Heritage railways offering "advance" tickets?

How many heritage railway offer discounted "advance" tickets? What discount do they offer?

We were thinking of going to the Bluebell Railway tomorrow, and saw that they offered advance tickets on their website. When I went to book, the website added a £2 online booking fee(!) which made it only £1 cheaper than the walk-up fare. So this wiped out most of the saving.

Do other heritage railways offer a better discount for booking in advance, without sneaking in additional fees at the payment stage?

 

North Norfolk Railway offers 15% discount on advance bookings without adding a booking fee. That’s a saving of over £10 on a family ticket.

 

We are in Porthmadog at the moment with the FR's own book in advance for a particular excursion system

 

Was the booking fee added by the Bluebell, or a third party ticket booking system?
(I appreciate the end result is the same, but . . . )

 

The fee is added by the third party booking system. AIUI, it is a flat fee per transaction, so if you buy multiple tickets in a single booking, the percentage of the overall is less. I believe that that is why the fee isn't just added to the ticket price up front.

Tom

 

The SVR offers a three-tier setup, depending on how far ahead you book. On the day, less than three days in advance, more than three days in advance. (It's not entirely clear from the wording which side of the line "exactly three days in advance" falls!) Booking fee is £2 per transaction. As a member I don't really find it worth the very small saving (the tiers for me are £22.00 - £19.00 - £17.50), but a "large family" (2ad, 4ch) is £88.00 on the day but £69.50 on the cheapest tier so a pretty substantial saving.

Personally I would much rather have "headline figure is what you pay" prices, as it seems from the above that the NNR operates. Even £2 extra is a (minor) irritation when it appears on the screen . A quick glance at the GWSR's website suggests they don't charge booking fees, *but* the discount for advance booking is only 5%. I'd imagine this is often discussed behind the scenes at railways, though, and as the SVR's system has been in place for a while I assume it's been determined to be the best fit for that railway.

 

It is also VATable, which makes things much more complicated if it is absorbed.

However, I do find it disappointing that organisations sell in this way rather than absorb the platform costs - whether railways, theatres, or whatever else.

 

Yes, I tend to agree - but I guess if you are a small organisation with complex ticketing requirements (such as a heritage railway) you are to a large extent beholden to what technical solution your payment platform provider is able to give.

Tom

 

When I tried booking in advance for the Mid Hants and the Swanage Railway, I discovered on arrival at the station that I still had to join a longish queue to convert my electronic purchase into a paper ticket.
To me, avoiding queueing is the major win both for me and for the attraction I am visiting. I simply cannot understand why a ticket on my phone isn’t good enough on steam railways, but is always fine at all other attractions we visit.

 

Glos Warwick railway phone tickets seem to be fine. I believe the problem on some railways is lack of WiFi on train to check barcodes.

 

Well done to you if you actually managed to get a ticket and a seat on a train. Friends of mine tried to travel to Blaenau last Autumn and failed to jump through the requisite number of hoops to do so. They went to Portmeirion instead.

 

Using one of the online portals to set up an event, I was given a choice of whether to add on or absorb the booking fee. I think the choice is more commercial than operational, though I understand why organisations would add the charge when they can get away with it.

 

Same thing at SVR. When you book online you still need to queue up at Kidderminster station to convert your booking confirmation to a ticket. I've stopped booking online with them now as it wasn't any quicker. I just turn up on the day and join the back of the queue, as I would have had to do anyway!

 

A couple of years ago I turned up at the ESR Gala. The queue to "collect" booked tickets was about 30 people, the pay on the day queue two in front of me. They processed those two and then moved people from the other queue in front of me and those behind me. Not sure either queue felt they were getting a good deal.

I realise some lines offer a discount for pre booking, but it is often up to the day before, so in that case they are not exactly getting the money any earlier. In that case not sure it is a win for the railway, unless I am missing something. Seems as bizarre as some TOC's selling advance tickets on the day.

 

That's just changed for all days except galas and special events (presumably those where they use wrist bands rather than tickets). There is an article in the current Branch Lines which covers it.
https://www.svrlive.com/blapr25

 

It's entirely up the railway whether it wants to absorb the fee and quote an inclusive price or not.

It's also not very clear how much discount is being offered for buying in advance.

In the Bluebell's case, it works against individual travellers or "adult+carer" visitors like us.

 

I do not agree it works against a single adult or a single adult and carer as you save £1.15 booking in advance. Single members however have to pay more to book in advance (due to the booking fee), something I discovered prior to a gala visit a few years back.
I do agree the website, that I now dislike a lot as I find it lack intuitiveness does not make it clear on the discount page, but the fares are there. Although I found this statement strange on the rover ticket page, do they think they are Avanti? Does that mean walk ups can get turned away now?

Demand for some dates is high so enter a range of dates and the system will show you available services for each day

 

This is partly due to there not being enough scanners to go round and not all TTIs have had chance to have a play with them yet.
Also there have been some teething issues and best not to trial them at a gala until they are fully bedded in.

 

Really don't understand your post, what "hoops"? The FR booking system is pretty easy to use I would have thought, but had they had an issue with it they could have 1/ phoned the very helpful booking office staff at Porthmadog who would have booked them quickly 2/ called in at Porthmadog and bought tickets in person either in advance or right up until departure, or 3/ If they wanted to join at an intermediate station, bought tickets from the guard upon joining the train.

 

As I said, they were friends - I wasn't there - but just heard the story when I saw them later that day. They were definitely "on the day" and I recall them saying the only available train was to TyB but they didn't want to just go there. I guess the "hoops" were (a) not booking in advance as their visit was short notice, (b) just turning up expecting there to be a train to BF and (c) missing the morning BF train. They are FRSoc members, perhaps they should have known better. Living in the area, I hear stuff, and similar tales abound.

There is no FR advertising presence in the town now as posters and a timetable are no longer displayed outside the High Street chapel, due to a change of ownership I believe.