Arriva are complete and utter rip off merchants!

[Trident 4194]

Found another Cross Country rip off fare!

I need to go to Scarborough tomorrow to collect 5403 from EYMS.

Birmingham to Scarborough anytime single £101.60

Birmingham to Sheffield anytime single £50.50
Sheffield to Scarborough anytime single £39.20
Total £89.700


So no splitting for off-peak tickets or advance, but a ticket valid on every single train and you can save nearly £10.90. I can even save a bit more by splitting again at Tamworth!

Are you unable to buy an advance single - if you know what time you need to be there for? £38.60 advance single on the 11:03 from BHM.

[Tony]

Are you unable to buy an advance single - if you know what time you need to be there for? £38.60 advance single on the 11:03 from BHM.

Yes, 11:03, how wonderful that would be when I have a 4 hour drive back in a 45mph bus! Oh no I wouldn't have a 4 hour drive back because I would be too late to collect the bus in the first place!

I appreciate you wouldn't know I cannot collect the bus after 14:00, but the last thing I want to be doing is driving home completely in the dark at that speed.

[markcf83]

Found another Cross Country rip off fare!

I need to go to Scarborough tomorrow to collect 5403 from EYMS.

Birmingham to Scarborough anytime single £101.60

Birmingham to Sheffield anytime single £50.50
Sheffield to Scarborough anytime single £39.20
Total £89.700


So no splitting for off-peak tickets or advance, but a ticket valid on every single train and you can save nearly £10.90. I can even save a bit more by splitting again at Tamworth!

Cross Country advance fares are a joke. People wonder why trains are half empty.....

[4679]

Yes, 11:03, how wonderful that would be when I have a 4 hour drive back in a 45mph bus! Oh no I wouldn't have a 4 hour drive back because I would be too late to collect the bus in the first place!

I appreciate you wouldn't know I cannot collect the bus after 14:00, but the last thing I want to be doing is driving home completely in the dark at that speed.

Have you tried Trainline? Just looked and a single from New Street to Scarborough is £77.70 on the 06:30 & 07:03am departures

[Tony]

Have you tried Trainline? Just looked and a single from New Street to Scarborough is £77.70 on the 06:30 & 07:03am departures

My problem with advance fares is you are stuck to that particular train. I am hoping to catch the 0703, but am relying on the first train from Hednesford being on time. It only has a six minute connection so if it is late I miss it and because is less than 8 minutes it is not an official connection so my ticket would be invalid

[Tony]

Have you tried Trainline? Just looked and a single from New Street to Scarborough is £77.70 on the 06:30 & 07:03am departures

PS never use the train line, they are the most expensive way to buy a ticket

[DJ]

So no splitting for off-peak tickets or advance, but a ticket valid on every single train and you can save nearly £10.90. I can even save a bit more by splitting again at Tamworth!

I always recommend folk look into split ticketing. There's even websites that'll check for you, I always use Trainpal to book mine as it checks automatically.

You can also 'split' your ticket if you already have a season ticket or pass, I have an nNetwork pass, so I always 'split' the ticket at Coventry when I'm going to Rugby, rather than having to pay again for the Birmingham to Coventry section.

[Trident 4194]

PS never use the train line, they are the most expensive way to buy a ticket

Trainline do split ticketing now. I've managed to get an off peak return for £26.00 from Wolverhampton to Manchester Piccadilly

[Sh4318]

Trainline do split ticketing now. I've managed to get an off peak return for £26.00 from Wolverhampton to Manchester Piccadilly

I never use CrossCountry to get to Manchester, you're always much better off changing at Crewe for a Northern service

[Tony]

Trainline do split ticketing now. I've managed to get an off peak return for £26.00 from Wolverhampton to Manchester Piccadilly

Still more expensive than any other site because you paid a booking fee. I refuse to use any site that charges a booking fee when exactly the same tickets can be bought at booking offices or rail co.pany websites/apps

[Stu]

Still more expensive than any other site because you paid a booking fee. I refuse to use any site that charges a booking fee when exactly the same tickets can be bought at booking offices or rail co.pany websites/apps

That's how sites like TheTrainline make their money though. All they are doing basically is 'reselling' tickets bought 'wholesale'.

In the past, I've often used TheTrainline to plan journeys and find tickets, but then buy those tickets direct from the operator.

But they all use the same 'backend' system though for ticketing, so there is no real advantage from buying 'direct' - I've used the Chiltern Railways site and ended up buying tickets for Virgin Trains services; didn't cost me any more or less than buying through the Virgin Trains website, was just more convenient for me as I already had an account on the Chiltern website, with payment details saved and all that.   

[Trident 4194]

I never use CrossCountry to get to Manchester, you're always much better off changing at Crewe for a Northern service

Please provide dates and costs to reinforce this as from what I can see it's more expensive going via crewe, or even doing WLV to Crewe then crewe to MAN separately

[BK63 YWP]

Please provide dates and costs to reinforce this as from what I can see it's more expensive going via crewe, or even doing WLV to Crewe then crewe to MAN separately

I have done Wolverhampton to Manchester via Crewe it's the same price and if timed correctly much fast than XC from wolvo to Manchester

[Sh4318]

Please provide dates and costs to reinforce this as from what I can see it's more expensive going via crewe, or even doing WLV to Crewe then crewe to MAN separately

I booked train tickets for AM peak, for in a couple weeks time (albeit from Smethwick Galton Bridge):
Smethwick Galton Bridge to Crewe - £5 (London Northwestern Railway)
Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly - £2 (Northern)

I checked CrossCountry prices for the same time - £36

[DJ]

I booked train tickets for AM peak, for in a couple weeks time (albeit from Smethwick Galton Bridge):
Smethwick Galton Bridge to Crewe - £5 (London Northwestern Railway)
Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly - £2 (Northern)

I checked CrossCountry prices for the same time - £36

For another example, I checked Birmingham - Manchester on a random day in a couple of weeks time. Leaving New Street at 08:21 on London Northwestern, changing at Stoke at 09:13 for the 09:56 Northern service to Manchester, and arriving at 10:52, would set you back £9.70. Granted, it takes just under an hour longer than the ones National Rail Enquiries suggests, but then you'd be paying £47.80 for an anytime single.

There are some decently priced fares travelling direct though, if you value the time saving. The 06:53 departure from New Street on XC on the 7th March has advance fares for £20.70, and is a direct service taking only 90 minutes.

As an alternative, Megabus takes 2hr 15mins, and costs £7.62, and you can get a Flixbus that takes around the same time for a little less, but with departures at either 03:05, or 13:40 from Birmingham.