Off Peak is when????????????????

solosuperia
solosuperia Posts: 333
edited October 2014 in The cake stop
Had an Off-peak ticket to Kings X and on to the London SE suburbs.
I was told that off peak is Train after 10 am to and after 7:00pm leaving London................. ok get that.
But my return off-peak ticket allowed me to travel into Kings X before 7:00pm to catch the train after 7pm.

How does it work between say Peterborough and York and back?
Is there a table somewhere or is it basically the whim of the train company.

Comments

  • capt_slog
    capt_slog Posts: 3,974
    On my leccy meter it's 12 at night to 7 in the morning.

    Does this help?


    The older I get, the better I was.

  • I was trying to think of an appropriately sarcastic reply...........
    Failed dismally
    You win!
  • capt_slog
    capt_slog Posts: 3,974
    Sorry, couldn't resist.

    This might help though......

    http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/split- ... n-tickets/


    The older I get, the better I was.

  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,851
    Train pricing makes no sense in any way shape or form as far as I can tell. Think of how it should work and then apply the opposite.
  • Surely all hours of the day are "off peak" to Peterborough?
  • Surely all hours of the day are "off peak" to Peterborough?
    Not if your Polish or from the Baltic states!
  • crescent
    crescent Posts: 1,201
    Don't even try to work out the rail pricing strategy, I can't be sure, but I think logarithms are involved at some point. I am unfortunate enough to use First Scotrail regularly and rarely pay the same price for two consecutive journies of the same route whilst sitting in something that resembles a moving toilet. Every time I buy a return ticket I am challenged with "are you travelling on a Friday?" I know it costs more to travel on a Friday (still not sure why) but this is usually delivered in a "did you spill my pint" tone. It's almost like they're saying "Huh, we'll need to go and wake the driver up, find a conductor and a steward, drive the train to the station just to pick you up and take you to your destination. If you could travel on a Thursday or a Saturday it would really save us a lot of bother".
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  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    The f*ckers do it deliberately.

    Train price opacity is winds me up a lot, and it's a genuine scandal.

    This sums it up nicely: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... ut-britain
    Your next mission is to take a train. If you’re from India or China, you will be used to crowded trains with rigid class systems. So the problem is not the train, but buying the ticket. In Britain, we have a railway system that was privatised, then half-renationalised and fragmented. There has been a lot of investment in Cornish pasty outlets, but not so much on actual rolling stock. So the business model of our railways demands that, even if you are only going from London to Birmingham, you have a choice of two companies, two speeds and many, many price points.

    If you buy a ticket marked “any time”, you can forget eating for the next two weeks. If you buy a cheaper “off-peak”, or even “super off-peak” (like much of modern English, you won’t find this in any dictionary), this is where your problems start. There will be a big queue for the ticket machine. As you stand in it, self-righteous English people will tut, murmur and hover over the shoulder of the person struggling to make the machine work. Our politeness, like our global empire, has gone. You will know you’ve really mastered Englishness once you can pull off this muttering and exasperation.

    On the ticket screen, you will be offered a vast choice of different tickets to the same destination. Do not try to understand the restrictions. Simply buy the one you can afford and get on the next train. Once it has left the station, you will be confronted by a polite guard telling you to get off or pay a lot more money. Other passengers may rally to your defence, but either way you will get an excellent lesson in the real English language and social dynamics – much better than the ticket-buying module on your language course.
  • VTech
    VTech Posts: 4,736
    My brain isn't clever enough to work out peak and off-peak timetables.
    Its a little like my inability to work out how a 6 year old is classed and pays adult fairs.
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  • t4tomo
    t4tomo Posts: 2,643
    VTech wrote:
    My brain isn't clever enough to work out peak and off-peak timetables.
    Its a little like my inability to work out how a 6 year old is classed and pays adult fairs.

    Fairs are childish pursuits so that does seem unfair for a child to pay an adult fare to attend a fair, afar. :D
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  • The UK train system is a mess, both in terms of price and quality.

    When I lived in Austria 99% of trains were on time (or within 3 minutes), and every trip cost the same regardless of what time you travel at. This whole peak and off peak bollocks is just a way for the train companies to skim more money off fares for their own salaries at the expense of the people giving them their jobs in the first place. Somehow, Austria manages to have a clean, reliable and affordable rail network which is beneficial for all.

    If I have to take the train into London from Cambridge (50 something miles in total) a return trip can easily cost over £40, will be delayed and very uncomfortable due to cleanliness issues. In Austria a similar trip costs only 12 or 13 Euros. You have a guaranteed space because the trains are much longer, cleaning crews roam full time to keep things looking good, and I arrive on time.

    I'm an advocate of public transport since I work mainly in the environmental sector, however, I find myself driving to London when I have meetings because I save myself nearly 20 pound even after parking and congestion charge is taken into account. That depresses me greatly.
  • RideOnTime
    RideOnTime Posts: 4,712
    Yeah but you have to go to Austria to use them. Useless when you want to get to Euston.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,412
    RideOnTime wrote:
    Yeah but you have to go to Austria to use them. Useless when you want to get to Euston.
    That does not mean that MountainMonster's point still stands.
    Things could change here to be similar to Austria (or many other Countries) but there is not the will in those that can to do so.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
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  • Giraffoto
    Giraffoto Posts: 2,078
    PBlakeney wrote:
    Things could change here to be similar to Austria

    And don't get me started on the state of the British penknife industry :roll:
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  • PBlakeney wrote:
    RideOnTime wrote:
    Yeah but you have to go to Austria to use them. Useless when you want to get to Euston.
    That does not mean that MountainMonster's point still stands.
    Things could change here to be similar to Austria (or many other Countries) but there is not the will in those that can to do so.

    Train bosses simply don't have the motivation to change anything, they are too busy trying to keep an extremely aging rail infrastructure simply running, as opposed to upgrading. They lack the investment knowledge to properly plan projects for the long term, and simply focus on 3 or 4 journeys in the country without a care for other things.

    I refuse to ride trains here unless I absolutely have to.