Not one to go on UA-cam channels keep lavishing praise. But for this channel it's really due. Best compliment I can pay Scott is that he reminds me of Simon Calder. Excellent work.
Hi Scott, a little tip for if you're ever back in Birmingham new street. When you get off the inbound train, head to the "b" end of the platforms and walk right to the end. There's a bridge right at the end of the platform, from which you can access all of the platforms avoiding the main concourse. Makes the changes at new street a peice of cake
Yes, I quite often split-ticket. One common case is for a same-day return journey that is too far for an Off-Peak Day Return. Example: Bristol Parkway to Swansea Through ticket: Anytime Day Return £42.40, or Off-Peak Return £45.50 Split ticket, splitting at Cardiff Central: Off-Peak Day Return: £14.70+£11.10=£25.80 43% saving, and don't have to tie yourself down to specific trains.
@@mlriders3282 The off peak return can be used on another day (upto 29 days later I think). The reason the day ticket is more is because they don't allow off peak day tickets on his bristol-swansea route-- the saving comes from buying 2 off peak day returns for journeys that _do_ allow off peak day tickets. Same happens in E Anglia, if you want a day return to London you pay 'any time' fares but you can get one off peak day ticket to a station in essex and then another from there to central london and the total cost is less.
For my case, to work I have to travel from Bristol Temple Mead to Bournemouth. Off-Peak Return: £49.80 (Require me to start journey on previous night) Anytime Return: £56.80 (This is what I should be using if no split ticket option) Split ticket £30.88 (Note that it has exactly the same number of change and travel time as Anytime Return) So Split ticketing is a pure big win for me.
Split tickets act as through tickets in a way. If the XC service was late and you’d missed your connection at Birmingham N S to Glasgow Ctl, then AWC would still have to let you board the next service - as long as you show them all your tickets. When it comes to delay repay, most operators allow you to input multiple pictures, and ticket numbers. A few don’t, for example Transport for Wales. To get around operators that don’t allow multiple tickets for one journey, you’re best to email them. The ticket provider you used which was TrainSplit, well if you experienced disruption on your journey and you were unable to reach your final destination, if you email them they will give you a full refund, but obviously if you do get to your final destination delayed then you’ll need to use delay repay.
Appreciate you clarifying. Funny how this travel channel guy didn't do his research i.e. didn't bother to read the Ts & Cs. His start point seemed to be "split ticketing is lousy - prove me wrong". I'm a big fan of split ticketing - huge savings for the rare inconvenience. This was whingeing for whingeing's sake.
Not so sure about guaranteeing onward travel. Virgin (now Avanti) refused a taxi from Carlisle to Glasgow when my connecting train on a separate ticket missed the connection. Their excuse was that my ticket started at Carlise so was my fault fo missing the last train. You were also very lucky your (presumably) advance ticket was permitted in the wrong seat. I believe if they want to be awkward they can insist in you occupying your booked seat. Also it means your booked seats would be shown as reserved throughout the journey, making it awkward for others to know if they can occupy them or not. On Cross Country (and some others), unreseved seats can become reserved during the journey, a pain of a practice that I wish was not permitted.
@@brianbell4937 LNER have that ridiculous 5 minute reservation system as well. Handy if you're starting off from the train's origin but a pain if boarding intermediately and finding somebody in your (reserved a few mins ago) seat.
My understanding is slightly different. It depends on the ticket type; if you had an advance fare ticket and missed that train, then there is no obligation to put you on a later service. If the train was cancelled, you could travel on a later train run by the same operator. If your ticket wasn't an advance, as long as you abide by the fare rules, then you have flexibility to use different trains.
for info 1.6.3 Rights of Split Ticket Users When using split tickets you are entitled to the same rights as users of through tickets, namely: If you miss your final train home due to delays on the rail network, any TOC in a position to do so must help to get you home or arrange overnight accommodation for you but you must make sure that you adhere to the minimum connection times. We suggest that you obtain and print an itinerary from National Rail Enquiries as this will ensure your connections are valid. If your train is delayed you are entitled to compensation for the full journey from the operator who delayed you. Often this uses the Delay Repay scheme, but some older TOCs have their own schemes. When using one or more Advance tickets, if you are delayed on route you may take the next available service. We recommended that you get your ticket stamped at a booking office to confirm the delay, although this is not strictly necessary.
Great to see this Trainsplit customer saving over £100. Split ticketing customers have exactly the same protection under the NRCoT in the event of delays/disruption as people using ordinary through tickets. We do try to reserve the same seat but have to accept what RARS - the rail reservation system - returns but it is supposed to be providing this functionality at some stage. In the meantime, it's worth checking for a seat in the "unreserved" carriage.
This guy had a negative mindset from the start in spite of the huge saving he was making. I'm a big fan of split ticketing - the rare inconvenience is worth it. He only had to read the (not difficult) Ts & Cs that you guys provide, but he'd rather moan than read I guess. He called it a "best case scenario" that his trip was uneventful whereas that's the norm in fact. This was a disappointing, biased and unresearched post - I hope he doesn't discourage others from trying it.
@@Robutube1 The thing is, split ticketing shouldn't be necessary, it's a failure of the privatised fragmented mess that is our railways and public transport in general. The point is a through ticket should cost the same as however many split tickets exist, how many people are being ripped off and paying way more than they should just because of the ticket price anomalies? The example Scott showed us is all too common in this country. It's just not fair and it probably puts alot of people off using trains. These things need to be made much simpler (and cheaper). The Germany 49 Euro ticket is a step in the right direction. Also I use split ticketing to go from London to Brighton, the price went down from £22 return to £12, so why not just charge £12 in the first place? It just doesn't add up.
@@aaronsmith9209 I fully agree with you that the system, as with most privatised public services, is a mess within which a few profit but most suffer and the railways is a particularly egregious example of this. With regard to rail fare structures, they're byzantine and iniquitous no question; reform is long overdue. My point was more one about working within the existing system until there is sufficient momentum for the much needed changes and I felt that this guy's report on split ticketing deterred rather than encouraged its use with his unfair and poorly informed report.
Shame that what you don't tell anyone and nor did Scott was that while he did save some money, he could have saved even more because you snuck in £15 worth of fees! Book directly with the train operators and they charge no fees.
@@UserUCKANAOD8SlYguEhbCkUdlMQ I think 'snuck' is a bit unfair. We are very transparent about the fees. It's a small percentage of how much cheaper the fare we find is compared to what customers will be quoted on train operator sites. Plus, you could find all those splits and still book it on our site. It was also 7 splits, that is a lot of effort to book and a lot can go wrong if done manually. The average person on the street wouldn't do this. Do you think train operators would show cheaper split fares if sites like ours weren't around, they don't now so it seems very unlikely they'd start. In which case a lot of customers would lose out on cheaper fares because they wouldn't necessarily be able to find the splits themselves.
I’ve missed avanti trains from Euston for reasons like the lift at st Pancras was broken (wheelchair user so no other way off platform) or a cancelled train on a different ticket and a train full with no wheelchair space and they’ve always been perfectly fine with me getting a later train home. Maybe because I’m in a wheelchair and they’ve felt sorry for me (especially as some of those reasons are wheelchair related but not the delayed/ cancelled train) but I find their staff to be so friendly and helpful.
12 minutes is the correct minimum connection time at Birmingham New Street according to the data. If you'd missed your train, you would have been allowed to catch another AND got delay repay for the whole journey. Glad you made such a good saving using our split ticketing service. It took a while to get it working as well as it does now.
Have done the split ticket shuffle - Cardiff Central to Sheffield. Oh what fun. Changed trains twice and seats a few more times. Still a lot better then Liverpool Lime Street to Euston. Previous service was cancelled. So ended up standing all the way
After you've booked your split ticket pop into your local ticket office and ask them to do you a single seat reservation for each leg of the journey. Free of charge and would save potential inconvenience.
Great content Scott. Delighted everything fell into place. Most importantly is the savings. Stay safe and thank you for allowing us to experience the journey.
Just to provide some reassurance, if the connection was missed, the tickets do remain valid (and Delay Repay can be claimed). However anyone who wants to relax with a longer connection can optionally use the 'advanced options' on the website Scott used, and specify the desired change point and the additional interchange time required. The site also has a seat selector, but it's a fairly easy to miss, being on the basket screen (not payment screen).
Hi Scot, excellent journey, thanks for taking us along with you. Two things 1) I thought all Cross-country trains ran with a totally unreserved coach. So starting from the beginning was a bonus! And 2) the last time I used split ticketing, before the pandemic, on a South Coast to North East trip - I think it was 12 different tickets worth! The booking website I used just rebooked me back into the same seat each time where no change of train happened! The only problem was at Birmingham when the last train of the day out for York turned up with 4 coaches and not the 7 coach fully booked up one, it should have been. I could only just get in the door and had to stand to Sheffield.
I use split tickets often, the best saving being on a Crewe to Fort William trip. Didn't bother with the reserved seats just used unreserved in each case. Crewe to Preston Avanti, Preston to Glasgow Trans Pennine. reason, the Avanti was an Edinburgh service. Walk to Glasgow Queen Street 15 minutes and Scotrail all the rest of the way. Split Ticket price about £75 return with senior card, regular price about £140.
Did a trip on business from Liverpool to Norwich- the price quoted by the ticket office nearly floored me ! - but the other ticket seller said " do you mind swapping trains? " - needless to say that took more than 2/3 off the price !
Being a conductor myself (albeit not for cross country or avanti), i can ensure you if the cross country train was delayed and you miss your connection you are entitled to use the next avanti service towards Glasgow. It doesnt matter if its split tickets, you still have a connection to make and the national rail conditions of carriage state you are allowed to take the next service with the same operator to your destination.
I travel on that Penzance train twice yearly on average from Taunton - I usually change at either Darlington or York to get a local train to Middlesbrough - a TransPennine Express from York or a local train from Darlington - Arriva, I think - to Middlesbrough! Sometimes, my niece has picked me up from Darlington or even taken me there - but I usually just get a through ticket from Taunton to Middlesbrough and back and reserve a seat!
You will be paying a huge premium for no benefit There is no disadvantage to using the site used for this video; it does actually have a seat selector but it's a easy to miss if you don't realise it's at the basket stage
I'm glad you only had to do one seat change when you swapped at Birmingham. I regularly travel from Manchester to Motherwell or Glasgow but I have to go with TPE to go direct. I like the 5am from Piccadilly as it's the ghost train,often the cheapest fair and you are in Glasgow by breakfast time.
I appreciate this video is getting old however some useful information for you with regards to Birmingham New Street. If you walk down to the stairs on the “B” side of the platform for example platform 1B you come up around the back and don’t enter the shopping area and is far quicker if you have a very tight connection
Hi Scot Really enjoyed your Video. I thought split ticketing was going to be a thing of the past with the new ticketing rules but guess that never happened like most other things with this government. About 10 years ago I used split ticketing (now retired) form Derby to Oxford on XC split, every day, in Birmingham New St and Leamington Spa even then savings were approx £58 down from £130 per day so it still pays to do it. Your XC looked much cleaner than mine I had to stand next to the stinky toilets trying not to fall over other peoples bags. As you probably know most of the XC Rolling Stock was purchased second hand from Belgium in 2001 - 2003 and there were promises for it to be replaced about now so I guess it will still be around for another 20 years. I showed my split tickets to guys from India (I was working on an international IT project at the time) and they couldn't stop laughing as they had never seen it on the railways in India just shows how far we have fallen not forgetting we built their railways!
not sure what you mean by new ticketing rules; passengers' rights to use a combination of two or more tickets for one journey has been enshrined in the Conditions of Travel for many years now, indeed long before the website which Scott used launched in 2014. For the avoidance of doubt, passengers are entitled to take later trains (though there may be restrictions on which trains can be used, for example if an operator restriction applies) and also claim delay compensation (as appropriate) where connections are missed, due to delayed or cancelled trains.
The fact you have split tickets does not dilute your rights as a passenger. If you miss your connection due to a late service your rights are the same on split tickets as they would be on a through ticket.
I have done split tickets many times on Crosscountry mainly because of the high prices and have never had to change seats once. If you book on their own site and do the split yourself it keeps you in the same seat. It is also cheaper as you don't have an admin fee to pay and the splitting apps do not always split you the cheapest way. When I did Sheffield to Plymouth the splitting app said 4 tickets, I did it with 7 tickets and saved even more.
The advantage to the splitting apps is that in their capacity as authorised resellers they are selling the full itinerary as a single booking, unlike if you manually split the ticketing yourself where it's effectively multiple bookings. This matters in this particular case as if a delay occurs on a single itinerary from an authorised seller, even with split tickets, you are still generally covered and would be allowed to get the next train. (i.e., the next Avanti train from BHM to GLC in this case). (In practice, this often doesn't matter, as the TOCs will often allow the change-of-itinerary even on manually-split tickets, but it is a technical distinction.)
You won't beat the combination these sites come up with Also it's valuable to have a seat selector, a single itinerary and a single PDF with all tickets (one ticket is one page on a single PDF) , the website used in the video does all of this You are covered in the event of delays and can simply show the through itinerary as evidence of your contractual rights.
XCs own site doesn't keep you in the same seat unless you do that manually; the website used in this video does actually have a seat selector (at the basket stage) anyway
@@yorkcyclist I beg to differ, i've just checked my regular journey Sheffield to Bristol T M for tomorrow 4/4/23 leaving Shf at 11.00 split app gave a price of £58.60 + £1.69 booking fee with 3 tickets Shf - Der, Der - Gcr & Gcr - Bri. I know that's not the cheapest so I did Shf - Der, Der - Bhm, Bhm - Cnm & Cnm - Bri which gives a price of £25.50 and travelling on the same trains as the split app does. Adding the extra split and at different points of the journey saves an extra £34.79 if you include the booking fee.
@@steamisbest Yes same applies to journeys E Anglia to London. I think there are probably lots and lots of journeys elsewhere that can be had for much less than the splitter sites say
I had always thought you HAD to sit in your reserved seat if on an advance ticket. The main reason I try to avoid advance tickets ! Great video as always . For such a well travelled guy I was amazed to see you had not been to Birmingham New Street before !
Not true, I never sit in mine because there's usually a better seat elsewhere. Conductors never move you, they have too much else to do. Sometimes it's a point of principle because I ask for a window seat, and am given a seat against a blank wall. In my dictionary a window is a pane of glass you can look through, but TOC's don't have the brain to understand that. At football clubs it would be sold as "restricted view" or similar.
the website Scott used does have a seat selector; it's just easy to miss it. add the ticket to your basket, don't go to the payment screen yet, then click the little seat icon and the seat map should appear. if it is not possible to book the same seat throughout, you can generally select nearby seats (unless the train is already really full!)
@@Clivestravelandtrains but then you just have anarchy. The reserved seat is empty (unless someone takes a chance and sits in that) so effectively there's two seats occupied. Scott said the train was full and standing so I wonder what happened to his reserved seats?
@@dazzlingdaz187 Richard Branson once said that if a reserved seat is unoccupied you can sit in it. That's often the case - people reserve seats without turning up. Quite often when I go south from Glasgow there are seats reserved from Glasgow but unoccupied, and I can sit in them. The same applies when leaving London Euston. It's not anarchy at all - just practicalities of regular travel. Reserved seats always say between which two stations they are reserved - so if it says "reserved from Wigan to London" and I am going Glasgow to Preston, I can sit in it. If people choose to stand when there are unoccupied reserved seats, that's their choice.
Considering that the split tickets are so common now, even if you would miss your connection, you should be allowed by the staff members on the next available service. This is when another train is delaying you
Thanks for the tips about split tickets. I have never heard about that before. Might try that next time I visit the UK, which I usually do a few times a year. I love your channel, watch most of your videoes. Btw, hope you come visit my home country of Norway. That would be cool.
Split ticketing is becoming accepted here in the UK. But remember it mainly applies to cross country trips involving an en route change of operator as with Scott.
It's easy; simply use the same website Scott used and it sorts it all out for you. Also just to reassure you, the tickets are still valid if the connection is missed. But if you want a more relaxed experience, the website Scott used does allow you to specify additional interchange time, if you want it. Also it does have a seat selector, it's just a bit hidden (click seat icon at the basket stage, not at the payment stage) The trains in the UK are not as good as in Norway though, as a general rule.
@@yorkcyclist I have to agree, trains in Norway is not very interesting. Exceptions of Flåmsbana. Ferries and passengerboats on the other hand is more interesting here, specially in western Norway.
I travelled on Avanti last Friday from Euston to Liverpool and the train manager made a really bit thing over the announcement that split tickets were only valid if the train was due to stop where the splits were. Glad you made your connection. Journeys like that make me get a through ticket m right to the little station near my house as I really don’t trust the timetable sometimes.
Split ticketing does save money - especially on XC trains. The downside I have found is that you often end up on slower trains with more stops - so the app can "slice and dice" the tickets. And a lot more tickets to claim back if you decide not to travel or need to do a "delay repay" claim. Great video - glad you made it back with no issues.
@@yorkcyclist The planners can end up sending people the slow way. I've seen it a number of times where the system thinks it can save you 10p but it involves sending you around the world.
Glad to see things worked out in the best way. 7 tickets!! And yes, we were stunned you qualified for that discount...but we're not too far behind you!
@@anianoenrique2115 With TransPennine Express and Avanti, a 1 in 6 change of departure might be an improvement over what they've delivered recently! The chances of a punctual arrival are miniscule.
Scott. Your assumption that by missing a connection at Birmingham New Street would have meant a new ticket is wrong. All you would have needed is an endorsing by the conductor of your Penzance to Birmingham tickets and all would have been fine.
Just done a split purchase on LNER and because you can change your seat with them u can ensure same seat... worked perfectly and saved a good chunk. Also most trains have unreserved seats anyway Split tickets def worth it if saving is decent
Wow, Plymouth to Glasgow in 5 minutes! Glad you didn't have to change seats plus it was on time. Next time, go on the right hand side if you can, for best views from Penzance. Superb video, and jolly glad you made it. 😊
I’ve spent many hours at New St station, waiting for connecting trains to Worcester, Bristol, Reading, Exeter and others. I’ve also used split tickets to save money. Nottingham to Bristol £120, split your ticket at Cheltenham £70 for the same journey. I’ve also managed to reclaim hundreds of pounds using the DelayRepay scheme when trains were late.
Looking back in my travel record I find that in Sep 2013 I worked out split ticketing between Stockport and Ely. It was all done manually. I ruled out splitting at Sheffield, Nottingham but split only at Alfreton. The record shows the various prices but I don't know what I finally paid but it was cheaper than unsplit. Eventually I used an Excel spreadsheet to do the work and that could support up to 4 splits.
Great video. Toying around with ticketing is always a good plan imo. It's not just useful for a longer, single journey with many split "advance" elements. Can be equally useful to split day or period returns over shorter distances.
I have done the train journey from Tiverton Parkway - Bristol (and also to Birmingham) with CrossCountry a few times and every time I have been standing for at least part of the journey! When I booked to go to Birmingham I chose to reserve a seat yet I was not given one! The only time I have been on a quiet CrossCountry train was Taunton to Tiverton Parkway but that was at about 7pm on a Saturday!
Why is it so cheap when you split your tickets? Are all these little distances stunt-price tickets? Last time I went to Cornwall on holiday (may 2018) I looked for a train journey; because by then the Eurostar between Amsterdam and London was introduced. A return ticket was € 99,-, but from London to Exeter a one-way was already GBP 129,- So I decided that a return flight from Amsterdam to Bristol was the cheapest solution for me ;) But you did a good job for paying only 66 instead of 182 pounds :) EDIT: I hope you did not only stay aboard a train and also visit those pritty villages in Cornwall. 6:10 That's a bad rate. I hope one day they increase capacity due to lengthen trains and finally electrify more of the network. I think it is a bit outdated that so many double-track lines have no overhead wires. When you compare that to other European countries it is far less.
The packed first part of your journey, guess if you left the unbooked seat to use the loo anyone else could use it. Again, bearing in mind train packed guessing your booked seat would get used by someone. The split tickets, changing seats probably not a great issue but to depend on the various trains keeping to their schedule or face big cost penalty not so good. Great video.
You were lucky to make the Birmingham connection. The other week Crosscountry from Bristol were 10 minutes late. Missed connection. Avanti was still there, but doors were closed. Next train in 1 hour, but only going as far as Preston, where I would need to catch a Transpennine. Cancelled. Result a 2 hour delay to a 3 and half hour journey. Sometimes the system will only sell you split tickets. On a trip to Huntingdon, Transpennine (again) were late and I missed connection at Doncaster. The next section had been issued as an advance ticket. When I raised the issue at Doncaster ticket office, the guy said the ticket was now worthless accused me of lying when I said I had been obliged to buy 2 tickets. Luckily the LNER conductor was more sensible. Only a 1 hour delay on that trip.
The ticket office was wrong. Just to provide some reassurance, if the connection was missed, the tickets do remain valid (and Delay Repay can be claimed). However anyone who wants to relax with a longer connection can optionally use the 'advanced options' on the website Scott used, and specify the desired change point and the additional interchange time required.
A timely video Scott thank you! Tried split ticketing wi😢th GWR. Three separate trips and return. Their website charged me twice. Am now in the twilight zone of requesting a refund. I wish I enjoyed train travel more than I do.
I think it's so worth it. I will put up with moving seats to save that much. To go from Bath Spa to Plymouth and back, which I've just booked (2 adults, 1 child, Family and Friends railcard), without a split it would have been £129. With a split it's £54. Every other time, it's reserved me the same seats even between sections of the journey
When I split ticket for day return travel using XC from Sheffield I use something called a Derbyshire Wayfarer for the Sheffield to Burton on Trent leg, for which the train doesn't need to call at Burton but it has to call at Derby. The Derby call seems to be as requirement of the wayfarer ticket.
There's no requirement to call at the splitting station when using a ranger, rover or zonal ticket such as a Derbyshire Wayfarer. That being said, no XC services skip out Derby or Sheffield - they all call there, unlike Burton, Tamworth, Chesterfield etc.
That is the beauty of this rule though I get split prices from Burton and buy the tickets at my local station and book one or two seat reservations (tather than loads). I get a half-price wayfarer ticket due to my bus pass but can only get that one on the day and not online. I don't know if the rule in practice would allow split ticketing with my bus pass (the one issued by my local authority allows travel on local trains on its patch) as I have only done splits with it at Huidersfield and Leeds where I have changed trains.
I always thought that even if is split if the train is delayed then they will allow you to travel on a later train. I usually tend not to risk it though, I know I had an issue where I had 6 minutes to make a connection at Newport. I spoke to the manager at Weston Super Mare station and he agreed it was too tight to issued me with an emergency "something has gone wrong" ticket so I could get an earlier train to Newport which meant I had nearly an hour to make the connection. Got a trip to Newcastle next week, that will be fun as Trans Pennine express has a habit of cancelling most their services.
6 minutes would adequate at Newport if the inbound train was on time. It's an island platform, so it's just a matter of a few metres walk between trains. 30 years ago, when I worked for BR, they would hold advertised connections for up to 5 minutes if the inbound train was slightly late, but they probably don't now.
@@davidspear9790 Correct they do not hold trains these days at Newport (as a general rule; there will be exceptions) however the tickets do remain valid; the video contained a misunderstanding regarding validity in the event of a missed connection. The website Scott used does allow you to specify extra interchange time if you want it, though.
Crosscountry's prices are just scandalous. It was way cheaper for me to travel from Keighley to London on LNER and then on the Night Riviera to Penzance than it was to come back on Crosscountry via Birmingham and that was with split ticketing.
Probably worth mentioning the potential headaches split tickets can cause should you need to claim for delays too.. Big opportunity to diss Cross Country for their choice of 4/5 car sets too.. I was once told they got away with running these on the premise that services would run more frequently.. and then they subsequently broke the promise (I'm told), it's led the way for GWR to do the same with their fleet too, and I've personally had to deal with 5 car sets of their 800 class leaving Paddington at 1800/1900 heading to South Wales.. absolutely heaving
@@yorkcyclist most operators base the claim you can make on how late your arrival at the final destination is against the timetabled time.. if you've got numerous tickets covering the journey, the delay might not cover certain legs, or might be different amounts, or if it does,you've still got to claim for each leg.. I've only had to do it once, and it's a pain in the arse
@@qrzbuddha all legs are covered and, with e-tickets you get one PDF document covering all tickets (one ticket per page but one PDF). It should be no issue at all.
My understanding is that Chris Green, who was at Virgin at the time, came up with the idea of shorter Cross Country formations but running more frequently. The theory being that the passenger load is spread out over more frequent services so there's no over crowding. However it didn't work at the time because there were peaks and troughs in demand so some services were well oversubscribed. I personally think the idea of a 4/5 car train on the NE-SW route is just bonkers.
You are not "on your own" if you miss the connection; tickets are valid on onward services. However if you prefer more time in future, simply click 'advanced options', choose your change point and specify additional interchange time as you see fit.
Must admit, I always use split ticketing when I can. Split ticketing in combination with my railcard makes rail travel so much more affordable. Its just sad that such things have to be done to make a saving. Rail should be much more affordable in this country in my opinion.
People usually just sit in the reserved seats if it is empty until somebody claims it. I find if the seat is not taken from the reserved station then nobody can will claim it.
Even if you have split tickets, as long as you comply with minimum connection times (which you can check online and should anyway) your passenger rights are not affected
Pricing in the UK is really frustrating but the trains are chocca with lines at capacity almost all of the time so there's just no incentive to make it cheaper. I understand split ticketing will eventually not be a thing once 'Great British Rail' is fully implemented but it's probably just mean the single tickets are bumped up in price rather than longer distance journeys being cheaper.
Travelling by train in the UK unfortunately has become a complicated mess. Split ticketing is a must unfortunately with the dreadful current system and pricing. Cross Country have struggled horribly with capacity problems. The Avanti 221s head to them soon should help.
hey scotty glad you don't train with the Belgian railways because there is always a delay and some luxury trains and much older trains are not comfortable trains grtz wietze braem from belguim , Adinkerke
I really don’t like that uk trains don’t just open the doors especially at stations with connections I get it for smaller stations but it would give me anxiety seeing the door close randomly
@@s125ish I agree they don't. However I was on LNER recently and the conductor specifically asked those with reserved seats to sit in them. That would have caused Scott some inconvenience so I was thinking maybe the conductor didn't come round (probably due to a packed train).
You're right that ticketing made the trip far more interesting. One question though: how do you rate the Cross-country Pendolinos for comfort compared to other long distance trains? Curious to see if I'm the only one that finds them a bit hot, stuffy and usually looking a bit beaten up on the inside...
Context: ''The Senior Railcard is specifically for senior citizens. It gives people aged 60 and over 1/3 off train fares throughout Great Britain. Cost is £30.00 per year.''
I bought ticket from Redhill to Stourbridge from machine. Going through Brum, barrier wouldn't open as i needed to change to Snowhill. Staff there said it was a split ticket? So manually opened barrier.
I do it all the time and you don't need a reserved seat just use someone's who's left the train or hasent used it yet. Also, try to stay on the same train.
@@hi-tech55 That's not a risk of using split ticketing; it makes no difference how many tickets are used, the passenger is entitled to reach their destination (and also claim delay compensation if the delay is of a qualifying duration) However if you are keen to have extra time for a connection, the website Scott used has this option if you go to advanced options, specify your desired change point and then select how many additional minutes you require.
Great video, just one mistake. It doesn't make any difference if you're on one ticket or split tickets, on UK rail, if the tickets constitute a through journey you are able to take next train and claim for delays for the whole journey, this is in conditions of carriage. Any issues with this should be reported to customer services.
I'm not sure about that. I live in Glasgow, and I frequently hear of people who have an advance ticket for a journey partly on TransPennine and partly on Avanti. Many TP services are cancelled, and what the passengers are told is to claim a refund on the ticket they have, and then buy a new ticket for the later connecting train, which is usually a lot dearer as it isn't an advance.
@@Clivestravelandtrains actually Max is correct; tickets remain valid. The only caveat is that - generally speaking - you need to stick to the original operator. Where a TPE service is cancelled, TPE must arrange an alternative; this could be Avanti or it could be a wait for TPE. This is nothing to do with split ticketing at all. It is true that if you wish to travel with a different operator in such circumstances, you can choose to claim a refund on any unused tickets for the cancelled/delayed train and buy replacements, but it is generally best not to do so, and to stick to the original tickets, and claim delay compensation. If you wish to allow additional interchange time, the website Scott used does have that option.
Split ticketing just highlights EVERYTHING that's wrong with the way we run public transport in the UK. The fact you can get to the same place much cheaper buying a plethora of tickets instead of one ticket and those many tickets turn out cheaper, has to be one of the biggest scams in Europe. It's also now prevalent on my local buses. Yes I really love the idea of £2 fare wherever you go. But as a daysaver is just 80p more and I could go on multiple buses it hardly seems like a discount at all. Maybe if it was £1 standard fare. To me it just goes to say well we CAN do this journey for this price, however we're not going to, and you are going to pay double for the convenience of having just the one ticket. I mean try to get a Manchester to Bristol anytime return under 100 quid. I did the same journey split ticket both ways for under £40 it's a huge rip off and something really needs to be done about it.
What do you suggest is done? XC's trains are already so packed people are sometimes left behind. Anyone in the know does not have to go through any hoops, just use the website Scott used. It's effectively yield management in action. You cannot simply reduce the price by itself; the Government would need to add additional capacity. The Government is indeed changing capacity on XC during 2023... but they are taking carriages away, not adding them, sadly.
@@yorkcyclist So your saying we should overpay because the rail companies can't be bothered to get more rolling stock and cheaper tickets are only to be had by those in the know? What do I suggest renationalisation of the railways. We need more people on public transport not fewer. Nobody is saying reduce the price anyway it's charge the price of 1 ticket that you currently need 7 tickets for, you're still making the same journey.
![Pretty or ugly? HRENSKO [CZ], Schmilka and the German border. The best and worst of Hrensko and area](/img/n.gif)
Well worth the hassle - that's a days wages saved for most of us!!
Well worth recording this trip home, good decision. And great to see the ATP as well - ahhh I wish that whole thing had worked! Cheers Scott.
What would have been interesting would have been to see if all your reserved seats with the split ticketing were indeed available and unoccupied.
It's not worth the hassle
I actually can’t believe you qualify for a senior discount! You look great for your age- and that’s coming from a millennial! Hats off to you Scott!
Not one to go on UA-cam channels keep lavishing praise.
But for this channel it's really due.
Best compliment I can pay Scott is that he reminds me of Simon Calder.
Excellent work.
I enjoyed today’s video. Particularly the reunited couple on the platform. How lovely.
Hi Scott, a little tip for if you're ever back in Birmingham new street. When you get off the inbound train, head to the "b" end of the platforms and walk right to the end. There's a bridge right at the end of the platform, from which you can access all of the platforms avoiding the main concourse. Makes the changes at new street a peice of cake
that is good advice. Steep set of stairs though
@@improperrunner stairs are slow without ankles
Yes, I quite often split-ticket. One common case is for a same-day return journey that is too far for an Off-Peak Day Return.
Example: Bristol Parkway to Swansea
Through ticket:
Anytime Day Return £42.40, or Off-Peak Return £45.50
Split ticket, splitting at Cardiff Central:
Off-Peak Day Return: £14.70+£11.10=£25.80
43% saving, and don't have to tie yourself down to specific trains.
I wonder why the off-peak return is even more expensive than the anytime one in this case🤔
@@mlriders3282 The off peak return can be used on another day (upto 29 days later I think). The reason the day ticket is more is because they don't allow off peak day tickets on his bristol-swansea route-- the saving comes from buying 2 off peak day returns for journeys that _do_ allow off peak day tickets. Same happens in E Anglia, if you want a day return to London you pay 'any time' fares but you can get one off peak day ticket to a station in essex and then another from there to central london and the total cost is less.
For my case, to work I have to travel from Bristol Temple Mead to Bournemouth.
Off-Peak Return: £49.80 (Require me to start journey on previous night)
Anytime Return: £56.80 (This is what I should be using if no split ticket option)
Split ticket £30.88 (Note that it has exactly the same number of change and travel time as Anytime Return)
So Split ticketing is a pure big win for me.
@@mlriders3282 because the anytime return is a day return, which is cheaper than a period return
Split tickets act as through tickets in a way. If the XC service was late and you’d missed your connection at Birmingham N S to Glasgow Ctl, then AWC would still have to let you board the next service - as long as you show them all your tickets. When it comes to delay repay, most operators allow you to input multiple pictures, and ticket numbers. A few don’t, for example Transport for Wales. To get around operators that don’t allow multiple tickets for one journey, you’re best to email them. The ticket provider you used which was TrainSplit, well if you experienced disruption on your journey and you were unable to reach your final destination, if you email them they will give you a full refund, but obviously if you do get to your final destination delayed then you’ll need to use delay repay.
Appreciate you clarifying. Funny how this travel channel guy didn't do his research i.e. didn't bother to read the Ts & Cs. His start point seemed to be "split ticketing is lousy - prove me wrong". I'm a big fan of split ticketing - huge savings for the rare inconvenience. This was whingeing for whingeing's sake.
Not so sure about guaranteeing onward travel. Virgin (now Avanti) refused a taxi from Carlisle to Glasgow when my connecting train on a separate ticket missed the connection. Their excuse was that my ticket started at Carlise so was my fault fo missing the last train. You were also very lucky your (presumably) advance ticket was permitted in the wrong seat. I believe if they want to be awkward they can insist in you occupying your booked seat. Also it means your booked seats would be shown as reserved throughout the journey, making it awkward for others to know if they can occupy them or not. On Cross Country (and some others), unreseved seats can become reserved during the journey, a pain of a practice that I wish was not permitted.
@@brianbell4937 LNER have that ridiculous 5 minute reservation system as well. Handy if you're starting off from the train's origin but a pain if boarding intermediately and finding somebody in your (reserved a few mins ago) seat.
My understanding is slightly different. It depends on the ticket type; if you had an advance fare ticket and missed that train, then there is no obligation to put you on a later service. If the train was cancelled, you could travel on a later train run by the same operator. If your ticket wasn't an advance, as long as you abide by the fare rules, then you have flexibility to use different trains.
for info
1.6.3 Rights of Split Ticket Users
When using split tickets you are entitled to the same rights as users of through tickets, namely:
If you miss your final train home due to delays on the rail network, any TOC in a position to do so must help to get you home or arrange overnight accommodation for you but you must make sure that you adhere to the minimum connection times. We suggest that you obtain and print an itinerary from National Rail Enquiries as this will ensure your connections are valid.
If your train is delayed you are entitled to compensation for the full journey from the operator who delayed you. Often this uses the Delay Repay scheme, but some older TOCs have their own schemes.
When using one or more Advance tickets, if you are delayed on route you may take the next available service. We recommended that you get your ticket stamped at a booking office to confirm the delay, although this is not strictly necessary.
Great to see this Trainsplit customer saving over £100. Split ticketing customers have exactly the same protection under the NRCoT in the event of delays/disruption as people using ordinary through tickets. We do try to reserve the same seat but have to accept what RARS - the rail reservation system - returns but it is supposed to be providing this functionality at some stage. In the meantime, it's worth checking for a seat in the "unreserved" carriage.
This guy had a negative mindset from the start in spite of the huge saving he was making. I'm a big fan of split ticketing - the rare inconvenience is worth it. He only had to read the (not difficult) Ts & Cs that you guys provide, but he'd rather moan than read I guess. He called it a "best case scenario" that his trip was uneventful whereas that's the norm in fact. This was a disappointing, biased and unresearched post - I hope he doesn't discourage others from trying it.
@@Robutube1 The thing is, split ticketing shouldn't be necessary, it's a failure of the privatised fragmented mess that is our railways and public transport in general. The point is a through ticket should cost the same as however many split tickets exist, how many people are being ripped off and paying way more than they should just because of the ticket price anomalies? The example Scott showed us is all too common in this country. It's just not fair and it probably puts alot of people off using trains. These things need to be made much simpler (and cheaper). The Germany 49 Euro ticket is a step in the right direction. Also I use split ticketing to go from London to Brighton, the price went down from £22 return to £12, so why not just charge £12 in the first place? It just doesn't add up.
@@aaronsmith9209 I fully agree with you that the system, as with most privatised public services, is a mess within which a few profit but most suffer and the railways is a particularly egregious example of this. With regard to rail fare structures, they're byzantine and iniquitous no question; reform is long overdue. My point was more one about working within the existing system until there is sufficient momentum for the much needed changes and I felt that this guy's report on split ticketing deterred rather than encouraged its use with his unfair and poorly informed report.
Shame that what you don't tell anyone and nor did Scott was that while he did save some money, he could have saved even more because you snuck in £15 worth of fees! Book directly with the train operators and they charge no fees.
@@UserUCKANAOD8SlYguEhbCkUdlMQ I think 'snuck' is a bit unfair. We are very transparent about the fees. It's a small percentage of how much cheaper the fare we find is compared to what customers will be quoted on train operator sites. Plus, you could find all those splits and still book it on our site.
It was also 7 splits, that is a lot of effort to book and a lot can go wrong if done manually. The average person on the street wouldn't do this.
Do you think train operators would show cheaper split fares if sites like ours weren't around, they don't now so it seems very unlikely they'd start. In which case a lot of customers would lose out on cheaper fares because they wouldn't necessarily be able to find the splits themselves.
I’ve missed avanti trains from Euston for reasons like the lift at st Pancras was broken (wheelchair user so no other way off platform) or a cancelled train on a different ticket and a train full with no wheelchair space and they’ve always been perfectly fine with me getting a later train home. Maybe because I’m in a wheelchair and they’ve felt sorry for me (especially as some of those reasons are wheelchair related but not the delayed/ cancelled train) but I find their staff to be so friendly and helpful.
Yes if it's not your fault you are allowed to take later trains
12 minutes is the correct minimum connection time at Birmingham New Street according to the data. If you'd missed your train, you would have been allowed to catch another AND got delay repay for the whole journey.
Glad you made such a good saving using our split ticketing service. It took a while to get it working as well as it does now.
I am subscribed. Your channel is amazing! I hope you make it to 50 thousand subscribers by the end of April.
Well done Scott. The most split tickets I ever had was only 5 between Edinburgh and Derby on the same train, so well done with 7.
Have done the split ticket shuffle - Cardiff Central to Sheffield. Oh what fun. Changed trains twice and seats a few more times. Still a lot better then Liverpool Lime Street to Euston. Previous service was cancelled. So ended up standing all the way
After you've booked your split ticket pop into your local ticket office and ask them to do you a single seat reservation for each leg of the journey. Free of charge and would save potential inconvenience.
Yes. That's the best advice.
Great content Scott. Delighted everything fell into place. Most importantly is the savings. Stay safe and thank you for allowing us to experience the journey.
Just to provide some reassurance, if the connection was missed, the tickets do remain valid (and Delay Repay can be claimed).
However anyone who wants to relax with a longer connection can optionally use the 'advanced options' on the website Scott used, and specify the desired change point and the additional interchange time required. The site also has a seat selector, but it's a fairly easy to miss, being on the basket screen (not payment screen).
I recently travelled down from Aberdeen on the Calendonian Sleeper and I really liked it. I will definitely be using that again.
Hi Scot, excellent journey, thanks for taking us along with you. Two things 1) I thought all Cross-country trains ran with a totally unreserved coach. So starting from the beginning was a bonus! And 2) the last time I used split ticketing, before the pandemic, on a South Coast to North East trip - I think it was 12 different tickets worth! The booking website I used just rebooked me back into the same seat each time where no change of train happened! The only problem was at Birmingham when the last train of the day out for York turned up with 4 coaches and not the 7 coach fully booked up one, it should have been. I could only just get in the door and had to stand to Sheffield.
I use split tickets often, the best saving being on a Crewe to Fort William trip. Didn't bother with the reserved seats just used unreserved in each case. Crewe to Preston Avanti, Preston to Glasgow Trans Pennine. reason, the Avanti was an Edinburgh service. Walk to Glasgow Queen Street 15 minutes and Scotrail all the rest of the way. Split Ticket price about £75 return with senior card, regular price about £140.
Did a trip on business from Liverpool to Norwich- the price quoted by the ticket office nearly floored me ! - but the other ticket seller said " do you mind swapping trains? " - needless to say that took more than 2/3 off the price !
Thanks!
Thanks Gert. I appreciate your support.
Being a conductor myself (albeit not for cross country or avanti), i can ensure you if the cross country train was delayed and you miss your connection you are entitled to use the next avanti service towards Glasgow. It doesnt matter if its split tickets, you still have a connection to make and the national rail conditions of carriage state you are allowed to take the next service with the same operator to your destination.
last time i did it ..penzance to bristol had first class from exeter to taunton,,,,enough time for two free coffees and a paper !!
That was nice. I love your U.K. trains. You go to so many nice places. Thank you Scott. Enjoyed.
Great video scott thank you for doing these I enjoy seeing your travels
I travel on that Penzance train twice yearly on average from Taunton - I usually change at either Darlington or York to get a local train to Middlesbrough - a TransPennine Express from York or a local train from Darlington - Arriva, I think - to Middlesbrough! Sometimes, my niece has picked me up from Darlington or even taken me there - but I usually just get a through ticket from Taunton to Middlesbrough and back and reserve a seat!
You will be paying a huge premium for no benefit
There is no disadvantage to using the site used for this video; it does actually have a seat selector but it's a easy to miss if you don't realise it's at the basket stage
Nice startup noise at 3.00! Love the sound of a big diesel engine starting.😊
Thankyou - You do this, so we do not have to.
Last train to Glasgow central. You better catch this wan; you better have a ticket cause here’s the man. Epic journey. I could never do that now.
I'm glad you only had to do one seat change when you swapped at Birmingham. I regularly travel from Manchester to Motherwell or Glasgow but I have to go with TPE to go direct. I like the 5am from Piccadilly as it's the ghost train,often the cheapest fair and you are in Glasgow by breakfast time.
Huzzah! Nice to see your plan work for a change!😮
I appreciate this video is getting old however some useful information for you with regards to Birmingham New Street. If you walk down to the stairs on the “B” side of the platform for example platform 1B you come up around the back and don’t enter the shopping area and is far quicker if you have a very tight connection
Great video as usual Scott - thanks.
Hi Scot Really enjoyed your Video. I thought split ticketing was going to be a thing of the past with the new ticketing rules but guess that never happened like most other things with this government. About 10 years ago I used split ticketing (now retired) form Derby to Oxford on XC split, every day, in Birmingham New St and Leamington Spa even then savings were approx £58 down from £130 per day so it still pays to do it. Your XC looked much cleaner than mine I had to stand next to the stinky toilets trying not to fall over other peoples bags. As you probably know most of the XC Rolling Stock was purchased second hand from Belgium in 2001 - 2003 and there were promises for it to be replaced about now so I guess it will still be around for another 20 years. I showed my split tickets to guys from India (I was working on an international IT project at the time) and they couldn't stop laughing as they had never seen it on the railways in India just shows how far we have fallen not forgetting we built their railways!
not sure what you mean by new ticketing rules; passengers' rights to use a combination of two or more tickets for one journey has been enshrined in the Conditions of Travel for many years now, indeed long before the website which Scott used launched in 2014.
For the avoidance of doubt, passengers are entitled to take later trains (though there may be restrictions on which trains can be used, for example if an operator restriction applies) and also claim delay compensation (as appropriate) where connections are missed, due to delayed or cancelled trains.
Great video Scott! I usually use trainpal or trainline apps to split ticket as they usually keep the seat reservations!
So does the site he used, which also has a seat selector
The fact you have split tickets does not dilute your rights as a passenger. If you miss your connection due to a late service your rights are the same on split tickets as they would be on a through ticket.
agreed
I have done split tickets many times on Crosscountry mainly because of the high prices and have never had to change seats once. If you book on their own site and do the split yourself it keeps you in the same seat. It is also cheaper as you don't have an admin fee to pay and the splitting apps do not always split you the cheapest way. When I did Sheffield to Plymouth the splitting app said 4 tickets, I did it with 7 tickets and saved even more.
The advantage to the splitting apps is that in their capacity as authorised resellers they are selling the full itinerary as a single booking, unlike if you manually split the ticketing yourself where it's effectively multiple bookings.
This matters in this particular case as if a delay occurs on a single itinerary from an authorised seller, even with split tickets, you are still generally covered and would be allowed to get the next train. (i.e., the next Avanti train from BHM to GLC in this case).
(In practice, this often doesn't matter, as the TOCs will often allow the change-of-itinerary even on manually-split tickets, but it is a technical distinction.)
You won't beat the combination these sites come up with
Also it's valuable to have a seat selector, a single itinerary and a single PDF with all tickets (one ticket is one page on a single PDF) , the website used in the video does all of this
You are covered in the event of delays and can simply show the through itinerary as evidence of your contractual rights.
XCs own site doesn't keep you in the same seat unless you do that manually; the website used in this video does actually have a seat selector (at the basket stage) anyway
@@yorkcyclist I beg to differ, i've just checked my regular journey Sheffield to Bristol T M for tomorrow 4/4/23 leaving Shf at 11.00 split app gave a price of £58.60 + £1.69 booking fee with 3 tickets Shf - Der, Der - Gcr & Gcr - Bri. I know that's not the cheapest so I did Shf - Der, Der - Bhm, Bhm - Cnm & Cnm - Bri which gives a price of £25.50 and travelling on the same trains as the split app does. Adding the extra split and at different points of the journey saves an extra £34.79 if you include the booking fee.
@@steamisbest Yes same applies to journeys E Anglia to London. I think there are probably lots and lots of journeys elsewhere that can be had for much less than the splitter sites say
Fantastic Vlog I’m a new subscriber keep the awesome videos coming
I had always thought you HAD to sit in your reserved seat if on an advance ticket. The main reason I try to avoid advance tickets !
Great video as always . For such a well travelled guy I was amazed to see you had not been to Birmingham New Street before !
I thought the same, I wonder if anyone else was sitting in the reserved seats
Not true, I never sit in mine because there's usually a better seat elsewhere. Conductors never move you, they have too much else to do. Sometimes it's a point of principle because I ask for a window seat, and am given a seat against a blank wall. In my dictionary a window is a pane of glass you can look through, but TOC's don't have the brain to understand that. At football clubs it would be sold as "restricted view" or similar.
the website Scott used does have a seat selector; it's just easy to miss it. add the ticket to your basket, don't go to the payment screen yet, then click the little seat icon and the seat map should appear.
if it is not possible to book the same seat throughout, you can generally select nearby seats (unless the train is already really full!)
@@Clivestravelandtrains but then you just have anarchy. The reserved seat is empty (unless someone takes a chance and sits in that) so effectively there's two seats occupied. Scott said the train was full and standing so I wonder what happened to his reserved seats?
@@dazzlingdaz187 Richard Branson once said that if a reserved seat is unoccupied you can sit in it. That's often the case - people reserve seats without turning up. Quite often when I go south from Glasgow there are seats reserved from Glasgow but unoccupied, and I can sit in them. The same applies when leaving London Euston. It's not anarchy at all - just practicalities of regular travel. Reserved seats always say between which two stations they are reserved - so if it says "reserved from Wigan to London" and I am going Glasgow to Preston, I can sit in it. If people choose to stand when there are unoccupied reserved seats, that's their choice.
Great video as always 😊
Considering that the split tickets are so common now, even if you would miss your connection, you should be allowed by the staff members on the next available service. This is when another train is delaying you
Thanks for the tips about split tickets. I have never heard about that before. Might try that next time I visit the UK, which I usually do a few times a year. I love your channel, watch most of your videoes. Btw, hope you come visit my home country of Norway. That would be cool.
Split ticketing is becoming accepted here in the UK. But remember it mainly applies to cross country trips involving an en route change of operator as with Scott.
It's easy; simply use the same website Scott used and it sorts it all out for you.
Also just to reassure you, the tickets are still valid if the connection is missed. But if you want a more relaxed experience, the website Scott used does allow you to specify additional interchange time, if you want it.
Also it does have a seat selector, it's just a bit hidden (click seat icon at the basket stage, not at the payment stage)
The trains in the UK are not as good as in Norway though, as a general rule.
@@yorkcyclist I have to agree, trains in Norway is not very interesting. Exceptions of Flåmsbana. Ferries and passengerboats on the other hand is more interesting here, specially in western Norway.
I love it when I get on a train and there are available unreserved seats, sometimes they are better than my reserved ones to start with. :)
The website used actually has a seat selector
@@yorkcyclist Sometimes only crap seats are left e.g backward facing seats.
@@ThatLeeNoble that is true but in XC the seat direction can never be known anyway
Fabulous video Scott.
I travelled on Avanti last Friday from Euston to Liverpool and the train manager made a really bit thing over the announcement that split tickets were only valid if the train was due to stop where the splits were.
Glad you made your connection. Journeys like that make me get a through ticket m right to the little station near my house as I really don’t trust the timetable sometimes.
Split ticketing does save money - especially on XC trains. The downside I have found is that you often end up on slower trains with more stops - so the app can "slice and dice" the tickets. And a lot more tickets to claim back if you decide not to travel or need to do a "delay repay" claim. Great video - glad you made it back with no issues.
You won't end up on slower trains if you choose the relevant option at the top; you get to choose between fastest, value and cheapest
@@yorkcyclist which split ticketing site do you use? It never seems to make much difference for me. Thx.
@@yorkcyclist The planners can end up sending people the slow way. I've seen it a number of times where the system thinks it can save you 10p but it involves sending you around the world.
Glad to see things worked out in the best way. 7 tickets!! And yes, we were stunned you qualified for that discount...but we're not too far behind you!
Your channel rocks. Love it.
Taking a train in the UK always seems like a game of Russian Roulette! It shouldn't have to be this way........
Russian roulette ? You mean there's a 1 in 6 chance that the train actually leaves the station ?😁
@@anianoenrique2115 With TransPennine Express and Avanti, a 1 in 6 change of departure might be an improvement over what they've delivered recently! The chances of a punctual arrival are miniscule.
😂
It isn't.
If the connection is missed the tickets are valid; there is a misunderstanding in this video
On the roads you play Russian Roulette with your life,you never know what your fellow ‘drivers’ are capable of
Scott. Your assumption that by missing a connection at Birmingham New Street would have meant a new ticket is wrong. All you would have needed is an endorsing by the conductor of your Penzance to Birmingham tickets and all would have been fine.
Agreed although there is no need for an endorsement, if the onward travel is completed on the relevant operator(s) covered by the ticket(s) held.
Just done a split purchase on LNER and because you can change your seat with them u can ensure same seat... worked perfectly and saved a good chunk.
Also most trains have unreserved seats anyway
Split tickets def worth it if saving is decent
Wow, Plymouth to Glasgow in 5 minutes! Glad you didn't have to change seats plus it was on time. Next time, go on the right hand side if you can, for best views from Penzance. Superb video, and jolly glad you made it. 😊
you stop at each station and the conductor comes out and goes "CHANGE PLACES!!!"
this doesn't happen; it's also possible to avoid or massively reduce any need to swap seats by using the seat selector.
I’ve spent many hours at New St station, waiting for connecting trains to Worcester, Bristol, Reading, Exeter and others. I’ve also used split tickets to save money. Nottingham to Bristol £120, split your ticket at Cheltenham £70 for the same journey.
I’ve also managed to reclaim hundreds of pounds using the DelayRepay scheme when trains were late.
Looking back in my travel record I find that in Sep 2013 I worked out split ticketing between Stockport and Ely. It was all done manually. I ruled out splitting at Sheffield, Nottingham but split only at Alfreton. The record shows the various prices but I don't know what I finally paid but it was cheaper than unsplit. Eventually I used an Excel spreadsheet to do the work and that could support up to 4 splits.
Nice! 🙂
Well, Crosscountry used to run HSTs on this line, no wonder...
Scott Love your video 👍👍👍
You know it! If there is an available seat unreserved you can just sit there the whole trip. You don't have to sit on the reserved seat.
Great video. Toying around with ticketing is always a good plan imo. It's not just useful for a longer, single journey with many split "advance" elements. Can be equally useful to split day or period returns over shorter distances.
I think the learning point here is use split ticketing - but sit in an unreserved seat. They are always available.
The website he used has a seat selector, if a through seat isn't available you can choose seats near each other
What’s the url?
I have done the train journey from Tiverton Parkway - Bristol (and also to Birmingham) with CrossCountry a few times and every time I have been standing for at least part of the journey! When I booked to go to Birmingham I chose to reserve a seat yet I was not given one! The only time I have been on a quiet CrossCountry train was Taunton to Tiverton Parkway but that was at about 7pm on a Saturday!
The site used in this video lets you view and even choose a seat from a seat map, at the basket stage. So you can avoid that risk
Excellent journey
Why is it so cheap when you split your tickets? Are all these little distances stunt-price tickets?
Last time I went to Cornwall on holiday (may 2018) I looked for a train journey; because by then the Eurostar between Amsterdam and London was introduced. A return ticket was € 99,-, but from London to Exeter a one-way was already GBP 129,-
So I decided that a return flight from Amsterdam to Bristol was the cheapest solution for me ;)
But you did a good job for paying only 66 instead of 182 pounds :)
EDIT:
I hope you did not only stay aboard a train and also visit those pritty villages in Cornwall.
6:10 That's a bad rate. I hope one day they increase capacity due to lengthen trains and finally electrify more of the network. I think it is a bit outdated that so many double-track lines have no overhead wires. When you compare that to other European countries it is far less.
Penzance to Scotland that’s some trip .
The packed first part of your journey, guess if you left the unbooked seat to use the loo anyone else could use it. Again, bearing in mind train packed guessing your booked seat would get used by someone.
The split tickets, changing seats probably not a great issue but to depend on the various trains keeping to their schedule or face big cost penalty not so good.
Great video.
there would not be a cost penalty; that is a misunderstanding.
You were lucky to make the Birmingham connection. The other week Crosscountry from Bristol were 10 minutes late. Missed connection. Avanti was still there, but doors were closed. Next train in 1 hour, but only going as far as Preston, where I would need to catch a Transpennine. Cancelled. Result a 2 hour delay to a 3 and half hour journey. Sometimes the system will only sell you split tickets. On a trip to Huntingdon, Transpennine (again) were late and I missed connection at Doncaster. The next section had been issued as an advance ticket. When I raised the issue at Doncaster ticket office, the guy said the ticket was now worthless accused me of lying when I said I had been obliged to buy 2 tickets. Luckily the LNER conductor was more sensible. Only a 1 hour delay on that trip.
The ticket office was wrong.
Just to provide some reassurance, if the connection was missed, the tickets do remain valid (and Delay Repay can be claimed).
However anyone who wants to relax with a longer connection can optionally use the 'advanced options' on the website Scott used, and specify the desired change point and the additional interchange time required.
A timely video Scott thank you! Tried split ticketing wi😢th GWR. Three separate trips and return. Their website charged me twice. Am now in the twilight zone of requesting a refund. I wish I enjoyed train travel more than I do.
Which website charged you twice? How did that happen? If you used the website Scott used I doubt you would have any issues
@@yorkcyclist GWR’s very own website who have just contacted me and offered me a full refund regarding the computer glitch.
I think it's so worth it. I will put up with moving seats to save that much. To go from Bath Spa to Plymouth and back, which I've just booked (2 adults, 1 child, Family and Friends railcard), without a split it would have been £129. With a split it's £54. Every other time, it's reserved me the same seats even between sections of the journey
When I split ticket for day return travel using XC from Sheffield I use something called a Derbyshire Wayfarer for the Sheffield to Burton on Trent leg, for which the train doesn't need to call at Burton but it has to call at Derby. The Derby call seems to be as requirement of the wayfarer ticket.
There's no requirement to call at the splitting station when using a ranger, rover or zonal ticket such as a Derbyshire Wayfarer. That being said, no XC services skip out Derby or Sheffield - they all call there, unlike Burton, Tamworth, Chesterfield etc.
That is the beauty of this rule though I get split prices from Burton and buy the tickets at my local station and book one or two seat reservations (tather than loads). I get a half-price wayfarer ticket due to my bus pass but can only get that one on the day and not online. I don't know if the rule in practice would allow split ticketing with my bus pass (the one issued by my local authority allows travel on local trains on its patch) as I have only done splits with it at Huidersfield and Leeds where I have changed trains.
I always thought that even if is split if the train is delayed then they will allow you to travel on a later train. I usually tend not to risk it though, I know I had an issue where I had 6 minutes to make a connection at Newport. I spoke to the manager at Weston Super Mare station and he agreed it was too tight to issued me with an emergency "something has gone wrong" ticket so I could get an earlier train to Newport which meant I had nearly an hour to make the connection.
Got a trip to Newcastle next week, that will be fun as Trans Pennine express has a habit of cancelling most their services.
6 minutes would adequate at Newport if the inbound train was on time. It's an island platform, so it's just a matter of a few metres walk between trains. 30 years ago, when I worked for BR, they would hold advertised connections for up to 5 minutes if the inbound train was slightly late, but they probably don't now.
it's not a risk at all! you can, however, specify additional interchange time if you like; the website Scott used does have that option.
@@davidspear9790 Correct they do not hold trains these days at Newport (as a general rule; there will be exceptions) however the tickets do remain valid; the video contained a misunderstanding regarding validity in the event of a missed connection.
The website Scott used does allow you to specify extra interchange time if you want it, though.
Crosscountry's prices are just scandalous. It was way cheaper for me to travel from Keighley to London on LNER and then on the Night Riviera to Penzance than it was to come back on Crosscountry via Birmingham and that was with split ticketing.
XC have high prices because the trains are packed so they try to deter travel on their trains.
Probably worth mentioning the potential headaches split tickets can cause should you need to claim for delays too.. Big opportunity to diss Cross Country for their choice of 4/5 car sets too.. I was once told they got away with running these on the premise that services would run more frequently.. and then they subsequently broke the promise (I'm told), it's led the way for GWR to do the same with their fleet too, and I've personally had to deal with 5 car sets of their 800 class leaving Paddington at 1800/1900 heading to South Wales.. absolutely heaving
What headaches?
@@yorkcyclist most operators base the claim you can make on how late your arrival at the final destination is against the timetabled time.. if you've got numerous tickets covering the journey, the delay might not cover certain legs, or might be different amounts, or if it does,you've still got to claim for each leg.. I've only had to do it once, and it's a pain in the arse
@@qrzbuddha all legs are covered and, with e-tickets you get one PDF document covering all tickets (one ticket per page but one PDF). It should be no issue at all.
@@yorkcyclist yeah whatever, you obviously know best
My understanding is that Chris Green, who was at Virgin at the time, came up with the idea of shorter Cross Country formations but running more frequently. The theory being that the passenger load is spread out over more frequent services so there's no over crowding. However it didn't work at the time because there were peaks and troughs in demand so some services were well oversubscribed. I personally think the idea of a 4/5 car train on the NE-SW route is just bonkers.
You are not "on your own" if you miss the connection; tickets are valid on onward services.
However if you prefer more time in future, simply click 'advanced options', choose your change point and specify additional interchange time as you see fit.
Must admit, I always use split ticketing when I can. Split ticketing in combination with my railcard makes rail travel so much more affordable. Its just sad that such things have to be done to make a saving. Rail should be much more affordable in this country in my opinion.
Hey Scott, Even with split tickets, you would of been ok on the next Avanti service
Blimey that is some train journey!!! 12 hours+?
Imagine finally getting off a voyager at BHM only to change onto another one! (Although I like Avanti’s super voyagers)
I believe that the coach farthest from first class on CrossCountry services is usually unreserved seating.
does this mean that the reserved seat you had booked remained unused and people had to stand ?
People usually just sit in the reserved seats if it is empty until somebody claims it. I find if the seat is not taken from the reserved station then nobody can will claim it.
Even if you have split tickets, as long as you comply with minimum connection times (which you can check online and should anyway) your passenger rights are not affected
Pricing in the UK is really frustrating but the trains are chocca with lines at capacity almost all of the time so there's just no incentive to make it cheaper. I understand split ticketing will eventually not be a thing once 'Great British Rail' is fully implemented but it's probably just mean the single tickets are bumped up in price rather than longer distance journeys being cheaper.
Lol, you could hear the train starting up 3:01
Where do you get the music from, Scott? Please.
Travelling by train in the UK unfortunately has become a complicated mess. Split ticketing is a must unfortunately with the dreadful current system and pricing.
Cross Country have struggled horribly with capacity problems. The Avanti 221s head to them soon should help.
has that been confirmed?
@@yorkcyclist Confirmed? It's happening now. I rode one a few weeks ago.
I do split tickets all the time when travelling to Shrewsbury from Salisbury with my wife it’s half the price
hey scotty glad you don't train with the Belgian railways because there is always a delay and some luxury trains and much older trains are not comfortable trains grtz wietze braem from belguim , Adinkerke
I really don’t like that uk trains don’t just open the doors especially at stations with connections I get it for smaller stations but it would give me anxiety seeing the door close randomly
Doors don't close randomly
Scott, did the conductor check your ticket on the Cross Country service? If so did he/she say anything about you not sitting in your reserved seat(s)?
Usually they don’t mind
@@s125ish I agree they don't. However I was on LNER recently and the conductor specifically asked those with reserved seats to sit in them. That would have caused Scott some inconvenience so I was thinking maybe the conductor didn't come round (probably due to a packed train).
You're right that ticketing made the trip far more interesting. One question though: how do you rate the Cross-country Pendolinos for comfort compared to other long distance trains? Curious to see if I'm the only one that finds them a bit hot, stuffy and usually looking a bit beaten up on the inside...
You mentioned Switzerland...any videos covering travelling there?
Context: ''The Senior Railcard is specifically for senior citizens. It gives people aged 60 and over 1/3 off train fares throughout Great Britain. Cost is £30.00 per year.''
I bought ticket from Redhill to Stourbridge from machine. Going through Brum, barrier wouldn't open as i needed to change to Snowhill. Staff there said it was a split ticket? So manually opened barrier.
that doesn't sound right to me!
❤❤
I do it all the time and you don't need a reserved seat just use someone's who's left the train or hasent used it yet. Also, try to stay on the same train.
Good video Scott. Gives us all food for thought. Is it worth the risk though?
What risk? There is no risk
@@yorkcyclist missing connections? Is that a possibility?
@@hi-tech55 That's not a risk of using split ticketing; it makes no difference how many tickets are used, the passenger is entitled to reach their destination (and also claim delay compensation if the delay is of a qualifying duration)
However if you are keen to have extra time for a connection, the website Scott used has this option if you go to advanced options, specify your desired change point and then select how many additional minutes you require.
@@yorkcyclist thanks for the clarification
Great video, just one mistake. It doesn't make any difference if you're on one ticket or split tickets, on UK rail, if the tickets constitute a through journey you are able to take next train and claim for delays for the whole journey, this is in conditions of carriage. Any issues with this should be reported to customer services.
I'm not sure about that. I live in Glasgow, and I frequently hear of people who have an advance ticket for a journey partly on TransPennine and partly on Avanti. Many TP services are cancelled, and what the passengers are told is to claim a refund on the ticket they have, and then buy a new ticket for the later connecting train, which is usually a lot dearer as it isn't an advance.
@@Clivestravelandtrains actually Max is correct; tickets remain valid.
The only caveat is that - generally speaking - you need to stick to the original operator. Where a TPE service is cancelled, TPE must arrange an alternative; this could be Avanti or it could be a wait for TPE. This is nothing to do with split ticketing at all.
It is true that if you wish to travel with a different operator in such circumstances, you can choose to claim a refund on any unused tickets for the cancelled/delayed train and buy replacements, but it is generally best not to do so, and to stick to the original tickets, and claim delay compensation.
If you wish to allow additional interchange time, the website Scott used does have that option.
spot on, agreed
I've never had to change seats when ticket splitting. 🤔
Split ticketing just highlights EVERYTHING that's wrong with the way we run public transport in the UK. The fact you can get to the same place much cheaper buying a plethora of tickets instead of one ticket and those many tickets turn out cheaper, has to be one of the biggest scams in Europe. It's also now prevalent on my local buses. Yes I really love the idea of £2 fare wherever you go. But as a daysaver is just 80p more and I could go on multiple buses it hardly seems like a discount at all. Maybe if it was £1 standard fare.
To me it just goes to say well we CAN do this journey for this price, however we're not going to, and you are going to pay double for the convenience of having just the one ticket. I mean try to get a Manchester to Bristol anytime return under 100 quid. I did the same journey split ticket both ways for under £40 it's a huge rip off and something really needs to be done about it.
What do you suggest is done? XC's trains are already so packed people are sometimes left behind. Anyone in the know does not have to go through any hoops, just use the website Scott used. It's effectively yield management in action. You cannot simply reduce the price by itself; the Government would need to add additional capacity. The Government is indeed changing capacity on XC during 2023... but they are taking carriages away, not adding them, sadly.
@@yorkcyclist So your saying we should overpay because the rail companies can't be bothered to get more rolling stock and cheaper tickets are only to be had by those in the know? What do I suggest renationalisation of the railways. We need more people on public transport not fewer. Nobody is saying reduce the price anyway it's charge the price of 1 ticket that you currently need 7 tickets for, you're still making the same journey.
Great video! Had you missed your connection in Brum due to late train, wouldn’t your ticket to Glasgow still be valid on the next one?
it would indeed