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10 legit ways to get cheaper rail fares
Seeking a cheaper ticket?Ticketing arrangements on the UK's railways are notoriously arcane, but you can use the rules to get cheaper fares. Independent rail expert Barry Doe details 10 popular journeys on which you can save money by asking for your ticket in the right way.
If you turn up at Penzance and ask for the cheapest return to Birmingham for immediate travel, the clerk will sell you a saver return at £106. That seems a good buy compared with the single of £85.50, and the saver return can be used either way on any train, any day, without restriction.
If, however, you ask for a saver return from Penzance to Cheltenham and a saver return from Cheltenham to Birmingham, it will a lot cheaper.
Up to 0900, the saver to Cheltenham will cost £68
After 0900 (or any time weekends) it will cost £59
The saver from Cheltenham to Birmingham will cost £17.50 So before 0900 the total is £85.50 - saving £20.50 over the originally-asked-for £106 - and after 0900 or at weekends, the total is £76.50, saving £29.50.
These are not "fiddles" but perfectly legitimate savings, because it is the customer's right to ask for any combination of tickets. However, it is also the clerk's duty not to advertise them, should he or she know they exist.
The only rule connected with the use of such a combination (other than the fact the tickets must be valid, of course) is that the train must stop at the place where the tickets join, although you do not have to alight.
The background to all this is that Penzance-Birmingham fares are set by Virgin Trains, Penzance-Cheltenham fares by First Great Western (FGW) and Cheltenham-Birmingham fares by Central Trains (CT). Both FGW and CT have cheaper fares per mile than Virgin.
If these were bus companies or airlines, buying cheaper fares with cheaper operators often means opting for fewer frills or a longer journey. By rail, a ticket to travel is just that, valid on any operators' services on the line of route (this only applies to walk-on tickets like savers and not to advance purchase fares, which are much cheaper and are for a specific seat on a specific train).
The same rules and reasons apply to all these journeys, taken during the week - details correct at time of publication.
2. PLYMOUTH-READING
You need to take a day trip from Plymouth to Reading using the first train of the day at 0548.
Through fares are more expensiveThe booking office rightly says the cheapest return is £188 open return - remember they must only tell you the cheapest through fare to the place you ask for in one transaction, NOT by re-booking.
Ask for a standard day return to Exeter (£14.60), then another from Exeter to Taunton (£9.70). You have to buy the full fare open return to Reading as the train does not stop anywhere again (£113). But these three tickets cost £137.30, saving £50.70.
The way to find this out? Look at intermediate stops and see if fares to that station, and from that station to your destination, cost less than the throughout fare - the trick here is to use standard day returns (only valid for shorter journeys of 50 miles maximum) and only pay the open return for the longer leg. This only works for day trips, of course.
3. WEYMOUTH-LONDON
For a day trip arriving at about 0900, an open return costs £82. Book a standard day return to Winchester (the last call for peak-hour trains before London) for £23.60. Then ask for a standard day return Winchester-London at £43.40. The total, £67, saves £15.
This is because non-London fares tend to be at a cheaper rate per mile than those into London itself.
4. WINCHESTER-LONDON
A Network Railcard gives 34% off fares after 1000, but if you need to go to town earlier, there's no discount on the £43.40 standard day return.
So buy a single (without your railcard) at £23 and then ask for a London to Winchester single WITH your railcard for the homeward journey (or buy it in London) at £15.20. Total £38.20, saving £5.20.
5. LONDON-MANCHESTER
To get to Manchester from London early, the only throughout return fare is the open return at £219. The train's first stop is Stoke-on-Trent so you can't split it into short sections.
Instead, buy an open return to Stoke-on-Trent (£182) then a saver return Stoke to Manchester (£12.30). Total £194.30, saving £24.70.
This works because the cheap saver return from Stoke is valid on any train, any day - and for the homeward journey this is no problem as all bar one train a day calls at Stoke-on-Trent.
6. LONDON-NEWCASTLE
You have to leave London for Newcastle on the 0800 train and the open return costs £224. The train calls at Peterborough - and savers to the north from Peterborough are available any train, any day. So book an open return to Peterborough (£68) then a saver from Peterborough to Newcastle (£76.90) - that's £144.90, saving £79.10. Just make sure the train on which you return calls at Peterborough (most do).
7. CHESTER-LONDON
You want to do a single journey from Chester to London on the 0715 through train. The only single at that time is £89.
But saver returns from London to stations in Wales are valid any train, any day and Chester is near the Welsh border. You may break you return journey with savers - but not the outward leg.
So buy a saver return FROM London TO Shotton and throw away the outward half. You are then "returning", resuming your return journey at Chester. That is all legal. The saver return is £59.70, £29.30 less than the full single.
8. WOLVERHAMPTON-MILTON KEYNES
Most of the above examples are to/from London as that is where most anomalies occur because it is the main business market, and so fares tend to be highest and therefore allow room to undercut.
It is possible to save elsewhere, particularly if your journey involves travelling through large conurbations like West Midlands or West Yorkshire, where fares tend to be very low.
A single in the morning peak from Wolverhampton to Milton Keynes is £35. So buy a full single to Coventry for £4.50, and then another from Coventry to Milton Keynes for £18, totalling £22.50 and saving £12.50.
9. NEWCASTLE-YORK
It can sometimes pay to see if one operator has cheaper fares than another. This is not so common with walk-on fares but, for example, a first class return from Newcastle to York is £86, valid on any train. The two inter-city operators are GNER and Virgin. If you buy a GNER-only first single it is £31.50 and if you buy a Virgin-only first single it is £29. So with Virgin both ways, it's £58, saving £28. Even if you travel GNER, it's still only £63.
10. LONDON-MANCHESTER FIRST CLASS
Very few savings can be made in first class as the cheaper short-distance fares don't exist, but to show how crazy the current system has become, take this example. A first class open return from London Euston to Manchester is £337 for 185 miles each way. But a first open return to Falkirk - yes, in Scotland - is £320.
This is because West Coast fares are priced by Virgin. London-Manchester is £337 return, and £355 London-Glasgow. BUT London-Falkirk is priced by GNER who have cheaper fares - and yet fares from London to Falkirk are available via either the West or the East Coast routes. So use your Falkirk ticket to Manchester, where you can break your journey (never to go on to Falkirk later).
So you pay £17 less to travel 420 miles to Falkirk than the 185 miles to Manchester. You know it makes sense.
Fares fair
A spokeswoman for the Association of Train Operating Companies agrees that combination fares are legitimate, but points out that on long distance trips, open single or return fares - used in the examples above - account for 2% of journeys.
Is his ticket cheaper than yours?"Ninety-eight percent of passengers travel on the wide range of discounted fares available, and which do not involve making complicated enquiries about the purchase of combination fares. Nationally, more than 80% of rail journeys are made using discounted tickets including cheap day returns, savers, and advance purchase tickets."
With millions of possible fare combinations, it is not practical for ticket retailers to give out every single combination of single and return tickets, she says. "Also, this might severely limit the number of trains that the passenger could use, depending on the time of day they wish to travel."
A spokeswoman for Passenger Focus, an independent consumer watchdog, says that the above examples show just how complex the fare structure has become.
"These are just a tiny proportion of the many anomalies there must be. If you know the system, you can bend it to your advantage but most passengers wouldn't know that you can get cheaper fares by buying a combination of tickets.
"Passenger Focus is concerned that longer-distance passengers are perplexed by a complicated system so are never sure that they're getting the right ticket. There are great deals out there but it's no wonder that passengers, particularly first-time train travellers, feel bewildered by a range of tickets with a multitude of names."
She adds that the group is working with the rail industry to simplify the fares structure.
Are We There Yet? is broadcast in the UK on BBC Two on Tuesday, 13 March, at 1930 GMT.
10 legit ways to get cheaper rail fares
Seeking a cheaper ticket?Ticketing arrangements on the UK's railways are notoriously arcane, but you can use the rules to get cheaper fares. Independent rail expert Barry Doe details 10 popular journeys on which you can save money by asking for your ticket in the right way.
If you turn up at Penzance and ask for the cheapest return to Birmingham for immediate travel, the clerk will sell you a saver return at £106. That seems a good buy compared with the single of £85.50, and the saver return can be used either way on any train, any day, without restriction.
If, however, you ask for a saver return from Penzance to Cheltenham and a saver return from Cheltenham to Birmingham, it will a lot cheaper.
Up to 0900, the saver to Cheltenham will cost £68
After 0900 (or any time weekends) it will cost £59
The saver from Cheltenham to Birmingham will cost £17.50 So before 0900 the total is £85.50 - saving £20.50 over the originally-asked-for £106 - and after 0900 or at weekends, the total is £76.50, saving £29.50.
These are not "fiddles" but perfectly legitimate savings, because it is the customer's right to ask for any combination of tickets. However, it is also the clerk's duty not to advertise them, should he or she know they exist.
The only rule connected with the use of such a combination (other than the fact the tickets must be valid, of course) is that the train must stop at the place where the tickets join, although you do not have to alight.
The background to all this is that Penzance-Birmingham fares are set by Virgin Trains, Penzance-Cheltenham fares by First Great Western (FGW) and Cheltenham-Birmingham fares by Central Trains (CT). Both FGW and CT have cheaper fares per mile than Virgin.
If these were bus companies or airlines, buying cheaper fares with cheaper operators often means opting for fewer frills or a longer journey. By rail, a ticket to travel is just that, valid on any operators' services on the line of route (this only applies to walk-on tickets like savers and not to advance purchase fares, which are much cheaper and are for a specific seat on a specific train).
The same rules and reasons apply to all these journeys, taken during the week - details correct at time of publication.
2. PLYMOUTH-READING
You need to take a day trip from Plymouth to Reading using the first train of the day at 0548.
Through fares are more expensiveThe booking office rightly says the cheapest return is £188 open return - remember they must only tell you the cheapest through fare to the place you ask for in one transaction, NOT by re-booking.
Ask for a standard day return to Exeter (£14.60), then another from Exeter to Taunton (£9.70). You have to buy the full fare open return to Reading as the train does not stop anywhere again (£113). But these three tickets cost £137.30, saving £50.70.
The way to find this out? Look at intermediate stops and see if fares to that station, and from that station to your destination, cost less than the throughout fare - the trick here is to use standard day returns (only valid for shorter journeys of 50 miles maximum) and only pay the open return for the longer leg. This only works for day trips, of course.
3. WEYMOUTH-LONDON
For a day trip arriving at about 0900, an open return costs £82. Book a standard day return to Winchester (the last call for peak-hour trains before London) for £23.60. Then ask for a standard day return Winchester-London at £43.40. The total, £67, saves £15.
This is because non-London fares tend to be at a cheaper rate per mile than those into London itself.
4. WINCHESTER-LONDON
A Network Railcard gives 34% off fares after 1000, but if you need to go to town earlier, there's no discount on the £43.40 standard day return.
So buy a single (without your railcard) at £23 and then ask for a London to Winchester single WITH your railcard for the homeward journey (or buy it in London) at £15.20. Total £38.20, saving £5.20.
5. LONDON-MANCHESTER
To get to Manchester from London early, the only throughout return fare is the open return at £219. The train's first stop is Stoke-on-Trent so you can't split it into short sections.
Instead, buy an open return to Stoke-on-Trent (£182) then a saver return Stoke to Manchester (£12.30). Total £194.30, saving £24.70.
This works because the cheap saver return from Stoke is valid on any train, any day - and for the homeward journey this is no problem as all bar one train a day calls at Stoke-on-Trent.
6. LONDON-NEWCASTLE
You have to leave London for Newcastle on the 0800 train and the open return costs £224. The train calls at Peterborough - and savers to the north from Peterborough are available any train, any day. So book an open return to Peterborough (£68) then a saver from Peterborough to Newcastle (£76.90) - that's £144.90, saving £79.10. Just make sure the train on which you return calls at Peterborough (most do).
7. CHESTER-LONDON
You want to do a single journey from Chester to London on the 0715 through train. The only single at that time is £89.
But saver returns from London to stations in Wales are valid any train, any day and Chester is near the Welsh border. You may break you return journey with savers - but not the outward leg.
So buy a saver return FROM London TO Shotton and throw away the outward half. You are then "returning", resuming your return journey at Chester. That is all legal. The saver return is £59.70, £29.30 less than the full single.
8. WOLVERHAMPTON-MILTON KEYNES
Most of the above examples are to/from London as that is where most anomalies occur because it is the main business market, and so fares tend to be highest and therefore allow room to undercut.
It is possible to save elsewhere, particularly if your journey involves travelling through large conurbations like West Midlands or West Yorkshire, where fares tend to be very low.
A single in the morning peak from Wolverhampton to Milton Keynes is £35. So buy a full single to Coventry for £4.50, and then another from Coventry to Milton Keynes for £18, totalling £22.50 and saving £12.50.
9. NEWCASTLE-YORK
It can sometimes pay to see if one operator has cheaper fares than another. This is not so common with walk-on fares but, for example, a first class return from Newcastle to York is £86, valid on any train. The two inter-city operators are GNER and Virgin. If you buy a GNER-only first single it is £31.50 and if you buy a Virgin-only first single it is £29. So with Virgin both ways, it's £58, saving £28. Even if you travel GNER, it's still only £63.
10. LONDON-MANCHESTER FIRST CLASS
Very few savings can be made in first class as the cheaper short-distance fares don't exist, but to show how crazy the current system has become, take this example. A first class open return from London Euston to Manchester is £337 for 185 miles each way. But a first open return to Falkirk - yes, in Scotland - is £320.
This is because West Coast fares are priced by Virgin. London-Manchester is £337 return, and £355 London-Glasgow. BUT London-Falkirk is priced by GNER who have cheaper fares - and yet fares from London to Falkirk are available via either the West or the East Coast routes. So use your Falkirk ticket to Manchester, where you can break your journey (never to go on to Falkirk later).
So you pay £17 less to travel 420 miles to Falkirk than the 185 miles to Manchester. You know it makes sense.
Fares fair
A spokeswoman for the Association of Train Operating Companies agrees that combination fares are legitimate, but points out that on long distance trips, open single or return fares - used in the examples above - account for 2% of journeys.
Is his ticket cheaper than yours?"Ninety-eight percent of passengers travel on the wide range of discounted fares available, and which do not involve making complicated enquiries about the purchase of combination fares. Nationally, more than 80% of rail journeys are made using discounted tickets including cheap day returns, savers, and advance purchase tickets."
With millions of possible fare combinations, it is not practical for ticket retailers to give out every single combination of single and return tickets, she says. "Also, this might severely limit the number of trains that the passenger could use, depending on the time of day they wish to travel."
A spokeswoman for Passenger Focus, an independent consumer watchdog, says that the above examples show just how complex the fare structure has become.
"These are just a tiny proportion of the many anomalies there must be. If you know the system, you can bend it to your advantage but most passengers wouldn't know that you can get cheaper fares by buying a combination of tickets.
"Passenger Focus is concerned that longer-distance passengers are perplexed by a complicated system so are never sure that they're getting the right ticket. There are great deals out there but it's no wonder that passengers, particularly first-time train travellers, feel bewildered by a range of tickets with a multitude of names."
She adds that the group is working with the rail industry to simplify the fares structure.
Are We There Yet? is broadcast in the UK on BBC Two on Tuesday, 13 March, at 1930 GMT.
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