York to London King's Cross

[YorkC]

I occasionally have to travel from York to London KX - sometimes having to arrive fairly early in London (10.03 is the direct one, and 10.05 when changing at Peterborough and using FCC), and sometimes I'm almost entirely flexible. These are almost always on weekdays. I often don't know early enough to buy advance tickets - obviously, I try these when I can.

For comparison:
Off-peak return (Grand Central): £87.50
Super Off Peak Return (any operator): £98
Off-peak return (any operator): £154
Anytime return: £249

What I've found to be the cheapest way to do this (for the earlier time), with a bit of annoying changing is:

Anytime return to Peterborough + FCC off-peak return from Peterborough to King's Cross: £94.50 + £26 = £120.50 (arriving 10.05)

and, when more flexible, using off-peak returns using the same route, which comes to £61.40 + £26 = £87.40.

Does anyone know a better value option than this, in either case? I'm happy to put up with slightly longer journey times, so long as I can get there at about 10. Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer.

 

[yorkie]

Welcome to the forum.

Not that I can think of, other than checking if there's availability of Advance fares from Doncaster to London (trains from Leeds, Bradford, Hull are generally less well loaded than trains from Newcastle & Edinburgh).

Fares from Peterborough to London are described by the rail industry as "simple" but are, in fact, complex. Be careful what you ask for as if you ask for an Off Peak Return from Peterborough to London you will probably be sold a different ticket to the one you want. If you ask for a product by name e.g. "Off Peak Return" the booking clerk may simply sell it without asking any further questions.

The £26 ticket from Peterborough to London is an Off Peak Day Return (CDR), with the Off Peak Return (SVR) a bit more expensive than that and has different restrictions (the Off Peak Day Return being less restrictive in the morning, but heavily restricted coming back in the evening, the Off Peak Return is more restrictive in the morning, but less restrictive in the evening).

There is also the inter-available Super Off Peak Return, which is even more restrictive than either of the aforementioned tickets in the morning, but not as restrictive as the Off Peak Day in the evening, the inter-available Off Peak Return is extremely expensive, won't get you to London before the Off Peak Day Return on FCC, but valid by any train in the evening. Then there's the inter-available Off Peak Day Return, which is so heavily restricted you can't depart Peterborough until 0953, and is also heavily restricted in the evening.

And if anyone thinks this is too confusing, you can be rest assured that there is no sign that our ineffective Passenger Watchdog are in any way trying to do anything about it, while our anti-passenger Regulator is quite happy for these fares to be described as "simple" and you can "buy in confidence", "know exactly where you stand", as the ticket terms and conditions are "the same across all companies nationwide" and the "new names describe when you can buy or use a ticket", so when you see "Off Peak Return" or "Off Peak Day Return" or "Super Off Peak Return" you apparently know when it's valid based purely on the name!

(By the way an "SOR" is the code for an Anytime Return, formerly "Standard Open Return". The code for a Super Off Peak Return, formerly "SuperSaver Return" is "SSR", while the Super Off Peak Returns which had other names are generally "OPR". I corrected your opening post, by removing the code SOR, to avoid confusion).

 

[YorkC]

Whoops, sorry about that ambiguity.

I suspected there wouldn't be anything better. It's a bit of a nightmare, really. Thanks for having a go.

 

[SWTCommuter]

You could save a bit more by getting yourself a Network Railcard and splitting at Huntingdon instead of Peterborough. You would have to use a train that departed from Huntingdon after 10 am to qualify for the discount however.

 

[cde]

Get a Grand Central off peak carnet. Obviously you are limited to GC services only but they are non-stop between York and King's Cross so pretty fast, and the off peak carnet is £300 for ten single tickets so you could do an off peak return for £60. If you travel on a peak service it will cost about £25 to upgrade that leg so if you go down in the peak but back off peak you'll only pay £85.

That's what I do!

Cheers

Chris

 

[jkdd77]

I've found a valid flexible Off-Peak Return ticket for just over £80 for travel on 'fast' trains from York to London. This ticket is technically valid from York to Kings Cross according to the Routeing Guide and BoJ permissions, subject to the time restrictions below, but is not accepted as such by journey planners, and likely to result in hassle in practice.

This would be only be available for journeys when the OP is arriving in London at or after 11:17, and departing London before 15:00, or at or after 18:59.

An Off-Peak Single ticket for this journey, would be half the above price, if purchased on the Virgin website, and could be combined with an advance single for the outward journey if arriving in London at around 10:00.

I have not named the ticket to avoid attracting ATOC spies; if the OP is interested, I will send him or her a pm after he or she has made five posts.

If the OP wishes to avoid hassle, it would also be possible to combine an advance single ticket from York to London with a £48.50 Super Off-Peak Single for the return leg (if purchased no later than the previous day from the East Coast website).

If purchasing at short notice, however, the remaining advance tickets for travel at 'peak times' are likely to be so expensive that it would probably be better 'value for money' to change at Peterborough as suggested by the OP.