Ticketysplit - getting out for less on the train

It's 8am and I'm on the way to Birmingham for the day for a meeting. Buying a ticket should be a straightforward process, but it's not quite as simple as it seems, and with a bit of effort you can get a good deal and save a substantial amount of money.

When I first looked up the price for my journey today it was £148. Sharp intake of breath. I couldn't get a cheaper fare by going later as I needed to be in Birmingham by 10am, but then I remembered Ticketysplit.

Ticketysplit is a tool on the MoneySavingExpert.com website that allows you to look for the cheapest fare by splitting your journey into two and calculating whether buying two tickets, (one for each part of the journey) is actually cheaper than just buying one for the whole of the journey. So for example, if you are traveling from  Bournemouth to Birmingham and the train stops at Reading on the way it may be cheaper to buy a ticket from Bournemouth to Reading, then Reading to Birmingham than to buy a Bournemouth to Birmingham ticket for the same train.

It sounds crazy I know, but as in a supermarket, it's not always cheaper to go for the bigger pack, sometimes two smaller packs are a better deal.

So I put my journey into Ticketysplit to see what it would come up with. Ticketysplit only works with single fares at the moment, but it came up with the information that I could save money even by buying singles to and from Banbury which is a stop on my route, which would save me £30. I then took this one stage further, and looked at return fares to Banbury, then from Banbury to Birmingham. By buying a return from home  to Banbury, then a second return from Banbury to Birmingham, I can travel on the same trains at the same time for just under £62. That's a saving of £80 - over half of the original fare!!!  Crazy, but perfectly legitimate. So long as the train you are on stops at the station where you split your fare, you are not breaking any rules, just getting the best deal.

So, next time you have a lengthy or expensive train journey and want to get out for less, try Ticketysplit to see if you can get a better deal.