Robert Hampton

Saveaway is Merseytravel’s off-peak travel ticket giving unlimited travel on buses, trains and ferries. For the princely sum of £5.10, you get a scratch card on which the day, month and year can be rubbed off using a coin (or a finger, if you don’t mind getting all the silvery scratch-off stuff underneath your nail). Generations of Merseysiders have learned the skill of sticking down the plastic cover without getting any lumps in it.

It’s a simple, foolproof system. Go to your local corner shop and get a ticket. Maybe buy two or three and keep them in a drawer somewhere until you need them. No further hassle required. That’s probably why the basic format has remained unchanged for over 30 years, barring the occasional special edition like the short-lived All Day Saveaway and (I kid you not) the Pope John Paul souvenir Saveaway.

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Oh, Merseyrail — you lavish me with umbrellas and discounted coffees, and then you go and do something to dispel the warm fuzzies.

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July saw Merseyrail’s run of bad luck continue, as a train rolled out of the depot and derailed. To atone for their sins, they introduced a new day ranger ticket, but I wasn’t convinced. This was something of a train-y month for me, as I did my bit to help out the previous generation of Merseyrail trains. Trains were also on the Government’s mind, as they announced that the Liverpool to Manchester line would be electrified.

In London, the Police proved once again what a wonderful organisation they are. In Rome, a swimmer suffered an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction.

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Today was the Woodvale Rally, and I was supposed to be there representing Friends of the 502 Group.

No car, but that’s no problem. Yours truly knows his way around public transport, even more so thanks to Merseytravel’s web site which has PDF timetables for every bus in Merseyside. Seriously, it’s a fantastic resource, because each timetable has a little map showing the full route, so even if you’re unfamiliar with the area, you know where you are.

So: train to Hillside, walk to home of person who had event tickets for me, then number 49 to Woodvale. Simples! I even bought my Saveaway the day before to save time.

Train arrived on time at Hillside (or “Bootle Oriel Road” as the automated announcer insisted on calling it). This was where things started to go a bit wrong.

As I got off the train, it started raining. Really heavily. I walked along the main road for a few minutes, getting soaked, before it dawned on me that my usually reliable sense of direction had deserted me and I had no idea where I was.

Stopping in a bus shelter a few minutes later to consult my map (something I should really have done before I started walking) I realised that I would need to go almost all the way back to the station. Bah.

Now on the right road I saw a corner shop and — having forgotten to bring any beverages with me, and forewarned that refreshments at Woodvale are expensive — I went in to buy a bottle of water. Having already been delayed, I was held up further by a man paying for his Daily Mail using 2p coins.

I left the shop and strolled along the road, putting my change in my pocket next to my Saveaway. Or rather, where my Saveaway had been until a few minutes ago. Where was it now?

Fuuuck.

I really didn’t want to lose my ticket now. I had two bus rides and another train journey ahead of me. I didn’t hold out much hope of finding it, but I decided to retrace my steps. Walking past the corner shop and back the way I came — hurrah! There it was on the ground near the bus shelter.

I picked up the now soggy ticket, sandwiched it between two sheets of card to try and flatten it out, and walked back, passing the same corner shop for the third time.

I finally arrived, late and damp, having learned the hard way to invest in clothes with zip-up pockets.

(worth it in the end though! Check out the Class 502 homepage for more info!)

Merseyrail have introduced a couple of new leisure tickets — this news has slipped out incredibly quietly; so quietly in fact that I haven’t seen it publicised anywhere except the aforementioned well-hidden press release on Merseytravel’s site. There’s nothing at all on Merseyrail’s own, barely-maintained, web site. So let’s look at these exciting new tickets ourselves.

First is the Family Day Ticket, which for just £9.95 gives 2 adults and 3 children a day’s access to the railway within the PTE boundary. The example given compares prices for a return trip from Liverpool to Southport, which at full fare would be £15.40 for 2 adults and 3 kids — this calculation conveniently forgets the existence of the Family Railcard, which would bring the price for the normal tickets down to £8.80. Still, it may be useful for families who want to do a lot of roving around the network, or for whom the £26 initial investment for a Railcard wouldn’t be worthwhile.

The other ticket is the Weekender: £12.95 for three days of off-peak travel (Friday-Sunday or Saturday-Monday) sounds like a bargain, BUT it only covers the Northern and Wirral lines, the CityLink buses and Soccerbus. For a piddling 55p extra, you could buy three Saveaway tickets and use all trains, all buses AND the Mersey Ferries.

So in summary: nice try, Merseyrail, but I think you need to go back to the drawing board on this one. If you really want to encourage leisure travel, why did you introduce a minimum fare of £3 for off-peak tickets last October, meaning some of your fares jumped up by as much as 30% overnight?

Thousands of people using London’s public transport network may find their electronic Oyster card no longer works after a fault hit the system.[BBC]

This is why I’m glad Merseytravel haven’t introduced smartcards yet. All I have to worry about with a Saveaway is sticking the plastic cover down without leaving a little lump in it. God bless you, oh lottery-scratchcard-like travel pass!