter travels from St Albans to Cromer. Off Peak Return is £59.30. The price with an Annual Gold Card discount is £39.15, a saving of £20.15.

If travelling from Hatfield (via Cambridge) the off-peak return is £41.40 with the Annual Gold Card price £27.35, saving £14.05.

The cheapest Annual Gold Card is £144 (Lichfield Trent Valley-Lichfield City) so 8 trips would be needed if travelling from St Albans for it to pay for itself, 11 trips if travelling from Hatfield.

As previously mentioned there are other benefits to being an Annual Gold Card holder, notably a third off fares in the Gold Card Area for the holder and up to 4 companions, the ability to add the discount to an Oyster card and the ability to purchase a 'national' railcard (ie. Senior, 16-25, Family, Network) for friend for £10. The OP's daughter would be able to get the Lichfield Gold Card issued at St Albans (or any rail station in the Gold Card area).

 

[TheEdge]

If not a Gold Card, how about a regular Network railcard and splitting the journey at Manningtree?

I wish people would stop believing the Manningtree split is the best thing since sliced bread on the GEML. It really doesn't save all that much unless you are making journeys that start or finish at the southern end of the East Suffolk Line, south of Bury St Edmunds, Felixstowe or Ipswich. That plus enjoy all those pointless self inflicted restrictions!