The biggest split ticket savings

[brad465]

Today I did Taunton-Staines and back by splitting twice en route, at Pewsey and Newbury, including a morning peak journey. With a railcard, the total cost was £58.85; without the split it would have been £121.65, a saving of over 50% (£62.80). If I had split at Hungerford instead of Newbury, I could have saved another few quid, however this was at the expense of an ideal return journey that didn't call there.

It got me wondering though, what journeys offer the biggest savings, either as a % reduction and/or numerical reduction, compared to a through ticket for the same journey?

 

[Watershed]

It will probably be a day trip where there are no period returns - where you're taking a train which departs just before the through Off-Peak ticket, as well as your Railcard, becomes valid.

For example 2 adults with a Two Together Railcard, who take the 09:25 XC service from Manchester to Reading, returning later the same day. The through fare would be £392.70 so the walk-up split fare of £119.70 represents a nearly 70% saving against that.

 

[A S Leib]

Are you only looking for splits which, apart from the splits, offer the same TOC and time flexibility?

I suspect that some of the biggest savings would involve using LNR/WMR or Lumo-only fares rather than ones priced by Avanti in parts. The Warrington to Euston anytime return is £358 any permitted or £163.50 splitting at Crewe ('via Manchester' Warrington to Crewe anytime period return and LNR / WMR-only Crewe to Euston anytime return). (That doesn't undercut the £159 TfW and Lumo only fare but is, I suspect, rather more useful if you don't know your times beforehand.) Splitting at Crewe saves £194.50 / 54%.

Not quite a split ticketing case, but I wonder how Amersham to Watford Junction compares proportionately between traditional and Oyster / contactless fares. It's possible to buy National Rail tickets between them, but only via central London at up to £32.90 for an anytime single without contactless. The contactless peak fare, presumably based solely via Northwick Park / Kenton is £4.30. Using contactless and Tube services rather than sticking with National Rail tickets saves £28.60 / 87%.

 

[FenMan]

Today I did Taunton-Staines and back by splitting twice en route, at Pewsey and Newbury, including a morning peak journey. With a railcard, the total cost was £58.85; without the split it would have been £121.65, a saving of over 50% (£62.80). If I had split at Hungerford instead of Newbury, I could have saved another few quid, however this was at the expense of an ideal return journey that didn't call there.

It got me wondering though, what journeys offer the biggest savings, either as a % reduction and/or numerical reduction, compared to a through ticket for the same journey?

There are plenty of splits where the savings are eye-watering.

Take a Blackwater - Birmingham (via Oxford) same day return, leaving during the morning peak, returning in the evening peak.

The Anytime Return is £175.70.

But, splitting at Banbury, gives ....

Blackwater - Banbury Anytime Day Return : £41.60
Banbury - Birmingham VIA LEAMINGTON Anytime Day Return : £29.40
Total : £71.00

A saving of £104.70 or over 59%.

 

[Crithylum]

I’ve done journeys with ~90% savings. 1st class advance single + cheap connecting service advance (standard class only) for ~£25 (optionally +~£10 to TrainSplit for working out that splitting advances where you change trains saves money) with 16-25 railcard.

Compared to over £200 for an undiscounted 1st anytime single.

Don’t remember exact numbers as it was a few months ago and it involves advances so saving is variable.

 

[Envoy]

Are we at risk here of fare setters seeing the suggested splits and then blocking them?

 

[yorksrob]

Are we at risk here of fare setters seeing the suggested splits and then blocking them?

Yes.

Careless talk costs passengers (money).

 

[A S Leib]

Are we at risk here of fare setters seeing the suggested splits and then blocking them?

Yes.

Careless talk costs passengers (money).

How could such splits be blocked to begin with? I thought there was a legal precedent for splitting having to be allowed, so that leaves changing timetables to make them less attractive, which seems unlikely.

 

[AlterEgo]

How could such splits be blocked to begin with? I thought there was a legal precedent for splitting having to be allowed, so that leaves changing timetables to make them less attractive, which seems unlikely.

The prices of individual tickets in the split can be raised or routing options restricted to make them undesirable or impossible.

 

[Coleridge]

On one of my most frequent journeys, a simple split saves me around £275 each time, even with a railcard - it would be around £400 otherwise. I don't think I want to say here what the journey is, for the reasons given above, but it's a very common and well-known split, and not one (I think) that the TOCs could block.

It shows, though, the problems faced by a politician who claims that they will simplify fares. Do they double the prices of the individual journeys, or cut the cost of the through ticket by 50%? Neither is politically acceptable. And there would be a whole load of knock-on effects, causing even more opportunities to split.

 

[FenMan]

Yes.

Careless talk costs passengers (money).

The Banbury split is well known and I very much doubt XC will stop calling there.

In recent months the pricing of XC's Advances has become far more competitive than it used to be, to the extent that the "Banbury split" often isn't worth doing. This also has the happy outcome, for XC, of passengers riding on their trains without a fair chunk of the revenue going to GWR and Chiltern.

 

[sammyg901]

I was surprised to save ~31% on a Chiltern Railways single ticket from Bicester this morning. Seems crazy to me how simple commuter journeys can see such reductions.

This has a potentially desirable effect for Chiltern at the moment as the peak services from Bicester North are overcrowded and no splits possible as they're non stop into Marylebone, so may tempt some folk onto the Bicester Village trains

 

[Sun Chariot]

Not wanting to derail the purpose of this thread but it makes me think: "how did UK railway ticketing get this messy and this complex"?
In the 1980s, I travelled on Saver, Supersaver and Rail Rover.
In the 1990s, I commuted with an annual Gold Travelcard.

When and how and why did it all get so convoluted, so as to create an entire sub industry of the split-ticketing concept?

Confused of aged latter-50s.

 

[A S Leib]

The prices of individual tickets in the split can be raised or routing options restricted to make them undesirable or impossible.

That's true.

In the Warrington to London case I mentioned, I don't think that's likely. Splitting at Crewe takes around an hour longer each way (and I think an hour and a half if going via Manchester and Trent Valley stoppers compared to the nonstop Avanti), which should be disincentive enough.

 

[redreni]

The prices of individual tickets in the split can be raised or routing options restricted to make them undesirable or impossible.

Or open calls can become restricted calls, which can be extremely aggravating. A textbook example of making a product or service worse in order to extract more money from existing customers.

 

[CyrusWuff]

I was surprised to save ~31% on a Chiltern Railways single ticket from Bicester this morning. Seems crazy to me how simple commuter journeys can see such reductions.

A look at the relevant fares shows Bicester - London pricing is essentially tied to Oxford - London pricing.

That really should have been resolved when Chiltern started running from Marylebone to Oxford Parkway in 2015, but GWR still treat Oxford - Bicester Village as if it was a 30mph single track branch line, so Paddington - Didcot/Oxford/Bicester are all much the same price.

 

[mike57]

A lot of the biggest savings are where you combine day returns, if its a long day trip then the first leg is an Anytime day return but once you pass the 9.30 threshold you can use offpeak day returns for the remainder of the journey.

A few years back I had to do a day trip to Coventry from home, leaving on the first train at 7.20am in the morning. I wasn't going to spend more than a couple of hours in Coventry, but didn't want to tie my self to one train back. so instead of an anytime return which at current no railcard prices comes out at £255 I split the journey at Sheffield and Derby. Again at current prices Sheffield is £45 on an anytime day return, and the remaining legs total £40 on off peak day returns so £85 v £255.

 

[GilfachFargoed]

Not wanting to derail the purpose of this thread but it makes me think: "how did UK railway ticketing get this messy and this complex"?
In the 1980s, I travelled on Saver, Supersaver and Rail Rover.
In the 1990s, I commuted with an annual Gold Travelcard.

When and how and why did it all get so convoluted, so as to create an entire sub industry of the split-ticketing concept?

Confused of aged latter-50s.

Stringing together a series of 'Cheap Day Returns' for a longer distance day trip, where no CDR existed, could be worthwhile even pre-privatisation.