Northern Rail Singles

[anje]

On 28th October, visiting Yorkshire, we decided to travel from Burley Park to York on the 20.11 departure.

No ticket machines, only card readers (which we, not being Yorkshire residents, didn't have) so we had to purchase through the Northern Rail website. Couldn't see any other option at the station such as "Promise to Pay".

I was expecting to pay a total of £9.10 (£5.50 + £3.60 Senior Railcard) but we paid £11.60 (£7.00 + £4.60 Senior Railcard).

OK, £2.50 isn't huge - but multiply that over several thousand each day. Northern's rationale is that £5.50 is an advance single, once a certain number of tickets have been sold at that price then a higher price is applied.

Is this correct? I can understand this logic as it is applied for long-distance trains, but for commuting/local services?

 

[Watershed]

Burley Park does have a ticket machine, which could also issue Promise to Pay Notices - although its location inside the shelter on the (Leeds-bound) platform 1 might not be obvious.

I'm presuming the prices you quote are what you paid on the outward journey for Advances? Advance tickets are indeed sold for a significant proportion of journeys on Northern services and vary in price based on factors such as anticipated demand and loadings, as well as how close to the date or time of travel you purchase.

Personally speaking I tend to benefit from Northern's pricing - for instance, this morning I bought an Advance once my flight landed, and still paid less than half of what an 'open' return would have cost. But I neverthelss agree that it's bonkers for Advances to be sold for short journeys on local services, such as Burley Park to Leeds or even York - but sadly that's the way Northern have taken things, rather than having a more sensible policy of single leg pricing and/or PAYG travel.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Yes, your analysis is essentially correct. If it's any consolation, Northern have an even higher Advance Single fare tier between Burley Park and York, priced at £8-60 (£5.65), so you might possibly have paid even more for your tickets. BTW, some on here are of the opinion that offering advance fares for short distance local services isn't the best of ideas, but we are where we are.

 

[noddingdonkey]

If you had used the machine, i suspect it would have only sold you the £14.00 walk up off-peak single rather than an advance ticket for a specific service.

 

[skyhigh]

If you had used the machine, i suspect it would have only sold you the £14.00 walk up off-peak single rather than an advance ticket for a specific service.

The machines use a journey planner interface and will sell Advances where they are available.

 

[TUC]

Even if having last minutes Advances are strange, we all gain from lower fares so I'm not complainin.

 

[xotGD]

Northern Advances are a great money saver. Even if it does mean that I sometimes have to abandon everyone in the pub because I am on a fixed train.

Incidentally, I have noticed that some Airedale services where cheap fares were the norm are now priced much higher.

 

[td97]

Northern Advances are a great money saver. Even if it does mean that I sometimes have to abandon everyone in the pub because I am on a fixed train.

Book on the XC site for fee-free changes. You might have to pay a fare difference, but don't sacrifice the original amount paid.

 

[J.C.]

Book on the XC site for fee-free changes. You might have to pay a fare difference, but don't sacrifice the original amount paid.

...or use the Seat Frog app to swap an Advance to a later (or earlier) train for a small fee.

 

[sheff1]

Book on the XC site for fee-free changes. You might have to pay a fare difference, but don't sacrifice the original amount paid.

XC state you can only make fee free changes up to the day before the departure time you have booked. Has that changed ?

 

[td97]

XC state you can only make fee free changes up to the day before the departure time you have booked. Has that changed ?

Yes, I have done it just before departure time. The only caveat is the change functionality doesn't work well in the app so I use the website version.

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[Watershed]

XC state you can only make fee free changes up to the day before the departure time you have booked. Has that changed ?

That's not correct - I have used the XC site and app to change Advances on the day, even just minutes before departure, without an admin fee.

 

[sheff1]

Yes, I have done it just before departure time. The only caveat is the change functionality doesn't work well in the app so I use the website version.

That's not correct - I have used the XC site and app to change Advances on the day, even just minutes before departure, without an admin fee.

Thanks both - even more reason to book advances via XC.

 

[janb]

The machines use a journey planner interface and will sell Advances where they are available.

On the day Advance Purchase tickets are removed 15 minutes before departure on Northern TVMs now so would have to be purchasing prior to that point for the Advance to be available.