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Topic: Melksham to London train fares (Read 3228 times)
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Graham Ellis
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The fare structure is complicated ... did you realise that you can often save money by rebooking halfway?
Say to were to catch the 07:45 and change at Chippenham or Swindon to London next Tuesday, and return that evening. Your journey is a peak one so your return ticket would cost you:
104.00 (One hundred and four pounds) Standard return fare, Melksham to London
92.90 if you got a 2.90 return from Melksham to Chippenham, then a 90.00 ticket from there to London
83.00 if you fot a 7.00 return to Swindon, then a 76.00 ticket from there to London.
If you catch a train that calls at Didcot (leaving you 15 minutes later into London), you would only have to pay
47.50 (Forty Seven pounds 50p) by getting a return from Melksham to Didcot then a return from Didcot to London.
Notes - ticket offices and train crews can issue more or less any tickets, including tickets that don't even cover the part of the track you're on.
- prices from TheTrainline.com. Please check - E & O E.
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Trowres
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I believe that the fare of £104 is via Trowbridge&Bath or Westbury. Via Chippenham, the Open Return is £90. So, even when buying an opern return, you need to be sure which route you will be using in both directions!
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Trowres
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Another option is to purchase an open single at £45 for the peak-time outward journey, and a saver single for the journey back at £36.90, giving a total of £81.90. The £47.50 using trains stopping at Didcot is still not the cheapest option for a "walk-on" fare, which seems to be £31.10 if you are prepared to hang around at Didcot for the 08:57 (Padd arrive 10:09) to use validity of a Cheap Day Returm. These fares are from www.nationalrail.co.uk E&OE. |
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Graham Ellis
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Many thanks ... gee - it gets all the more complex!
The prices I got were from "Thetrainline.com" and it quoted me the 104 pound fare for the 07:45 via Chippenham. I guess it didn't know which way I would be coming back and so it assumed that I would like the flexibility to go via Westbury of Bath. It's very hard to see how any web site can present all the options in a way that someone who's not an expert on fares ... the trainline seems to do a reasonable job (and I wouldn't like to come up with a better scheme), but it's not flexible enough to offer the cheapest "normal" ticket for any requirement, let alone the two-half-journey options I'm bringing up in this thread.
Note how careful I was too to add E + O E - Errors and omissions excepted - in case I had something wrong or overlooked
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Graham Ellis
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New fares from 2nd January ... I've put up a chart of some example fares for comparison. Price per mile is interesting. Logic says that you should get a better price per unit if you buy in bulk, but it's quite the opposite with rail travel! |
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Sion Bretton
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If you have to go to London 2 days in any 7 day buy a weekly ticket £156.60  |
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