Woolwich Dockyard to Milton Keynes

[gooses]

What is the best value fare from Woolwich Dockyard to Milton Keynes?

Travelling on Friday, have 16-25 railcard, have oyster loaded with said railcard. Advance purchase singles are out (don't know when in the day I'm coming back) - need to arrive in MK before lunch. There's a whole myriad of London Midland and Virgin fares - was hoping someone could point me in the right direction.

 

[AlterEgo]

It depends on what you're looking for as a priority. You say "best value", rather than "best price".

Is speed a concern? Virgin will get you to Milton Keynes in 30 minutes from Euston, but London Midland can take 50 to 65 minutes. Tickets are priced accordingly. What about flexibility?

 

[class377man]

Is speed a concern? Virgin will get you to Milton Keynes in 30 minutes from Euston, but London Midland can take 50 to 65 minutes. Tickets are priced accordingly. What about flexibility?

If you get the xx:46 Euston-Crewe on London Midland, it's only 38 minutes to MK which is barely any slower than Virgin. The xx:13 to Northampton only takes 41 minutes as well.

 

[LexyBoy]

Is speed a concern? Virgin will get you to Milton Keynes in 30 minutes from Euston, but London Midland can take 50 to 65 minutes. Tickets are priced accordingly. What about flexibility?

Virgin Only cheap day return is £9.25
London Midland Only cheap day return is £9.25
Any Permitted is £13.55

Wonderful thing, competition :roll: (and don't ask me why LM can introduce a LM only fare).

 

[AlterEgo]

Virgin Only cheap day return is £9.25
London Midland Only cheap day return is £9.25
Any Permitted is £13.55

Wonderful thing, competition :roll: (and don't ask me why LM can introduce a LM only fare).

I had no idea a LM Only CDR was as comparitively expensive as that. I assumed it was arounf £8.

 

[iphone76]

If you buy this ticket on the LM website it seems to qualify for the 50% off fare which is £8.20 (not sure which operator this is with - ie. LM/Virgin). I would imagine this includes cross London transfer via the Underground so no need for your Oyster card either.

The planner says you can catch the 9.32am from Woolwich Dockyard to get you in at 11.13am (or 10.02am for 11.40am), however, I would imagine you could get there earlier with the time it allows to cross London.

 

[gooses]

If you buy this ticket on the LM website it seems to qualify for the 50% off fare which is £8.20 LM or £9.85 any operator. I would imagine this includes cross London transfer via the Underground so no need for your Oyster card either.

The planner says you can catch the 9.32am from Woolwich Dockyard to get you in at 11.13am (or 10.02am for 11.40am), however, I would imagine you could get there earlier with the time it allows to cross London.

Ah, good catch. I just spotted this too. The only slightly worrying thing is the LM planner appears to suggest I catch a Virgin service from Euston - despite the ticket not being valid!

 

[iphone76]

I actually just edited my original post as I didn't know how to read which operator you can use with which ticket. I am using LM on Saturday to MKC and the fast trains are fine (in terms of journey time) compared with Virgin.

 

[sonic2009]

A Woolwich Dockyard to Milton Keynes Central is Route Any Permitted +

This means you can have a free london cross-transfer, and with the ticket being ANY PERMITTED it is either valid on Virgin or London Midland Services from London Euston.

Bearing in Mind this 50% off ticket price is only available up to and including the 4th Sept, as this is when the London Midland Sale Ends.

 

[LondonJohn]

So if you had a LM only ticket could you zero Excess it to a Virgin only ticket as there is no difference in fare.

 

[sonic2009]

So if you had a LM only ticket could you zero Excess it to a Virgin only ticket as there is no difference in fare.

I dont think you can. I'm not quite sure but i don't think you can excess from One Specfic Operator Ticket to Another Operator Ticket, i think you have to excess to the Any Permitted Fare..

 

[AlterEgo]

So if you had a LM only ticket could you zero Excess it to a Virgin only ticket as there is no difference in fare.

No.

TOC-specific tickets are non-excessable to another TOC.

 

[LexyBoy]

A Woolwich Dockyard to Milton Keynes Central is Route Any Permitted +

This means you can have a free london cross-transfer, and with the ticket being ANY PERMITTED it is either valid on Virgin or London Midland Services from London Euston.

Bearing in Mind this 50% off ticket price is only available up to and including the 4th Sept, as this is when the London Midland Sale Ends.

This will almost certainly be the best price. (Do you get the railcard discount on top of the 50% offer?). As sonic says, the only requirement for the 50% off offer to be valid is that the ticket is priced by LM - you don't have to travel on any LM trains.

I dont think you can. I'm not quite sure but i don't think you can excess from One Specfic Operator Ticket to Another Operator Ticket, i think you have to excess to the Any Permitted Fare..

Worse than that, it cannot be excessed at all - you'd have to pay for an entirely new ticket (before travel), or a penalty fare, or a Penalty Fare.

 

[LondonJohn]

This will almost certainly be the best price. (Do you get the railcard discount on top of the 50% offer?). As sonic says, the only requirement for the 50% off offer to be valid is that the ticket is priced by LM - you don't have to travel on any LM trains.



Worse than that, it cannot be excessed at all - you'd have to pay for an entirely new ticket (before travel), or a penalty fare, or a Penalty Fare.

It almost seems illogical as you paid a fare of £9.25, travel on one TOC and the fare to travel on the other TOC was £9.25 . I really can't see what fare you have evaded as you joined the train where the fare from A to B is £9.25 and you paid that fare in doing an excess, this should switch the revenue via the BSP to the relevant TOC.

 

[sonic2009]

The 50% fare i have quoted includes the 16-25 railcard..

 

[gooses]

The 50% fare i have quoted includes the 16-25 railcard..

Aye - railcard seems fine. Squinting at the fare enough seems to confirm what you say - and of course there's the good old excuse of "the travel planner told me to - here's my email confirmation showing it". Thanks all for help.

 

[LexyBoy]

It almost seems illogical as you paid a fare of £9.25, travel on one TOC and the fare to travel on the other TOC was £9.25 . I really can't see what fare you have evaded as you joined the train where the fare from A to B is £9.25 and you paid that fare in doing an excess, this should switch the revenue via the BSP to the relevant TOC.

It seems totally illogical. There are plenty of examples where a small or zero excess is payable to travel on a different route - in that case the TOC on the 'new' route gets little or no revenue for carrying you - but because it's a geographical route it's allowed.

Of course, what should happen is a re-allocation of revenue when an excess is issued - which would make the process fair both to TOCs and passengers. However, as ATOC would apparently rather abolish excesses altogether it's not likely to happen.