Regular readers of this blog will know that I have commented in the past about Chiltern's continued selling of an Anytime Return from Birmingham to London when there is NEVER a need to buy such a ticket... (see http://birmingham2london.blogspot.com/2010/10/fare-news-chiltern-railways.html). A particular bugbear is the Chiltern leaflet 'If you think fares to London should be fairer...' which has been updated to give the post-January 2011 fares.
LET us be clear: there is never a need to buy the £85 Anytime Return on Chiltern Trains. The reason is simple: there are NO peak time restrictions on Chiltern train services out of Marylebone.
Thus, anyone travelling to London on a peak-time train out of Moor Street (ie those up to the 0748) can buy a £51 Anytime Single and save either £2 or £14.60 by returning on either an Off-peak single or a Super Off-peak single depending on the time of day... But of course, an Off-peak return from London costs only a £1 more, and a Super Off-peak return only 10p more so effectively you can have 3 journeys for less than the price of the Anytime Return and save money!
BUT greater savings are possible by the simple expedient of splitting your fare.
Take the 0546 train from Moor Street as an example. By booking Moor Street to Bicester North (£16.40 Anytime Single) and Bicester North to London Marylebone (£23 Anytime Day Single), the fare drops from £51 to £39.40. Quite a saving, and you cannot be prevented from requesting the two tickets at Moor Street or indeed booking them online.
So, come on Chiltern. You provide a brilliant service. Why not go the extra mile, be customer friendly in your publicity, and ensure that your passengers really are getting the best deal for thier journeys.
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