Train ticket prices - WTAF

[Nikhedonia]

Looking to get the train to Liverpool in August, £162.50 each (peak) or £88.20 each (off peak) No wonder our roads are clogged with cars!

Or I can drive at it will cost about £30 in fuel and £20 in parking.

Is this for real? Or am I looking for train tickets in the wrong way/place?

Where are you traveling from?

London (sorry, should have said that!)

Have you got a railcard?

It s too early for the advance cheap saver fares from virgin... keep looking online to about 8 weeks before when they are released.
I looked last week and you could only get the cheapest up to 23 july
And get railcards.

I e for August look in june

You can set up an alert for when the super saver get released

Maybe look at buying a London-Bham return and a Bham-Lpool return. Takes a bit more organising but can take a chunk off the total price (Marylebone-Bham Moor St is a v cheap route and it's a 5 min walk to Bham New St). Also, if you're not in a rush, Megabus is much cheaper - and the wifi is good! The price of train tickets is disgraceful.

Thanks, will sign up for the cheap ticket alerts.

Seems like madness.

I've looked at the prices in 12 weeks time and there are some cheap times but not many. Will still much cheaper to drive.

It's terrible, really!

@groundcontroltomontydon we are in a bit of a rush. Need to go either the Thursday night after work or the Friday morning as we have tickets for a 1:30pm event. So the coach wouldn't really work.

Years ago I needed to go from Midlands to Edinburgh with only a day's notice. Ended up flying as it was half the price. In fact i could have flown to new York for less than the train to Scotland.

It is utterly ridiculous.
And so complicated. The price should be the price not dependent on you knowing that to get it at an affordable price you have to buy your ticket at half past three on a Wednesday.

Looking at the prices, it looks like it will always be cheaper to drive.

@NicoAndTheNiners that's terrible. Surely it would be better to make it cheaper and have lots of people using the train? And better for the environment, too.

Totally agree @LarryGreysonsDoor.

It is ridiculous, we’ve flown to Gran Canaria for £8 once. That’s just the parking at the train station!

I’ve just booked b’ham to Liverpool for July. Originally it was £65+ for me and dd return but once the cheap fares came out it was around £25 for us both. In fact I ended up booing first class for us both for just over £60! Hang on for a bit.

OP if you're taking the children with you, you can get a family railcard. They are about £30 but I've often saved the cost of the card and more on my first journey.

Rail fares are horrifying. I need to go from birmingham to Exeter soon with 2 DCs. With a rail card the return is £102. However, from experience I know if I break the journey down and buy tickets for Birmingham - Cheltenham, Cheltenham to Bristol and Bristol to Exeter (I think its that) it will be £78.

Its worth going to the station and talking to someone in the ticket office as they will know how to get the cheapest route. However, one word of caution - if you decide to go through Birmingham do not take the West midland Trains. They regularly run late or decide to terminate in Northampton and make you wait for the next train - may seem a good deal but not if you're in a rush. As a PP said you're much better to take the Marylebone line which takes a bit longer but tends to actually run on time!

London to Cardiff. Day return during peak hours £235. Off peak a lot cheaper but they sting the business commuters.

Fucking madness

Thanks for the advice @cottonwoolbrain @QueenMabby

It's just me and DP and I. We're going to a gig during the day, so really can't be late.

Nervous about the reliability of the trains now @cottonwoolbrain. If I decide to do the train I may stay up the night before (and increase the costs further!)

Have no idea what happened to the formatting of that post.

Family of four with railcard and we got a round trip to London for £90.

Yes, the train is expensive, but it's not so bad if you book as soon as the advance tickets come out. Being flexible on exact times helps too.

Might be worth you getting the two together railcard.

Go on the money-saving expert for the best ways to get cheap tickets

Nationalise the railways, so we have transparent and non complex pricing and the only profits go into making improvements, not to shareholders. It works for the rest of Europe.

And enjoy Liverpool. It's great!

1. get a two together railcard for £30
2. check out Martin lewis’ recommendations, especially re ticket splitting
3. use the private browsing setting on your computer when searching (we mostly go direct through the operator rather than Trainline etc but I don’t think there is a price difference)

A combination of these got our last trip from york to Edinburgh down by about £50 (and that was only booking around 2 weeks in advance).

Also if you can afford the time it might be that a night in an Airbnb/cheap hotel might work out cheaper than using peak time trains.

Getting on this thread as I too would like to know how people find these cheap fares! Is it worth doing the super cheap tickets and a family railcard or can you not use both together?
BTW if anyone can find me a cheap trip somewhere nice by plane from the north east for the October half term I'd be very grateful. I never seem to see these cheap flights everyone else enjoys.

There is an App you can get for split ticketing TrainSplit that may be cheaper.

DP and I have a 2together rail card and it is really good 1/3 off tickets. one use and it has paid for itself.

Have you considered going by Coach- that is sometimes cheaper than rail also, we have done a return to London on National Express for £25 for 2 from the Midlands.

They have changed the timetables for the West Midlands and North West this weekend, and there should be more trains, so if you wiat you could drop on.