exeter-doncaster

[whole diary]

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

the new booking system on the website isnt as friendly as the old one! my boss is going upto doncaster on the 2nd of december cheapest option available is ^100 unless you click other options which just gets confusing and takes ages to check them all! i split the journey and it still came to ^68, anyone else find better options? i couldnt even find first class!

[devon_metro]

Www.fgwtickets.co.uk

[paul7575]

Is this really only a one way trip?

Just that Exeter - Doncaster via Birmingham is ^106 for an Offpeak Return valid for 30 days.
As a long distance XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) route the 'Offpeak' is valid on all services.

Paul

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

just a single hes picking up a lorry

[paul7575]

  - the usual 'single fare priced at nearly the same as a return' rip off then...

Paul

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

i just cant find a cheap fair... there is advance xc tickets at ^15 but cant find a journey to buy it on

[JayMac]

What time does you boss have to leave/arrive?

I have found:

EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains)-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) Advance Purchase on 0840 arriving 1140. ^36.10 STD/^47.20 1ST (^32.50/^42.50 from FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website*)
(tube single to KGX ^4.00)
KGX-DON Advance Purchase on 1230 arriving 1406. ^31.50/^57.00 (^28.05/^57.00 from East Coast website*)

More details of the time of departure/arrival could possible yield cheaper ADV tickets to PAD and from KGX.

So around ^65.00-^70.00 STD or ^105.00-^110.00 1ST including tube for tickets bought now.

*10% discount on 1ST/STD Advance from FGW website. 10% discount on STD Advance from East Coast

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Split ticketing and buying Off Peak Singles/Day Singles on the 0823 EXD-BHM XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) service (EXD-TAU^» (Taunton - next trains) ^8.00, TAU-BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) ^9.90, BRI-CNM^» (Cheltenham Spa - next trains) ^7.30 and CNM-BHM ^17.90) then the 1130 BHM-DON XC service (BHM-DBY ^11.60, DBY-SHF ^8.40, SHF-DON ^3.90) gives a total fare of ^67.00

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In summary. Via London in relative comfort on a couple of HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) arriving at 1406 or pay roughly the same to arrive at 1320 (admittedly with a bit of flexibility from walk up fares to travel via Brum) on a couple of god-awful Voyagers. For more comfort and a few complimentary refreshments you may consider approx ^105 1st class to Doncaster with only the slight inconvenience of a short tube journey between PAD and KGX.

I found no combinations of ADV tickets on XC that would work out cheaper - and you can forget about cheap ADV 1st class with XC at such short notice, they just ain't got the spare capacity.