A university lecturer who travels from West Sussex to Liverpool twice a week to teach has discovered a hack that is saving him hundreds on his commute.
Kieran Maguire, 60, was horrified when he discovered his return journey from Haywards Heath to Liverpool Lime Street would cost £441.20.
As he takes the journey up to twice a week to teach accounting and finance at the University of Liverpool, he was keen to find an alternative.
Kieran worked out that if he split his three hour and 48 minute train journey into multiple tickets, instead of buying singles, he could save a considerable amount.
Using the hack - known as split-ticketing - he now he buys nine tickets - five to Liverpool and four home - for just £81.70.
The trick saves him a total of £359.50 every time he travels using his Senior Railcard.
Kieran said: "I have been doing this trip for a few years now - over three years.
"There are some very good split-ticketing websites that you can now use and that is fine for someone like me who knows their way around the train system.
"I am a regular commuter but if you are a tourist or don't usually travel the price will come as a shock."
Websites like TrainPal, Split My Fare, TrainTickets.com, Trainsplit can work out how you can save money, but the latter three impose fees.
The tickets he purchases for his journey to Liverpool are:
- Haywards Heath to Gatwick Airport: £5.20
- Gatwick Airport to London Blackfriars: £12.90
- London Blackfriars via the tube to London Euston to Crewe: £14.65
- Crewe to Liverpool Lime Street: £12.45
And on the way home:
- Liverpool Lime Street to Crewe: £12.45
- Crewe to London Euston: £8.55
- London Euston to Croydon: £6.45
- Croydon to Gatwick Airport: £3.85
- Gatwick Airport to Haywards Heath: £5.20
Kieran has to change trains three times on the way to Liverpool and four times on his return to Sussex, and is "frustrated" by the situation.
He says recent rail strikes have added additional stress to his already-stressful journey.
"Today I had to get to London to catch a train at 6.38am as I couldn't catch the train 40 minutes later as it was very expensive to then join the train at Crewe," he said.
"It is supposed to be a network and the nature of a network is that they are joined up but this is the opposite of a network as this causes you to take a disjointed way to work.
"The strikes have added additional stress to travel. I think there has got to be greater emphasis on the greater need of passengers.
"From a business point of view it creates that level of uncertainty and people will drive which is not good for you and good for the environment.
"Commuters want a fair price and a reliable system."
