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| Train tickets: the best bargains and the worst ripoffs | Train tickets: the best bargains and the worst ripoffs |
| (6 days later) | |
| In a fortnight we will hear how much rail fares will be going up in 2015 – and long-suffering commuters can expect to be thumped again. The formula for price rises is based on the July retail price index, enough to add at least another £100 to season tickets for many at a time when wage levels are stagnant at best. | |
| Unlike rail systems in Europe, which often charge passengers on a simple per-km basis, Britain's train companies have created a complex maze of fares that bewilders ticket buyers – and creates extraordinary anomalies. | Unlike rail systems in Europe, which often charge passengers on a simple per-km basis, Britain's train companies have created a complex maze of fares that bewilders ticket buyers – and creates extraordinary anomalies. |
| In the past, Guardian Money has highlighted ways to cut costs, such as railcards, split ticketing, fare alerts and so on. This week we went in search of some of the most extreme prices – ultra-high and ultra-low – which highlight the mystifying nature of rail pricing in Britain. | In the past, Guardian Money has highlighted ways to cut costs, such as railcards, split ticketing, fare alerts and so on. This week we went in search of some of the most extreme prices – ultra-high and ultra-low – which highlight the mystifying nature of rail pricing in Britain. |
| Meanwhile, campaigners are calling for price simplification. Martin Abrams from the Campaign for Better Transport says: "It's almost impossible for passengers to be sure they're getting good value for money. Information is patchy and successive governments have increased regulated rail fares above wage growth for 10 years running. We're calling for government to work with the train companies to provide cheaper, simpler and fairer fares, where all passengers know they're getting a good deal." | Meanwhile, campaigners are calling for price simplification. Martin Abrams from the Campaign for Better Transport says: "It's almost impossible for passengers to be sure they're getting good value for money. Information is patchy and successive governments have increased regulated rail fares above wage growth for 10 years running. We're calling for government to work with the train companies to provide cheaper, simpler and fairer fares, where all passengers know they're getting a good deal." |
| Below are some examples of what we found, but our list is far from exhaustive. There may be even more anomalous fares that you know of – join the discussion online at theguardian.com/money. There you will also find a video on how to cut the cost of rail tickets. | Below are some examples of what we found, but our list is far from exhaustive. There may be even more anomalous fares that you know of – join the discussion online at theguardian.com/money. There you will also find a video on how to cut the cost of rail tickets. |
| The cheap deals | The cheap deals |
| London to Nottingham: £6 each way | London to Nottingham: £6 each way |
| Go on National Rail and tap "London St Pancras to Nottingham one way" for a midweek date in August. The cheapest fare will be £15, and the worst £55.20. Outside of rush hour, the standard cost for an Advance fare is £17, which doesn't seem too bad for a 120-mile journey. | Go on National Rail and tap "London St Pancras to Nottingham one way" for a midweek date in August. The cheapest fare will be £15, and the worst £55.20. Outside of rush hour, the standard cost for an Advance fare is £17, which doesn't seem too bad for a 120-mile journey. |
| Yet you can travel on the same East Midlands train, on a journey taking the same one hour and 40 minutes, for a third of that price. Megatrain, a subsidiary of Stagecoach, which runs East Midlands Trains, sells tickets for just £6-£8. For example, the 10.15am London to Nottingham on Wednesday 27 August is £17 on both the National Rail and East Midlands sites, but £6 on Megatrain. | Yet you can travel on the same East Midlands train, on a journey taking the same one hour and 40 minutes, for a third of that price. Megatrain, a subsidiary of Stagecoach, which runs East Midlands Trains, sells tickets for just £6-£8. For example, the 10.15am London to Nottingham on Wednesday 27 August is £17 on both the National Rail and East Midlands sites, but £6 on Megatrain. |
| There are drawbacks to the Megatrain service, though. When we checked, it wasn't offering fares leaving the same day or the next day. We found that on the Nottingham route, travellers needed to book at least 72 hours in advance, and then prices were around £15 to £18, still a saving on the £23 that National Rail would want. Further out, we found it was only open for bookings until 12 September, infuriatingly short of the 22 September start of Freshers' Week at Nottingham University. | There are drawbacks to the Megatrain service, though. When we checked, it wasn't offering fares leaving the same day or the next day. We found that on the Nottingham route, travellers needed to book at least 72 hours in advance, and then prices were around £15 to £18, still a saving on the £23 that National Rail would want. Further out, we found it was only open for bookings until 12 September, infuriatingly short of the 22 September start of Freshers' Week at Nottingham University. |
| Birmingham to Edinburgh: £3 | Birmingham to Edinburgh: £3 |
| That's not a misprint. It's a journey of 246 miles, so £3 is equal to just 1.2p a mile. It's a direct train and you don't have to change. The bad news is that it's the 6.16am on Virgin Trains departing from Birmingham New Street to Edinburgh Waverley, so you'll have to be up early. What's more, you won't find this fare on either Virgin or National Rail, which charge £16 for the same train – still reasonable but a lot more than £3. | That's not a misprint. It's a journey of 246 miles, so £3 is equal to just 1.2p a mile. It's a direct train and you don't have to change. The bad news is that it's the 6.16am on Virgin Trains departing from Birmingham New Street to Edinburgh Waverley, so you'll have to be up early. What's more, you won't find this fare on either Virgin or National Rail, which charge £16 for the same train – still reasonable but a lot more than £3. |
| To put this fare into context, if you booked the 6.30am to Edinburgh it would be £107 – and would actually get you into the city after the £3 train leaving at 6.15am. The departures after that – at 7.03 and 8.03 – are priced at £61.40. | To put this fare into context, if you booked the 6.30am to Edinburgh it would be £107 – and would actually get you into the city after the £3 train leaving at 6.15am. The departures after that – at 7.03 and 8.03 – are priced at £61.40. |
| So where do you find this fare? Once again, it is at Megatrain. But you're looking for a needle in a haystack to find it. When we searched this week, we found the £3 fare on Wednesday 10 September, with the fare jumping to £7 between 2 September and 11 September, with none available before or after those dates. | So where do you find this fare? Once again, it is at Megatrain. But you're looking for a needle in a haystack to find it. When we searched this week, we found the £3 fare on Wednesday 10 September, with the fare jumping to £7 between 2 September and 11 September, with none available before or after those dates. |
| Megatrain only really covers East Midlands, Virgin and South West trains, and then only a few of their services, but it's worth a try if you are booking in advance and can be flexible about when you travel. | Megatrain only really covers East Midlands, Virgin and South West trains, and then only a few of their services, but it's worth a try if you are booking in advance and can be flexible about when you travel. |
| London to Dublin: £38 | London to Dublin: £38 |
| This is a journey of nearly 300 miles by Virgin train from London Euston to Holyhead, then 75 miles on a ferry to the Irish capital. The standard one-way train fare to Holyhead is £73 if booked ahead, or £91.60 if bought on the day. The ferry is £29 for a foot passenger, making a total of up to £120.60. But if you go to SailRail, operated by Arriva Trains Wales, you can buy a single ticket for both the train and ferry for £38 per person, rising to £43 if you buy on the day. It's great value if you need to travel at the last minute and don't want to pay the extortionate prices airlines charge for walk-up fares. | This is a journey of nearly 300 miles by Virgin train from London Euston to Holyhead, then 75 miles on a ferry to the Irish capital. The standard one-way train fare to Holyhead is £73 if booked ahead, or £91.60 if bought on the day. The ferry is £29 for a foot passenger, making a total of up to £120.60. But if you go to SailRail, operated by Arriva Trains Wales, you can buy a single ticket for both the train and ferry for £38 per person, rising to £43 if you buy on the day. It's great value if you need to travel at the last minute and don't want to pay the extortionate prices airlines charge for walk-up fares. |
| Want to go anywhere in the Netherlands? A similar deal, called the Dutch Flyer, is offered by Greater Anglia Trains with Stena Line, at a cost of just £45 each way booked in advance, rising to £65 if bought on the day of travel. Passengers can travel from any station in the Greater Anglia area (such as London Liverpool Street or Colchester) to Harwich, catch the boat, then use the ticket for onward travel anywhere in the Netherlands, including Amsterdam. The drawback is the early start: trains leave London at 6.38am, and after a six-and-a-half-hour ferry to Hook of Holland you can expect to arrive in Amsterdam at 7pm. | Want to go anywhere in the Netherlands? A similar deal, called the Dutch Flyer, is offered by Greater Anglia Trains with Stena Line, at a cost of just £45 each way booked in advance, rising to £65 if bought on the day of travel. Passengers can travel from any station in the Greater Anglia area (such as London Liverpool Street or Colchester) to Harwich, catch the boat, then use the ticket for onward travel anywhere in the Netherlands, including Amsterdam. The drawback is the early start: trains leave London at 6.38am, and after a six-and-a-half-hour ferry to Hook of Holland you can expect to arrive in Amsterdam at 7pm. |
| Tiverton to Penzance: £20.10 return | Tiverton to Penzance: £20.10 return |
| It's not the busiest route in the country and it's not madly cheap. But it's a good example of a walk-up (although off-peak) fare, not booked in advance, where the price is not ludicrous. Barry Doe, an expert on train fares around Britain, says that First Great Western offers some of the best off-peak day returns in the country. This one works out at 6.8p a mile. He also picks the fares offered by London Midland on its Birmingham/Euston route, which are priced at £23 off-peak – which works out at 10p a mile compared to the 22p a mile cost of getting from London to Manchester on a standard off-peak walk-up fare. | |
| Sheffield to London: £20 return | |
| It's always worth checking individual train websites for their "sales". Currently East Midlands Trains is offering returns from Sheffield to London St Pancras at £30 standard class and £50 first class, reduced to £20 and £35 if you have a railcard. But you'll have to be quick – the sale ends on 4 August, although you can travel any time over the next six weeks. Cheapest conventional advance fares on this route are around £44 return. | It's always worth checking individual train websites for their "sales". Currently East Midlands Trains is offering returns from Sheffield to London St Pancras at £30 standard class and £50 first class, reduced to £20 and £35 if you have a railcard. But you'll have to be quick – the sale ends on 4 August, although you can travel any time over the next six weeks. Cheapest conventional advance fares on this route are around £44 return. |
| Virgin tends to hold a summer first-class seat sale (although it has just finished) while South West Trains has "Winter Smiles" tickets, where it offloads same-day returns across its network for £10 in January and February, making journeys such as London Waterloo to Exeter, Portsmouth or Southampton a bargain. | Virgin tends to hold a summer first-class seat sale (although it has just finished) while South West Trains has "Winter Smiles" tickets, where it offloads same-day returns across its network for £10 in January and February, making journeys such as London Waterloo to Exeter, Portsmouth or Southampton a bargain. |
| Poorest value | Poorest value |
| Commuter season tickets | Commuter season tickets |
| Woking to London is a 23-mile commute, yet the season ticket costs £3,704 a year. When the Campaign for Better Transport compared the route to similar-length journeys into other European capitals in 2011, it found that residents in the suburbs of Paris paid only £925, with the equivalent figure just £336 if you lived 23 miles outside Rome. So British commuters are paying between three and 10 times more per mile than European commuters. When it updated the figures in 2013, it found that the rate of increase in prices was faster in Britain than anywhere else. | Woking to London is a 23-mile commute, yet the season ticket costs £3,704 a year. When the Campaign for Better Transport compared the route to similar-length journeys into other European capitals in 2011, it found that residents in the suburbs of Paris paid only £925, with the equivalent figure just £336 if you lived 23 miles outside Rome. So British commuters are paying between three and 10 times more per mile than European commuters. When it updated the figures in 2013, it found that the rate of increase in prices was faster in Britain than anywhere else. |
| Long-distance fares, at peak times | Long-distance fares, at peak times |
| The standard-class walk-on single at peak time from London to Manchester is £160.50, equal to 87.4p a mile (a distance of 183 miles), says Barry Doe. We checked SNCF for a Paris-Lyon trip, buying on the same day of travel, and the price was £80 on the TGV or £54 on the slow train. So it's half the price for much further (288 miles). | The standard-class walk-on single at peak time from London to Manchester is £160.50, equal to 87.4p a mile (a distance of 183 miles), says Barry Doe. We checked SNCF for a Paris-Lyon trip, buying on the same day of travel, and the price was £80 on the TGV or £54 on the slow train. So it's half the price for much further (288 miles). |
| Fares that are more expensive the shorter the distance travelled | Fares that are more expensive the shorter the distance travelled |
| Buy a London to York ticket for travel the next day (we tested Wednesday for Thursday this week) and National Rail wanted £67 for the 8.30am leaving from Kings Cross. But if you buy a ticket for the exact same train, but travel to the next stop – Darlington, another 54 miles further up the line – the price drops to £59.50. But don't try buying the ticket to Darlington and getting off the train one stop early at York, freeing up the seat for someone else. Breaking your journey early is forbidden by the rail companies. When you buy an Advance ticket you enter into a contract with the train company, which includes the condition that you must travel between the start and end stations and not "stop short". A Durham University professor was fined £155 for stopping short on an East Coast train, which he described as "absurd". | Buy a London to York ticket for travel the next day (we tested Wednesday for Thursday this week) and National Rail wanted £67 for the 8.30am leaving from Kings Cross. But if you buy a ticket for the exact same train, but travel to the next stop – Darlington, another 54 miles further up the line – the price drops to £59.50. But don't try buying the ticket to Darlington and getting off the train one stop early at York, freeing up the seat for someone else. Breaking your journey early is forbidden by the rail companies. When you buy an Advance ticket you enter into a contract with the train company, which includes the condition that you must travel between the start and end stations and not "stop short". A Durham University professor was fined £155 for stopping short on an East Coast train, which he described as "absurd". |
| The Heathrow Express | The Heathrow Express |
| A standard single is £21 for the 15-mile journey from Paddington to the airport – regularly cited as one the most expensive airport-city transfers in the world. Going by Underground instead costs £5 (with an Oyster card). From Madrid's airport to the city centre is €5 (£3.95), while Paris Charles de Gaulle into the city – a journey of 25km – is €9.75 (£7.70). | A standard single is £21 for the 15-mile journey from Paddington to the airport – regularly cited as one the most expensive airport-city transfers in the world. Going by Underground instead costs £5 (with an Oyster card). From Madrid's airport to the city centre is €5 (£3.95), while Paris Charles de Gaulle into the city – a journey of 25km – is €9.75 (£7.70). |
| Leicester Square to Covent Garden | Leicester Square to Covent Garden |
| An unwitting tourist may not realise this is a mere 300m, the shortest distance between two tube stops in London. Pay by cash and the fare is £4.70, or £2.20 with an Oyster card. A similar journey on the Paris metro is €1.70 (£1.35) and in New York is $2.75 (£1.62). | An unwitting tourist may not realise this is a mere 300m, the shortest distance between two tube stops in London. Pay by cash and the fare is £4.70, or £2.20 with an Oyster card. A similar journey on the Paris metro is €1.70 (£1.35) and in New York is $2.75 (£1.62). |
| Where to book | Where to book |
| Thetrainline.com, many people's default site for train travel, charges booking fees of up to £1.50 and a credit card fee of 2% (using a debit card is free), adding £2.50 to the price of a £50 ticket, writes Emma Lunn. Rival comparison site Raileasy charges a hefty £2.50 booking fee and a 4.5% credit card fee, adding a total of £4.75 to a £50 fare. It also charges for using a debit card (75p). Phoning Raileasy costs an eye-watering £1.02 a minute from a BT landline. | Thetrainline.com, many people's default site for train travel, charges booking fees of up to £1.50 and a credit card fee of 2% (using a debit card is free), adding £2.50 to the price of a £50 ticket, writes Emma Lunn. Rival comparison site Raileasy charges a hefty £2.50 booking fee and a 4.5% credit card fee, adding a total of £4.75 to a £50 fare. It also charges for using a debit card (75p). Phoning Raileasy costs an eye-watering £1.02 a minute from a BT landline. |
| Train Genius and MyTrainTicket also charge booking and credit card fees. | Train Genius and MyTrainTicket also charge booking and credit card fees. |
| Rail operators' own sites, on the other hand, don't charge extra. Another plus point is they occasionally offer cheaper fares and many offer loyalty points of some kind, too. | Rail operators' own sites, on the other hand, don't charge extra. Another plus point is they occasionally offer cheaper fares and many offer loyalty points of some kind, too. |
| For example, if you used thetrainline.com to pre-book the 11.30am train from London to Newcastle on 10 July, it would cost £63.50, including the booking fee if you paid by debit card. Booking directly with East Coast would cost £60.75 – and you could earn points on East Coast's own Rewards scheme. | For example, if you used thetrainline.com to pre-book the 11.30am train from London to Newcastle on 10 July, it would cost £63.50, including the booking fee if you paid by debit card. Booking directly with East Coast would cost £60.75 – and you could earn points on East Coast's own Rewards scheme. |
| The scheme offers loyalty points when a customer spends more than £22 on tickets with any train operator. | The scheme offers loyalty points when a customer spends more than £22 on tickets with any train operator. |
| East Coast isn't the only operator selling other rail companies' tickets. They all do so, you don't need to know which companies operate which routes before you book. | East Coast isn't the only operator selling other rail companies' tickets. They all do so, you don't need to know which companies operate which routes before you book. |
| However, it's worth checking if a company offers discounts on its own tickets. Southern Railways, for example, offers customers booking direct discounts off Southern Advance tickets that are not available elsewhere. Meanwhile, CrossCountry allows customers to buy "Advance Purchase on the Day" tickets on its website on the day of travel. This saves money on walk-up fares but can only be booked on CrossCountry's website or mobile app. | However, it's worth checking if a company offers discounts on its own tickets. Southern Railways, for example, offers customers booking direct discounts off Southern Advance tickets that are not available elsewhere. Meanwhile, CrossCountry allows customers to buy "Advance Purchase on the Day" tickets on its website on the day of travel. This saves money on walk-up fares but can only be booked on CrossCountry's website or mobile app. |
| Out of the general booking sites, Red Spotted Hanky offers the best deal. Head For Points, a website that compares travel loyalty schemes, has declared it the only "sensible" third- party option for buying train tickets. As well as no booking or card fees, it offers its own loyalty scheme. | Out of the general booking sites, Red Spotted Hanky offers the best deal. Head For Points, a website that compares travel loyalty schemes, has declared it the only "sensible" third- party option for buying train tickets. As well as no booking or card fees, it offers its own loyalty scheme. |
| Travellers can also spend Tesco Clubcard vouchers on Red Spotted Hanky: £10 of Clubcard vouchers will get you a £20 Red Spotted Hanky voucher. | Travellers can also spend Tesco Clubcard vouchers on Red Spotted Hanky: £10 of Clubcard vouchers will get you a £20 Red Spotted Hanky voucher. |
| Rail operators usually start selling the cheapest tickets 12 weeks ahead of travel. Several sites, including thetrainline, East Coast and CrossCountry, allow you to set up email alerts to check when cheap tickets for your intended journey are released. | Rail operators usually start selling the cheapest tickets 12 weeks ahead of travel. Several sites, including thetrainline, East Coast and CrossCountry, allow you to set up email alerts to check when cheap tickets for your intended journey are released. |
| • Come across a rail bargain or rip-off? Let us know | • Come across a rail bargain or rip-off? Let us know |
| • This article was amended on 6 August 2014. An earlier version said the formula for 2015 rises in rail fares was based on the retail price index plus 1%. The formula is RPI plus 0%. |
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