why are 2 single train tickets cheeper than a return?

Question

I went on qjump.com and its £27 return from torquay to bristol but singles are only £7.50. This is for the same day return journey.
Its really confusing I actually wanted to go to bristol parkway but the £7.50 was to bristol temple meads. for some reason a single to parkway was £26 even though a return between to bristol station is only £2.70. Its all too weird and confusing!

Answer 1

Rail Tickets on advance booking are subject to regulation set by companies and ATOC. Depending on Customer loading, train times and requirements of service, you can be lucky and find some good cheap deals out there.
If you are lucky and are quick enough, about 5% of a long distance journey outside of the South East region can be discounted upto 90% of a single fare, however with the demand rising as you get closer to the train departure then the price rises until it reaches the walk on price which would be sold at a Standard Open Rate, so for instance the tickets you have seen may be the price advertised, but leave it until the day and you could be paying over £100 to travel.
Also the advance tickets are sold to the destination point, on a certain train or trains if connections are required. Any deviation from time, route and train will invalidate your ticket. no breaks in journey are allowed, unless the break is due to unforseen railway disruption, in which case the company will honour your ticket subject to availiability and travel restrictions.
The Conditions of carrage and regulations of Fare Book J are quite specific and require quite a bit of training to understand fully.

Answer 2

The railway companies (TOCs) all have special offers. They do it to fill seats on some trains that may be less popular or just to encourage travel. My son was recently able to get a single each way between London and Manchester for £3 each way. Because there are so many offers, they are not always known to staff on booking offices so that is why it always pays to look for tickets on line. I admit it is confusing - but don't query it - just buy the cheapest offers - in your case two singles each way between Torquay and Bristol and the return from Temple Meads to Parkway

Answer 3

It's simple. There are "fare buckets" and once the bucket is empty, you can't get that fare any more. So the returns bucket was empty and you had to pay a higher fare (which is probably a more flexible ticket also) for a return. But the singles buckets were still available.

Say a route from A to B has fares of £5 and £10 one way. Let's say that the return is twice the single. But on the return leg the £5 fares have sold out. The result? If you buy a combined return, you havr to pay the same fare basis for both legs - ie £10 each way, making it £20. But by buying the singles you pay for the cheapest fare of each leg, so £15. Gettit?

Airlines do the same for multi-stop flights - the conditions for the entire trip are the most restrictive of any of the legs.

Answer 4

if single tickets are cheaper just buy single both ways

(meaning one ticket from home (a) to your destination(b) then another from your destination place (b) to home (a)

Answer 5

I blame the English educashun system.

If you can't get ticketing right, how can you schedule the trains to run on time?

It is just madness. No wunder it's cheaper to fly!

Answer 6

It just goes to show how mucked up the rail system is..