Best way to book train tickets

[teuchter]

One of my first stops would be this website which can list all available fares between two stations:

Look up fares for any train journey in Britain

Full details of all British rail Single, Return & Season tickets and Travelcards. Built-in Season Ticket Calculator.

www.brfares.com

It relies a bit on you being able to make sense of various things but basically contains all the info you need, with these exceptions:

- Where it shows you advance fares (actually it looks like there are no advance fares on that particular journey) it'll show you what advance fares are potentially available, but what's actually available will change day to day. I think there are some people who try to commute using advance fares, by getting to know the options and buying them in batches ahead of time but that's a complicated strategy that is maybe unlikely to beat a season ticket in most cases.

- You can always try split ticketing, that is you make the journey using two or more tickets end to end. To try and find options there, you can try websites like Split Ticketing with TrainSplit | Mobile App | Save up to 90%. Again this gets complicated, and may or may not save you money compared to a season ticket. But probably worth checking.

- For Gravesend to St Pancras, that BRFARES website will show you tickets for that specific journey but it's quite possible, if you don't want to use the high speed services, that you will find a better price for a ticket to Victoria or Charing Cross or wherever Gravesend slow trains go to. Then you'd need to add on the price for getting across London, whether that's by tube or bus or hire bike or whatever.

 

[Winot]

We will know when we have true AI when it manages to crack the British train system.

 

[ska invita]

We will know when we have true AI when it manages to crack the British train system.

Truly the experience will spark consciousness

If a computer can play 400 million games of Go against itself and finally master the game I reckon we're probably only a few years off your prediction coming true

 

[ska invita]

Not sure if this helps - have you checked out Flexi Season Tickets?

Flexi Season Tickets | Buy Flexible Season Tickets | Trainline

Commuting only 2-3 times a week? Buy a Flexi Season ticket and pay only for the days you travel. You'll save money compared to buying single or return tickets.

www.thetrainline.com

That's the one, thanks.
Any idea if Flexi works for a London zone 4-1 and back commute? Currently costs me £9.80 return peak time on contactless

 

[teuchter]

That's the one, thanks.
Any idea if Flexi works for a London zone 4-1 and back commute? Currently costs me £9.80 return peak time on contactless

National Rail Enquiries - Flexi Season

The gateway to Britain's National Rail network. A portal into UK rail travel including train company information and promotions; train times; fares enquiries; ticket purchase and train running information.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

 

[surreybrowncap]

That's the one, thanks.
Any idea if Flexi works for a London zone 4-1 and back commute? Currently costs me £9.80 return peak time on contactless

See above...!

 

[ska invita]

ffs okay so flexi passes are offered by the operator
heres the one for thameslink which run gravesend into town

Season ticket calculator | Thameslink Railway

www.thameslinkrailway.com

ive played around with it
considering flexi is 8 trips it doesnt seem to calculate that necessarily as the price comes down for "a year" with 3 or 4 days a week
no mention of slow and fast trains

i dont trust the numbers that come out of it at all

 

[ska invita]

One of my first stops would be this website which can list all available fares between two stations:

Look up fares for any train journey in Britain

Full details of all British rail Single, Return & Season tickets and Travelcards. Built-in Season Ticket Calculator.

www.brfares.com

this is good, thank you

looks like a site made by a train buff rather than operators which is a ridiculous situation - same as the oyster one i posted last page

 

[teuchter]

ffs okay so flexi passes are offered by the operator
heres the one for thameslink which run gravesend into town

Season ticket calculator | Thameslink Railway

www.thameslinkrailway.com

ive played around with it
considering flexi is 8 trips it doesnt seem to calculate that necessarily as the price comes down for "a year" with 3 or 4 days a week
no mention of slow and fast trains

i dont trust the numbers that come out of it at all

Looks to me to give you fairly comprehensive options and for each one it tells you whether you can use on the high speed services or not.

Their "per day" or "per month" numbers for the flexi ones seem to make sense if you put in these settings - then it'll tell you what it would cost assuming you use all 8 journeys each month.

 

[ska invita]

Looks to me to give you fairly comprehensive options and for each one it tells you whether you can use on the high speed services or not.

Their "per day" or "per month" numbers for the flexi ones seem to make sense if you put in these settings - then it'll tell you what it would cost assuming you use all 8 journeys each month.

View attachment 372272

well if you put in 4 days it gives a whole range of prices which i dont think any of which are flexi - no mention of flexi on there

if you put 3 days within a month it says £30.30 a day, and no mention of fast or slow train
whereas your first link comes up with £26.52 a day with a flexi on HS1

 

[teuchter]

4 days per what?

If you just want 3 days per month then a flexi is no good, because you'd not be using 5 out of the 8 journeys.

If you can use all 8 journeys each month, then:

£26.52 is the cost per day of a flexi, (£212.10 divided by 8) not valid on HS1:



If you want to use HS1 it's more:

 

[ska invita]

you've lost me, sorry too complicated, anyhow, im happy enough with that BR Fares link so thanks for that

PS trains are too fucking expensive, how much do they think people are earning

 

[Elpenor]

So a quick question here.

I think I’ve booked a train ticket with Plusbus added on but how can I tell? It doesn’t say in my confirmation email, and I’ve not collected the ticket yet so can’t be sure if it will say on there?

 

[rubbershoes]

One of my first stops would be this website which can list all available fares between two stations:

Look up fares for any train journey in Britain

Full details of all British rail Single, Return & Season tickets and Travelcards. Built-in Season Ticket Calculator.

www.brfares.com

That site has left me baffled

It shows I can go from Tiverton to Nottingham this Thursday from about £27 or from £71 first class. the Crosscountry trains site shows lowest fare at £147.

 

[teuchter]

Something significant has happened this week.

This is only relevant to walk-up fares (that is, fares that you can buy on the day and don't require that you use one particular service).

For most fares that are "set" by LNER, which means most fares that involve travelling on the east coast mainline (London-York-Edinburgh), return tickets have been abolished.

It means that for most return journeys involving LNER, you will be sold two singles instead of a return. The new singles (off peak singles) are priced at approximately 50% of the previous off peak return price, plus a price increase that they have sneaked in under the radar as part of the change.

This removes the anomaly in UK rail fares where, for off peak travel, a single often costs nearly the same as a return. For example, previously an off peak return from A to B would cost £100 and a single would cost £98. Now, the £100 return has disappeared and instead there are just £52 singles. So, a return effectively costs £104.

This move to single-leg pricing is, on the whole, a good thing - it makes certain journeys more affordable and removes some potential for confusion. However, typical of the UK system, directed by a government that does not really care about public transport, it's been implemented only for some journeys (fares set by companies other than LNER are not affected for now) and it has effectively increased the cost of walk-up off-peak return journeys by around 4% on top of the 5 or 6% rises that happened in february/march.

 

[ska invita]

Something significant has happened this week.

This is only relevant to walk-up fares (that is, fares that you can buy on the day and don't require that you use one particular service).

For most fares that are "set" by LNER, which means most fares that involve travelling on the east coast mainline (London-York-Edinburgh), return tickets have been abolished.

It means that for most return journeys involving LNER, you will be sold two singles instead of a return. The new singles (off peak singles) are priced at approximately 50% of the previous off peak return price, plus a price increase that they have sneaked in under the radar as part of the change.

This removes the anomaly in UK rail fares where, for off peak travel, a single often costs nearly the same as a return. For example, previously an off peak return from A to B would cost £100 and a single would cost £98. Now, the £100 return has disappeared and instead there are just £52 singles. So, a return effectively costs £104.

This move to single-leg pricing is, on the whole, a good thing - it makes certain journeys more affordable and removes some potential for confusion. However, typical of the UK system, directed by a government that does not really care about public transport, it's been implemented only for some journeys (fares set by companies other than LNER are not affected for now) and it has effectively increased the cost of walk-up off-peak return journeys by around 4% on top of the 5 or 6% rises that happened in february/march.

but sounds like you still cant buy a single in advance for similiar price though?
utter fucking madness if not

 

[teuchter]

but sounds like you still cant buy a single in advance for similiar price though?
utter fucking madness if not

Not sure what you mean.

These walk-up off-peak single fares, you can buy any time up until just before the train departs. So you can buy them several weeks ahead if you want.

But if you are buying several weeks ahead, then there are likely to be advance fares for the same journey, and these will be less (sometimes significantly less) than the walk-up fare as otherwise there'd be no point in offering them.

It brings rail a bit closer to the standard pricing model used for domestic air flights, which tend to be priced as single legs, with prices going up the later you book.

Rail retains the advantage that you know the walk-up fares will always be available at the last minute, though. So you'll always know the maximum price you'll be charged if you leave it until late.

 

[ska invita]

Not sure what you mean.

can you buy the halfprice single online or not?

 

[teuchter]

can you buy the halfprice single online or not?

Yes, online, ticket machine, ticket office just like other tickets.

 

[ska invita]

This is only relevant to walk-up fares (that is, fares that you can buy on the day and don't require that you use one particular service).

ah okay - this line confused me

 

[Elpenor]

If anyone wants 20% off a railcard see here

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www.thetrainline.com

 

[brogdale]

Now that they're cutting costs by closing all of the ticket offices presumably the answer will be to travel without a ticket and claim illiteracy. I really can't see how an illiterate person would be able to purchase a ticket.

 

[platinumsage]

Now that they're cutting costs by closing all of the ticket offices presumably the answer will be to travel without a ticket and claim illiteracy. I really can't see how an illiterate person would be able to purchase a ticket.

They're closing ticket offices, not getting rid of ticket sellers, who will now be set free roaming station vestibules and entrance halls looking for confused people in between cleaning up sick and removing entangled kites from overhead wires.

 

[brogdale]

They're closing ticket offices, not getting rid of ticket sellers, who will now be set free roaming station vestibules and entrance halls looking for confused people in between cleaning up sick and removing entangled kites from overhead wires.

Yeah, sure they will.

 

[Elpenor]

Now that they're cutting costs by closing all of the ticket offices presumably the answer will be to travel without a ticket and claim illiteracy. I really can't see how an illiterate person would be able to purchase a ticket.

Was thinking there must be plenty of ticket office staff who may not want or be physically able to be a roving member of staff which presumably requires standing up for a whole shift, there must be issues of employee welfare and safety and also discrimination against protected characteristics to consider.

Plus the small machines they use (which I’ve had on-board staff use to sell / upgrade a ticket) would perhaps not be able to offer the full range of ticket types compared to the current counter service.

 

[brogdale]

Was thinking there must be plenty of ticket office staff who may not want or be physically able to be a roving member of staff which presumably requires standing up for a whole shift, there must be issues of employee welfare and safety and also discrimination against protected characteristics to consider.

Plus the small machines they use (which I’ve had on-board staff use to sell / upgrade a ticket) would perhaps not be able to offer the full range of ticket types compared to the current counter service.

almost like it would be an idea to group these 'roving staff' into a signposted area where they could be found easily and serve the public?

 

[brogdale]

Hmmm what could we call this sort of ticket dispensing area?

 

[The39thStep]

Hmmm what could we call this sort of ticket dispensing area?

Dont need them apparently , everyone has an app

Are we really going to sit by while they destroy the NHS?

Streeting's connections and monies received from private healthcare interests revealed by Every Doctor:

www.urban75.net

 

[brogdale]

Dont need them apparently , everyone has an app

Are we really going to sit by while they destroy the NHS?

Streeting's connections and monies received from private healthcare interests revealed by Every Doctor:

www.urban75.net

Grasping cunts don't care

 

[xenon]

This is a stupid idea for various reasons. Some people don't actually know what ticket they need before hand, what the options are. I use etickets mostly but if I have to cross London, I need a paper one apparently. As I can't use the ticket printing machines in the station I always buy these at the ticket office.