Rail: To Oban

[tyreon]

Howsitdun? Again. Apologies.

Wanting to go to Oban with x2 bikes,2 people travelling. I look-c in advance and get a rail price of £400 or around. That's two single tickets,or x2 open returns. Next I look at a Martin Lewis website that links me to some split ticketing website. When I put in a date I then get a price of around £200. £200 saving. That's nice. But hold on,that's expecting the trains to take the x2 bikes!? And the site splits up the journey making connecting trains...within minutes? How do I know I will be able to get from one platform to another with x2 loaded bikes wherein 1 platform doesn't have any lift,and the other overhead bridge and 30 steps up,25 steps down? Go to google,search out some platform spy type camera. The logistics of going to tour on Scottish West Coast Islands seems increasingly fraught/costly.

Fitter,younger,more dedicated cyclists will go to the islands for x2/x3 booked weeks, rain or shine. Not me. I go up,x4 days of strong winds with lashing rain,I'm coming home: no wish to rip up £50 notes or a later stay in hospital: exhaustion and double pneumonia.

Your advice,experience?

[Winders]

Where are you travelling from? That'll affect where you need to change trains and may be a good place to break the tickets to save money. The cost of an open single or return is always going to be more than an advanced fare on a fixed route - can you book advanced fares as an optimist and if the weather gets too bad get a ticket home for the next day? Even booking a day ahead of travel can be cheaper than an open ticket. Get a railcard for further savings - if there's two of you travelling, 30 quid for a two together railcard knocks a third off the price as long as you're not on peak.

Access-wise, Network Rail's website has the details of level access etc at every station.


I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly bog brush using hovercraft full of eels

[bogmyrtle]

Some split tickets don't involve changing trains.
When are you travelling? There are works going on at Queen Street station that won't be complete until August . There are long diversions in place.
See scotrail website for current info.

[PH]

Some split tickets don't involve changing trains.

This. If a train booking website is offering connections minutes apart it'll probably be the same train and the difference between arrival time and departure.
Last time I went Birmingham to Oban it was cheaper to get the evening train and spend the night in a Glasgow Travelodge.

[nosmarbaj]

Fitter,younger,more dedicated cyclists will go to the islands for x2/x3 booked weeks, rain or shine. Not me. I go up,x4 days of strong winds with lashing rain,I'm coming home: no wish to rip up £50 notes or a later stay in hospital: exhaustion and double pneumonia.

Is this past experience or are you saying you want the option to bail out if the weather is bad?

No-one that I've come across actually likes bad weather, but if you really can't tolerate it, frankly the Scottish Islands are perhaps not a good area for you to tour.

[iviehoff]

To be clear, all Oban trains leave from Glasgow Queen Street, though on weekdays there is one very early morning train (0450) that comes direct from Edinburgh via GQS (returns to Ed late evening). Most people, unless they live in Scotland, arrive in Glasgow at Glasgow Central and have to transfer the approx. 1000yds between the two stations by street. Because GQS High Level platforms - ie the street level platforms - are not in use at the moment because of the tunnel works, you have to leave from the GQS Low Level platforms, ie, underground. So, unless you are arriving at GQS using a train from Edinburgh, you will almost certainly be crossing Glasgow by street and descending to the low level platforms at GQS. There is sufficient pedestrian congestion in accessing the low level platforms that they have put a queuing system in place.

There is a national train tariff for every station to every station, but it only has full price and standard off-peak tickets. Cheap advance tickets are company-specific tickets, and a complete station to station tariff is not written for them, often not even within the company's own region. Sometimes good deals on connecting services are available (for example when I go between Hereford (or Leominster) and London, GWR writes a cheap ticket via Newport because it wants the business, and because people are willing to pay a premium to travel on the direct trains via Oxford. But in many cases where a journey involves 2, or especially more, train companies it serves you well to consider buying the two, or more, parts separately. This is not the only reason for tickety-splitting, but it is a common one. If you live somewhere you have to change to get to Glasgow, then it wouldn't surprise me that if you get a one-ticket quote for your location to Oban you end up being quoted the national full price because it would use 3 companies, but it may also happen even if you do have direct trains to Glasgow. For example, I live outside London and I would never consider getting a quote from my local station to an intercity destination, I would get a quote from London, and pay the local journey separately, it is nearly always cheaper, because they don't "write" cheap tickets to my local station.

So try getting separate quotes for the journey to Glasgow and the journey from GQS to Oban, or breaking it down even more if you have to change to get to Glagow.

[PH]

To be clear, ........
So try getting separate quotes for the journey to Glasgow and the journey from GQS to Oban, or breaking it down even more if you have to change to get to Glagow.

iviehoff's post is clear in as far as it goes, but it leaves out a lot of the split ticket options. Train companies are free to price their own tickets as they please, they'll price in whatever way they think will sell best. It's often possible to buy split tickets where you don't even get off the train. Traveling Derby to London is sometimes cheaper to get a ticket to Bedford and then from there to London and stay on the same train. Another case is where part of your journey is in peak times, I’ve travelled to York on a morning train by buying a peak ticket to Sheffield and off peak for the rest of the journey which is cheaper than buying a single ticket for the same train.
I think the point made previously about booking websites leaving limited time between trains is valid, but worth checking for the specific journey. I can’t imagine such a site would expect you to get from one Glasgow station to another in such a short time.

[tyreon]

First,many thanks for all those who have replied especially those who have detailed various computations and suggestions.

I think most of you guys(or girls)have more vim than myself these days. It comes to us all,but I'm getting a tad weary of all the varying complexities of catching rail and buying their tickets. To exaggerate: you can't put up with it all when you've jumped through so many hurdles in times gone by. And things seem to be getting more complex than simple these days.

I have a rough idea of how/when/where myself and my wife are going to the Hebrides. We'll go,and I tip my hat to those who will cycle thru x4 days of heaving rain with strong winds(you might bypass my window at the B+B where I shall be taking tea when you battle along!)

I will make an attempt at booking an advance ticket trying to guess whether station has lifts,stairs,another city to cross before getting access to said booked train.

Most recently I returned from a foreign trip wherein I was compelled to do all but everything in checking in to board my aeroplane. I think the only matter left out was me being pilot. I shall try self help manuals and relaxation tapes before going to Rail Ticketing sites. Ah progress!!

[gloomyandy]

I know this may seem like heresy, but have you considered taking the car (if you have one that can carry your bikes)? This would give you the option of parking in Oban (various secure parking options or park on a quiet street), or even taking it out to the islands (easy and safe to park your car there). This would give you the option of and early return if you need it, or if you take the car out to the islands having an alternate way of getting around if the weather is not so good. I've toured on the islands a number of times and have always opted to drive to Oban (or sometimes to Uig on Skye). I've also stayed on the islands and have taken my car over (with bikes) and will be doing so again later this year. The ferry costs are not that high and it has always been pretty stress free.

[tyreon]

It's an idea Gloomyandy. Thanks. Dunno how long ago it was,but carried our bikes to/from LEJOG on back of car. Howsoever,from days gone by have changed car so I'm none too sure how the bike rack will/won't fit. Will give it a go tho. The other alternative is to try to get them in the rear of the car: lay down rugs,take off front wheels. Howsoever both bikes have mudguards. Still,even buying another new rack could take the train stress out of the journey tho. Will have to revisit the problem. My car is a Hyandi job(sorry about spelling),small town job.

[Deecee]

I went up to Oban for the Barra ferry a couple of years ago. Didn't find the train a problem. Apart from the 5 mins needed to get off the train and get on the ferry buying a ticket on the way. That was a bit rushed, oh, and having to hang the bike on hangers on the Virgin. I'm going up to Mallaig in a couple of weeks with my bike en route to the Western Isles again. Wigan to Glasgow by Trans Pennine Express with a reserved bike place for £12 something and Glasgow to Mallaig again with a reserved bike space for the extortionate cost of £34. Guess it's the luck of the draw, and helps if you aren't tied to a specific day of travel. Mind you, I'll have to stay in a hostel overnight at Mallaig as the ferries and the trains appear to have been planned not to connect Coming back I'm going to cycle from Oban down to Arran, ferry to Wemyss and local train to Glasgow and then back to the North West.

[robing]

I know this may seem like heresy, but have you considered taking the car (if you have one that can carry your bikes)? This would give you the option of parking in Oban (various secure parking options or park on a quiet street), or even taking it out to the islands (easy and safe to park your car there). This would give you the option of and early return if you need it, or if you take the car out to the islands having an alternate way of getting around if the weather is not so good. I've toured on the islands a number of times and have always opted to drive to Oban (or sometimes to Uig on Skye). I've also stayed on the islands and have taken my car over (with bikes) and will be doing so again later this year. The ferry costs are not that high and it has always been pretty stress free.

Car would be my choice too, and now the ferry prices are even cheaper thanks to the new 'road equivalent tariifs'.

https://www.calmac.co.uk/ret

[monxton]

tyreon, I don't think you've answered when you are travelling, sorry if I missed it. This is significant, because Advance tickets are only added to the booking engines (approx) thirteen weeks ahead of travel. So if your trip is further away, you will only see the much more expensive flexible fares.

Again depending on where you're starting from, you might want to consider the sleeper train from London to Glasgow, which you can book up to a year ahead. This has a guards van which takes (booked) bikes, and there are reasonable advance fares - if it saves you a night in a hotel, then the price comparison is quite favourable, and you get a further third off the price if you have a railcard, such as Two Togther card for yourself and Mrs tyreon. See http://www.seat61.com/CaledonianSleepers.htm

[andymiller]

But hold on,that's expecting the trains to take the x2 bikes!? And the site splits up the journey making connecting trains...within minutes? How do I know I will be able to get from one platform to another with x2 loaded bikes wherein 1 platform doesn't have any lift,and the other overhead bridge and 30 steps up,25 steps down? Go to google,search out some platform spy type camera. The logistics of going to tour on Scottish West Coast Islands seems increasingly fraught/costly.

Fitter,younger,more dedicated cyclists will go to the islands for x2/x3 booked weeks, rain or shine. Not me. I go up,x4 days of strong winds with lashing rain,I'm coming home: no wish to rip up £50 notes or a later stay in hospital: exhaustion and double pneumonia.

Your advice,experience?

I would follow what monxton's advice. The sleeper trains are brilliant.

Open returns are always going to be the most expensive option. You could save yorself a lot if you looked at off-peak tickets which can be almost as flexible but a lot cheaper. I'd be tempted to get the cheapest advance fare and then if things go really wrong pay up the extra for new tickets. Check the terms and conditions though - some tickets may well allow you to get a refund (less an admin fee).

There are online booking sites (eg Virgin East Coast, GWR, Chiltern Railways) which let you book the bike places online (assuming that it is possible to reserve places). But get a place on the sleeper train and the rest should be plain sailing.

You should plan your journey to allow enough time for platform changes/delays. I'd avoid any change that leaves you with less than 30 minutes to change trains (OK maybe make that 15 if the alternative is waiting for a very long time).

Mainline stations will have lifts. IIRC the national rail enquiries service website has information on lifts at stations. Otherwise google wheelchair access for the station you are worried about. The worst case is that you may have to take your panniers off the bike and carry it. With two people you can do it in relays.

The biggest problem you may face is the work due to the Queen Street tunnel closure. I'd start a new thread about that - I assume that it would be possible to cycle out of Glasgow and catch the train at a station after the tunnel, but it would be best to get the advice of a local.

You may also be able to get reductions with a senior railcard if you are over 60 (rather than a fifty-something laying it on bit thick).

[Dean]

So try getting separate quotes for the journey to Glasgow and the journey from GQS to Oban, or breaking it down even more if you have to change to get to Glagow.

That's the simplest way - Glasgow to Oban is no more than around £20, and you should be able to find cheap fares to Glasgow, depending on how soon you're travelling.