At yesterday evening's West Wilts Rail User Group meeting, one of the audience was recommending a ticket splitting / money saving website that puts up a map andlets you choose nearby stations as the first stage of a process (?). I heard "ticket split A to Z" but must have got it wrong, as nothing came up on Google when I searched for that (note my faith in Google to be all-encompassing!). I did, however, find no fewer that five sites offering split tickets.
I suppose it's natural and encouraged market forces that a number of these systemd have sprung up in competiton with each other - and I wonder which forum members use / would recommend, if any?
http://www.splityourticket.co.ukEver found it difficult to get that cheap return train ticket you really wanted or left things to the last minute and all the cheap tickets had gone?
Worry not, because you can usually split your journey into smaller chunks, stay on the same train as long as the train calls at that station, and pay less than an anytime or off peak return fare.
Of course the easiest option is to book early and get hold of one of the many discounted fares offered by the individual train operators, otherwise enter your journey details above and see if there are any suitable alternatives that could save you money.
http://www.splitmyfare.co.ukSplitting Your Fare means that instead of buying one ticket for your whole journey, you purchase tickets for two parts. For example if you're travelling from Manchester Piccadilly to Edinburgh, you would purchase a ticket from Manchester Piccadilly to Chorley and then from Chorley to Edinburgh.
When we checked the cheapest standard ticket from Manchester Piccadilly to Edinburgh was £59.90
The total cost of tickets from Manchester Piccadilly to Chorley and then from Chorley to Edinburgh was £42.90, a saving of £17.00.
https://raileasy.trainsplit.comWe do not charge booking or debit/credit card fees
Trainsplit.com is dedicated to saving money on train tickets. This money saving booking engine uses a system called Split ticketing.
On a typical journey, say an off peak fare, Birmingham to Leeds costs £58.10. But using Split ticketing it would be £37.90, saving a whopping £20.20. Peak time savings can be even bigger.
Split ticketing works by us amalgamating cheaper tickets along that route, say, Birmingham to Derby, Derby to Sheffield, Sheffield to Leeds, but only if the journey stops en route.
You’d have to carry a few more tickets, but happily you’ll be carrying more money that you’ve saved too. You won’t have to get off the train either.
Savings can be made on both Advance and Flexible tickets in First or Standard.
Booking is simple and easy, but can take a minute or so as the engine searches for the biggest savings.
Split ticketing is completely legitimate and is specifically allowed in the National Rail Conditions of Carriage. If there is a delay, all rail companies will allow you to travel on a later train.
Train travel pricing is rising and demand is growing. On the left is a Fare rise calculator’ which shows how much the train companies are hiking up prices.
Beat those fare rises by using our split ticketing fare beater, system.
http://splitticketing.co.ukSplit Train Tickets (Official Site)
SplitTicketing.com is dedicated to helping you save money on your train tickets.
Use our money saving split train ticket search and booking engine below and you could be pleasantly surprised with the split ticket savings you'll enjoy in addition to what you already save by purchasing your train tickets online in advance, or even if you book on the day of departure!
Split Train Tickets are allowed by the National Rail Conditions of Carriage, so take advantage of this and you could pay a lot less less than you otherwise would have for the same train tickets. For additional detailed information please follow the links in the menu bar below.
http://split.traintimes.org.ukSplit ticket finder
Say you’re travelling from Bournville to Reading for the day, leaving around 8am. If you just turned up and bought a ticket for that journey, it would cost you £108.60. Following this website, it would only cost you £33.80, for the same journey on the same trains. More information...
As well as the specific sites listed above, you could ask here
... where you'll usually get excellent suggestions taking a wider view than the sites do; split ticketing is not the only saving. And you can also work it out / through for yourself - for those people with some experience already, that can lead to excellent results, backed up by a knowledge of the detail so that you can trade off flexibility versus price, and consider multiple journeys made in a period and other factors too.
BackgroundIf you are travelling from a place "A" to a place "C", travelling on a train that calls at "B" on the way, or changing trains at "B", you are allowed to purchase a ticket from A to B and another from B to C to make up your journey, provided that each of the tickets is used within the conditions set out for it.
You might expect that buying a ticket in sections would be more expensive than buying a ticket all the way, but it turns out to be cheaper to "split" quite often.
If you purchase your tickets online, you can get a whole series of tickets ordered to be posted or to collect them from a ticket machine. At a staffed booking office or you can normally purchase any ticket in the national database up to 3 months ahead, including tickets that start at different stations to the one that you're at to make your purchase. There isn't the same flexibility, though, if you walk up to a ticket machine and try to find your combination through the front panel.
If you split your ticket, it's your responsibility to ensure that each ticket is valid as used. I am unsure of the legal status if one of the ticket splitting websites above sells you an invalid combination, and you're likely to have trouble claiming compensation across a series of trains if a cancellation or failed connection causes a late arrival at final destination, or means you miss a train on which you have a "this train only" leg on your journey.
The Train Companies / government have set up the train fare system as it is - and there are good deals on some journeys, heavily marketed or specially priced to encourage traffic. So although there are some staff who take a dim view of split tickets (and indeed I have been challenged on a valid combination) the 'proper' line is that the lower fares for the individual legs have been set up to encourage you to use them.
As an aside ... there are other elements to making economic train ticket purchases. For example, if you're travelling out in the peak and back off peak, is a peak return best value, or would you do better with a peak single out and an offpeak single back?
