An example of fares from Bristol to destinations in the north of England/Scotland. These seem to be the cheapest possible fares that are available.
Bristol-Manchester(direct route) ú27 single/ú54 return.
Brstiol-Newcastle ú42 single/ú84 return
Bristol-Edinburgh ú54 single. Though it doesn't appear to be easy to get ú54 singles back again. So you may well have to pay ú132.30 for an "Off Peak" return!!!
Yet fares from London to the north and Scotland are much more sensible priced. For example ú8 single/ú16 return to Manchester, and ú16.50 single/ú33 return to Edinburgh.
So why then are fares from Bristol to the north so extortionate?
I was looking at going "up north" on the train for a change. But at these ridiculous prices I'll give it a miss!
Why are train fares from Bristol to the North so expensive??
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get_that_bus_out
- regular
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I think that part of the problem here is that the journeys you describe are priced by CrossCountry (which they will almost certainly be unless you are travelling via London).
After a quick look in the fares manual, and the cheapest fares I can see for those journeys are ú11.50, ú15.00 and ú17.00 respectively, all standard class advance singles routed "XC only".
However, these tickets most probably have very small quotas and will only be available on massively off-peak trains. The National Express East Coast website is a good place to look for these fares, because unlike most of the other operators sites it has a facility where you can choose the fare you want and will display a whole list of trains over several hours with the different fares, allowing you to pick the cheapest.
Living in Oxford I tend to try and avoid CrossCountry because (a) I find the Voyager trains incredibly uncomfortable (not to mention odd-smelling) and (b) there never seem to be any cheap advance tickets available for the times I want to travel, even looking several weeks in advance.
You could always try travelling via London and splitting advance purchase tickets: you can get some great FGW deals from Bristol to Paddington and then some other very good deals out of London on Virgin WEst Coast or NXEC. Then you get to use more comfortable trains (HSTs, 225s and Pendolinos) and, surprisingly, it often doesn't take much more time than the XC journey, which just shows you how slowly those trains are timetables. The only risk with this strategy is that if you have split advance purchase tickets for your journey and your first train is late leading to you missing your connection out of London your advance purchase ticket for the onward leg ceases to be valid.
If you're travelling to Manchester another route you can take which may be cheaper is to travel to Newport then change onto an ATW service which takes the scenic route via Hereford and Shrewsbury. The class 175 trains used on this service and nice and comfortable (very similar to the FGW Adelantes inside) and there's usually a trolley service, which will be all you get on XC before long!
After a quick look in the fares manual, and the cheapest fares I can see for those journeys are ú11.50, ú15.00 and ú17.00 respectively, all standard class advance singles routed "XC only".
However, these tickets most probably have very small quotas and will only be available on massively off-peak trains. The National Express East Coast website is a good place to look for these fares, because unlike most of the other operators sites it has a facility where you can choose the fare you want and will display a whole list of trains over several hours with the different fares, allowing you to pick the cheapest.
Living in Oxford I tend to try and avoid CrossCountry because (a) I find the Voyager trains incredibly uncomfortable (not to mention odd-smelling) and (b) there never seem to be any cheap advance tickets available for the times I want to travel, even looking several weeks in advance.
You could always try travelling via London and splitting advance purchase tickets: you can get some great FGW deals from Bristol to Paddington and then some other very good deals out of London on Virgin WEst Coast or NXEC. Then you get to use more comfortable trains (HSTs, 225s and Pendolinos) and, surprisingly, it often doesn't take much more time than the XC journey, which just shows you how slowly those trains are timetables. The only risk with this strategy is that if you have split advance purchase tickets for your journey and your first train is late leading to you missing your connection out of London your advance purchase ticket for the onward leg ceases to be valid.
If you're travelling to Manchester another route you can take which may be cheaper is to travel to Newport then change onto an ATW service which takes the scenic route via Hereford and Shrewsbury. The class 175 trains used on this service and nice and comfortable (very similar to the FGW Adelantes inside) and there's usually a trolley service, which will be all you get on XC before long!
Thanks for the advice.
Yep, I knew about splitting fares to get journeys cheaper. For instance, Bristol-Cheltenham return, and Cheltenham-Birmingham return. Works out at about ú25 rather than ú41. Though I can't really get it significantly cheaper to Manchester using this method.
I knew about the alternate route to Manchester via Newport and Hereford. It's relatively easy to get a ú32 return via this route. Which isn't too bad really. The last time I went via this route was when these services were operated by Class 158's. I didn't really know that Class 175's were used nowadays. So perhaps I might do that. It does beat a pricey ú54 on a Voyager.
That National Express EastCoast fares finder is handy. Makes finding the cheaper fares a little easier. Though I can't find any fares cheaper than ú27 between Bristol and Manchester on the direct route. Even weeks in advance. These must be VERY limited indeed. I've also had an experiment around on finding fares to Edinburgh. And whilst there does seem to be some fares available for ú29 to ú34 single which isn't too bad really, given the distance. These are for services arriving very late in the evenings. Any other services you're looking at a pricey ú54 single. And the problem is getting a cheap fare to return to Bristol. As it seems no fares less than ú124 single are available! Even looking several weeks in advance! So you'd probably have to get a ú132.30 return!
I was particularly looking at going up north direct from Bristol, as I've not travelled via that route for some time now. But at those crazy prices, I'll have to give that a miss! If I were to goto Manchester again I'd go via the Newport and Hereford route at ú32 return. If I were to goto Edinburgh again, I'd go via London and get a NXEC service from King's Cross. Total price around ú53. Much better prices and nicer trains than those Voyagers.
Yep, I knew about splitting fares to get journeys cheaper. For instance, Bristol-Cheltenham return, and Cheltenham-Birmingham return. Works out at about ú25 rather than ú41. Though I can't really get it significantly cheaper to Manchester using this method.
I knew about the alternate route to Manchester via Newport and Hereford. It's relatively easy to get a ú32 return via this route. Which isn't too bad really. The last time I went via this route was when these services were operated by Class 158's. I didn't really know that Class 175's were used nowadays. So perhaps I might do that. It does beat a pricey ú54 on a Voyager.
That National Express EastCoast fares finder is handy. Makes finding the cheaper fares a little easier. Though I can't find any fares cheaper than ú27 between Bristol and Manchester on the direct route. Even weeks in advance. These must be VERY limited indeed. I've also had an experiment around on finding fares to Edinburgh. And whilst there does seem to be some fares available for ú29 to ú34 single which isn't too bad really, given the distance. These are for services arriving very late in the evenings. Any other services you're looking at a pricey ú54 single. And the problem is getting a cheap fare to return to Bristol. As it seems no fares less than ú124 single are available! Even looking several weeks in advance! So you'd probably have to get a ú132.30 return!
I was particularly looking at going up north direct from Bristol, as I've not travelled via that route for some time now. But at those crazy prices, I'll have to give that a miss! If I were to goto Manchester again I'd go via the Newport and Hereford route at ú32 return. If I were to goto Edinburgh again, I'd go via London and get a NXEC service from King's Cross. Total price around ú53. Much better prices and nicer trains than those Voyagers.
