Mum discovers a cheaper way to buy kids' train tickets

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the Manchester Evening News

Having children can be expensive, so when parents save some money we probably get a bit more excited than most.

But it seems Sarah Burns' discovery of cheaper rail fares for kids is news to most families. And she only came across it by chance herself.

With a broken machine at Woodley station in Stockport, she was forced to pay on the train itself.

And it was once on board that the conductor informed her she could get a return child's ticket for just 80 pence - a big saving on the £2.85 she would have paid had the machine been working.

After tweeting Northern and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM^▸ (Transport for Greater Manchester. )) to ask them for more details about the 'accompanied child' ticket, she was told these can only be bought at ticket offices, or on trains themselves.

Sarah, who lives with her family in Woodley, told the M.E.N's Manchester Family : "I'd usually buy from the ticket machine, but the machine was broken yesterday so I had to buy on board.

"I've got the train loads with the kids and never been told about the accompanied child fare until yesterday."

[Richard Fairhurst]

Interesting. TSGN and Greater Anglia appear to have similar fares.

[Robin Summerhill]

From the Manchester Evening News

Having children can be expensive, so when parents save some money we probably get a bit more excited than most.

But it seems Sarah Burns' discovery of cheaper rail fares for kids is news to most families. And she only came across it by chance herself.

With a broken machine at Woodley station in Stockport, she was forced to pay on the train itself.

And it was once on board that the conductor informed her she could get a return child's ticket for just 80 pence - a big saving on the £2.85 she would have paid had the machine been working.

After tweeting Northern and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM^▸ (Transport for Greater Manchester. )) to ask them for more details about the 'accompanied child' ticket, she was told these can only be bought at ticket offices, or on trains themselves.

Sarah, who lives with her family in Woodley, told the M.E.N's Manchester Family : "I'd usually buy from the ticket machine, but the machine was broken yesterday so I had to buy on board.

"I've got the train loads with the kids and never been told about the accompanied child fare until yesterday."

This is of course very similar to the situation you raised on another thread just recently about off peak and super off peak fares Melksham to London, and that fact that the rules on offering the cheapest fares were, shall we say, more relaxed when it comes to ticket machines.

However, I think I see a wider issue. Intending passengers are required to purchase a ticket before boarding the train if facilities are available. If the newly-discobvered fare was not available through the ticket machine, and that machine had been in working order, would she have been entitled to board the train without a ticket and/or would she have run the risk of a penalty fare?

[stuving]

Interesting. TSGN and Greater Anglia appear to have similar fares.

There are several versions of this - with several different names too, just to confuse. If you can navigate your way to the A-Z list of promotions on the National Rail site, it occurs as Child Flat Fare, Accompanied (ditto), Kids for a Quid (Scotland), and I've also seen Kids for £2 (c2c, though I'm not sure that's still running). I can't find one listed for Northern Trains by any name, nor on their site.

When you find one of NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s listings pages, it describes these as "ordinary promotions". I think that explains why some of the rules about being available via all sales routes don't apply. But as promotions, the issue is rather why aren't they promoted? - especially in the case of Northern!

[grahame]

If you can navigate your way to the A-Z list of promotions on the National Rail site, it occurs as ....

I had a look at that page ... put it though a page analysis and there are over 2,000 "href"s (links) on there. As a comparison, there are just under 300 on our Coffee Shop "home page" who's intent is to provide you very much with links to content.

[grahame]

I'll need to find time to go through those thousands ... some interesting marketing ideas that I haven't seen being marketed!

We offer free parking when three rail passengers share a car and arrive at our stations* Monday - Friday between 0600 and 0900. Just ask the attendant for your CarShare voucher when driving into the car park.

* Chiltern Railways stations excluded are Saunderton, Hatton, Little Kimble, Lapworth and Kings Sutton.
Not valid for overnight parking.

The GetAbout+ Day ticket offers under 18 year olds unlimited travel on any local bus, tram and train service within the South Yorkshire TravelMaster zone.

Not valid on dedicated school services or late night bus services with prefix 'N' (N52).

Experience Eurostar's new faster carbon-neutral journeys to the Continent from stations all over National Rail network.

Eurostar's Regional 'Through Fares' deal offers the benefits of European high-speed rail travel from doorstep to destination. And the beauty of it is you only have to pay one fare to travel between the likes of Peterborough and Paris, Birmingham and Brussels or Liverpool and Lyon.

Eurostar have teamed up with several UK^▸ (United Kingdom) train operating companies to make your European journey seamless from start to finish and to offer you the very best value fares available.

Chiltern Railways has teamed up with London WASPS to offer season or match day ticket holders special rate travel to High Wycombe.

The specially priced rail tickets to High Wycombe are only available on match days on any train, and are approximately 20% off compared to the normal Off-peak Day Return fare. Children aged 5-15 pay half the special rate adult fare

Small Group Day is a product that offers groups of between 3-9 people the opportunity to travel at discounted rates (25% of the equivalent day product) across the Transport for Wales network.

Small Group Day is available for any combination of adults and children on Transport for Wales and the services of other train operators to the locations served by Transport for Wales.

RailMaster gives you unlimited rail travel between all South Yorkshire stations and on the Supertram network.  Also valid on the Tram Train service.

Customers who hold a South Western Railway Standard Class Season Ticket and MAT B1 form can apply for a complimentary pass which allows an upgrade to First Class accommodation if no Standard Class seats are available.
To be eligible for the Mums 2B upgrade pass, the following are required:
a) A copy of a MAT B1 form
b) A copy of a current season ticket
c) Name
d) Home Address
e) Season Ticket number
f) Photocard number
g) Season Ticket expiry date
h) Daytime telephone number
This information should be sent to: Mums 2B co-ordinators, South Western Railway, Overline House, Southampton, Hampshire, SO15 1AL.
Tel: 0845 6000 650 email: businesstravel@swrailway.com fax: 023 8072 8187

[Trowres]

Eurostar's Regional 'Through Fares' deal offers the benefits of European high-speed rail travel from doorstep to destination. And the beauty of it is you only have to pay one fare to travel between the likes of Peterborough and Paris, Birmingham and Brussels or Liverpool and Lyon.

When I tried to book a through ticket earlier this year, the relevant fares were almost impossible to find... Seat61 had the answer, in the form of a bit of manual editing of the URL to include the relevant station code.

Eurostar, frankly, has been a disappointment from its first day.

[grahame]

Eurostar's Regional 'Through Fares' deal offers the benefits of European high-speed rail travel from doorstep to destination. And the beauty of it is you only have to pay one fare to travel between the likes of Peterborough and Paris, Birmingham and Brussels or Liverpool and Lyon.

When I tried to book a through ticket earlier this year, the relevant fares were almost impossible to find... Seat61 had the answer, in the form of a bit of manual editing of the URL to include the relevant station code.

Eurostar, frankly, has been a disappointment from its first day.

I suspect there's a very real market for "X" to "Y" journeys where "X" is your 'local' UK^▸ (United Kingdom) station and "Y" is the local station you want to travel to sur le continent. A system that comes up with realistic journey opportunities and prices.   When I think back to all the research to - example - travel overland from Melksham to Aarlborg or Melksham to Thun (journeys I have made) it was almost as if my business really wasn't being encouraged.