Great Western Coffee Shop

Hi All,

Interesting article on Yahoo about tickets at

http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/23112009/389/8-ways-save-money-rail-travel.html

How long will this web site stay up and running

http://splityourticket.co.uk/

I don't know, but I think that ATOC will have problems closing it down.  They closed down another site that was offering split ticket information on thegrounds that it was using a web-bot to trawl the information from ATOC's sites (against the t&C of the sites).  splityourticket.co.uk is different.  AIUI, the information is entered manually, which is why it is not complete and is not always up to date.  It is still a useful starting point though.

splityourticket is OK in theory, but a bit weak in practice.

It doesn't for instance recognise one of the West's major interchanges, Westbury (WSB), as a valid station.

This may be something of an understatement, as the site does not recognise Exeter St Davids - Birmingham New Street as a valid route!
Chocolate teapot anybody?

Not a very comprehensive list, my first query isn't in the database.

 :o out of date fares info. worse than no info. IMO !

Erm ... not very long, apparently!  ;D

What was it Bob said up there - a chocolate teapot?!

(http://www.terrascope.co.uk/images/splittix.gif)

I don't think it's entirely fair to say that ATOC shut down the Splitfare website - what's posted there now would suggest that they are happy for it to exist as long as the site pays GBP3000 a year for the use of data. Have to say that that doesn't seem like an exorbitant sum to me, and one that might be easily re-covered from advertising on the site were it to be a success?

Incidentally, I was interested to see the Trainline "sheep" advert on the site: I understood these had been withdrawn after an Advertising Standards Authority ruling found them to be misleading...
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/Public/TF_ADJ_46257.htm (http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/Public/TF_ADJ_46257.htm)

Do ATOC charge each train company ^3000 a year? Or TheTrainLine or RailEasy for the use of fares data? I suspect not. Timetable data is available free online, fares data is available for around ^45 a year (3x NFM CD-Rom). Someone has gone to the trouble of writing software to combine the two to provide potential legitimate savings from split-ticketing. And ATOC want ^3000 for the data?

Shysters.

Well, not only has "http://www.splityourticket.co.uk/" NOT been axed, it has been updated! :o

Still not 100% useful, but it may be of use to any fleeced commuters on this forum.

 :)

Not even near 50% useful. To get the cheapest prices from split ticketing you really need to know the passenger's exact journey plans.

Anytown - Bigsville isn't enough. Dates and times of travel are needed as well.

Oh, and after offering to save you some money they then suggest you head over to thetrainline to book your tickets. Where you'll be no doubt delighted to spend some of that saved money on booking, debit/credit card and postage fees.  ::)