Can someone answer this???? train ticket related question......?

Question

single from basingstoke to swindon £10

single from swindon to cardiff £5

(staying on the same train)

TOTAL £15

single from basingstoke to cardiff £26

(exactly the same train as the one for the two seperate tickets above)

TOTAL £26

whats that all about??????

Answer 1

Walk up and Advance fares are set by different companies.

Taking your example into account:

basingstoke to cardiff single fare is set (decided) by South West Trains.

basingstoke to swindon would again be set by South West Trains.

swindon to cardiff would be set by First Great Western.

So because different companies decide the ticket prices these ticket cockups happen.

However in order to do the split tickets rule, you must be on a train which stops at the splitting point e.g. Swindon. You do not need to actually get of the train or move seats.

As for advance purchase tickets, the comments by other readers do not apply as this is not an advance purchase tickets issue.

Answer 2

That is weird. If I were you i would not say anything they may raise the price on you for the two tickets.

Answer 3

dont forget to jump off and jump back on very quickly lol

Madness!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 4

only powers that be know the answers to that, its cheaper still to book online  total madness

Answer 5

AND NOT ONLY THAT IN MOST CASES IT IS CHEAPER TO BUY A RETURN FOR A SINGLE ONE WAY TRIP THAN IT IS IT IS TO BUY A SINGLE TICKET

Answer 6

Quite bizzar as the change is a Reading to the fast service for both Cardiff and Swindon, so its not like your forced onto a slow service somewhere.

Indeed: A fare from Reading to Cardiff can vary from £9.50 to £92.50 depending on what you book and when.

You maybe finding your picking up two cheaper Apex tickets but all the Apex tickets have sold out on the Reading Cardiff journey. If so youll have to change seat at Swindon!

Answer 7

Absolutely crazy! Don't even get me started on the subject of the rail system in the UK, I'll start to rant and you'll not be able to stop me! I particularly like the way that if you ring up to enquire about train fares you get quoted a different price each time - for the same journey! Grrrrrrr !!

Answer 8

This is not unusual. If you are making the journey choose the cheapest option you can. Why does it happen ? Because for purely ideological reasons the then Conservative Government broke up British Rail into lots of separate companies. You are benefiting (or losing according to which ticket(s) you choose) because of competition between different companies. Believe that if you like!

Answer 9

Advance tickets. When booking advanced tickets, different trains have different ticket prices, reason, some trains are more popular than others and the smal proportion of tickets sold at the cheaper prices go quicker.

If you look at the Standard Single Fare, then the Saver Fare these would be the same on any train on that route, look at the GWR Advance fares and you should have (if your lucky) 5 different fares and about 10 concessionary fares for the Swindon - Cardiff section. Also from Basingstoke to Cardiff you are using at least two operators (SWT and GWR normally) so the fare has to be split between them adding to the cost.

Ticket sales on the trains are a nightmare and one of the reasons to bring all the operators back under one controlling company. And also why a Ticket clerk on the railway normally has a 3 week training course in a school to learn the differance between them and a rough guide to what they mean. (If you could see the proper ticket database on the computer at a ticket window you would be surprised by the amount of tickets and restrictions for just one journey).

Answer 10

The bottom ticket option may have been a first class ticket, an open single/return, a fast service or a service with a caterer's trolley on board

Answer 11

It helps to keep people in work.  

If all rail companies agreed on a cost per mile, and used that to set their fares, then it would be a simple thing to understand.  

Clearly, that wouldn't allow them to make the most profit, so they need a system which is so fiendishly complex that no one can see any logic and so no one can question what they charge.

Answer 12

The train must be timetabled to stop at the station where you change tickets  (e.g. Swindon in your example) - you do not have to alight.   Another example is from Plymouth to Birmingham where it is cheaper to book separate tickets to/from Cheltenham.  See Barry Doe's articles about fare anomalies every month in the U.K. "Rail" magazine. "Which" magazine has just published a news item which exposed deficiencies in fares information given by the National Rail telephone enquiry bureau and booking office clerks.