Great Western Coffee Shop

I was looking at going from Temple Meads to Preston on Saturday 20th August (returning same day) and I assumed there might be some cheap fares available. There aren't any directly. I then tried Birmingham - Preston and Wolverhampton - Preston assuming that there might be something given that Virgin run direct trains between them (I can split day tickets for only slightly more than the advance fares as far as Wolverhampton). There still doesn't seem to be anything available for less than ^21 each way from Wolverhampton on the Virgin website - although as the offpeak single fare is stated to be ^19.45, an advance fare for ^21 doesn't seem great value! Birmingham's no better.

I wondered if anyone knows whether advance fares are like gold dust on that route or whether they just don't exist and I'd need to look at going via Manchester instead. ??? Cheers for any help you can give. I assume they don't exist for Bristol-Preston but I'm puzzled if they don't from at least Birmingham up.

Advance fares for a Saturday in August are already likely to be unavailable at the cheaper price points. CrossCountry already heavily limit theirs on busy services and you really need to get in on the first day they become available. Some of their service have no quota whatsoever at the cheaper price points.

If you can provide more information about the times you wish to travel out and back I can have a look at the best options for you. There are many split options on walk up day return fares between Bristol and Preston that could potentially work out cheaper (or only marginally more expensive) than an Advance or split Advances.

Also, do you have a Railcard?

Finally, if you get in quick (before midnight tonight) you could bag a ^5 voucher to spend on tickets at redspottedhanky.com. You will require a Facebook account though. Matter of moments to register for one.

See:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=9166.0

Don't know if the same trick will work for you, but in 2009 I managed to make the price for a summer weekend trip from Oxford to Blackpool and return much more manageable by forcing the route via Manchester Piccadilly and splitting tickets there.

I do Worcester - Preston about once a month. I used to be able to get various Advance offers, but haven't been able to for the last couple of years.

If you have a railcard, then you will usually be better off splitting the tickets at Birmingham. That's because Virgin allow you to use Savers bought with a railcard on any of their services. Commercially that's daft in my book, but there you are...

Whether that's still worthwhile from Bristol is another - you'd be travelling out of B'ham after the peak.

I sometimes treat myself to First Class on Virgin, especially during half term weeks or school holidays. Worcester - Preston in First is ^115.50 for an Open Return. But by splitting the tickets I can get the day version of that down to ^82.45. That involves five separate tickets, for Worcester - Birmingham - Wolverhampton - Crewe - Wigan - Preston. I think that's probably some sort of record for splitting-per-mile-of-journey. You still have to eat a lot of bacon sandwiches and use the WiFi an awful lot to justify that. And just when you could do with using the First Class lounge at New Street (in the evening when Virgin have run late and you've missed the Worcester connection), they close it.

If you are travelling in steerage, then try to get the coach next to the First Class. That's full of tables (they sometimes use it as First) and is how all the wretched Voyagers ought to have been fitted out. FGW please note!

And the WiFi in there is free (well, at the moment anyway - if someone from Virgin is reading this then they'll probably go away and block that).

Whilst Virgin's easement allowing Railcard holders to travel at any time on their services with Railcard discounted Off Peak tickets is a boon for Railcard holders, it doesn't apply to the OP in this instance. He/she is travelling on a Saturday when Railcard discounts are valid at any time, regardless. Despite that, the OP may very well not be a Railcard holder anyway. I asked merely to give correct prices.

To repeat, if the OP can provide some further details of the times he wishes to travel on 20th August then I'll endeavour to look up the best options. I could just look up various splits as there would be no time restrictions on a Saturday, but it's best to know rough timings to make sure the splits would be valid.

Thanks for the replies and the offers of help. Just for comparison I looked at Bristol, Birmingham and Wolverhampton - Preston advance fares on Tuesday 13th, Weds 14th and Saturday 17th September (dates nearly 3 months away which I can't imagine being that popular that quickly) - and there's either no advance off-peak fares or Virgin fares about ^1 cheaper than the standard off peak ticket. I don't want to travel those days - it just seems to confirm it's a bit of a waste of time even looking for advance fares. Which it seems to be if you want to go the most direct route.

Sadly I don't have a railcard and I'm not eligible for one that would be of any of use, so no discounts for me. I think the cheapest split ticket option appears to be via Manchester for ^60ish in total, splitting at Cheltenham-Wolverhampton-Stoke-Manchester. Using Virgin from Brum/Wolverhampton seems to be more expensive at around ^66 minimum. However if anyone can come up with a better option then I stand corrected.

Best I've come up with just the one change at Birmingham and valid from Bristol at 0830 onward is:

Bristol TM - Cheltenham Spa Off Peak Day Return ^7.80
Stonehouse - Bromsgrove  Off Peak Day Return ^10.10 (*see note)
Birmingham NS - Wolverhampton Off Peak Day Return (Virgin trains only) ^3.20
Wolverhampton - Crewe Off Peak Return ^16.10
Crewe - Wigan NW Anytime Day Return ^13.40
Wigan NW - Preston Anytime Day Return ^6.60

Total ^57.20

*Note: The Stonehouse to Bromsgrove Off Peak Day Return fare allows travel via Birmingham New Street thanks to a double-back easement in the Routeing Guide:
The ticket conditions allow you to 'start, or break and resume, a journey (in either direction in the case of a return ticket) at any intermediate station, as long as the ticket you hold is valid for the trains you
want to use. You may also end your journey (in either direction in the case of a return ticket) before the destination shown on the ticket.'

As there is a Routeing Guide easement in place allowing travel via Birmingham NS, then its fine to use the Stonehouse - Bromsgrove ticket to travel 'short' to Birmingham NS. Worth being armed with this information though - A printout from the relevant Routeing Guide (http://www.atoc.org/about-atoc/rail-settlement-plan/routeing-guide) easement. I've been queried twice by XC guards when holding a ticket to Bromsgrove - both times they were happy to let me travel once I'd explained about the easement. No need to tell them know you're not actually going to Bromsgrove though!

And why Stonehouse? Because its 30p cheaper to buy the ticket from there than the Cheltenham Spa - Bromsgrove fare. I've only just discovered that! So you're actually starting short and ending short on that fare.  ;D

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As I mentioned this combination of tickets is valid from Bristol at or after 0830.

0830 Bristol Temple Meads - Birmingham New Street 0956 (XC)
1012 Birmingham New Street - Preston 1151 (VT)

Now you can combine my first two tickets with your idea of splits at Wolverhampton, Stoke and Manchester and save another ^5 or so, but starting Off Peak at Bristol at 0830 (two changes) or 0900 (one change) will not get you to Preston until 1255.