Friends of the Rail Forum

Five ways to save on … Rail fares

Get on the right track with our guide to the cheapest tickets

o Hilary Osborne
o The Guardian, Saturday 25 July 2009


1 Split your ticket

Don't assume the cheapest way from A to B is on a direct ticket – you may be better off splitting your journey into two, and buying tickets for both parts.

This doesn't mean you have to get off the train – for example, on a trip from Plymouth to Birmingham you could buy a ticket from Plymouth to Exeter, then from Exeter to Birmingham on the same service.

It's fiddly and you will need to experiment with different splits, but it can be worthwhile: you can save around £15 on the Plymouth to Birmingham journey. National Rail enquiries has maps online so you can see which stations your train stops at.

2 Avoid peak travel

This will save money, as train operators charge less to encourage you to use quieter services. Even when there are no peak restrictions – for example, on the journey between Birmingham and Edinburgh on Virgin Trains – the cheapest tickets will sell out faster at peak times. So, if you can travel at a less popular time, you will have a better chance of getting a good deal.

By peak times, most train operators mean the morning and evening rush hours during the week, but some have extra restrictions on a Friday.

If your journey is beginning on-peak, but ending mid-morning, you should consider splitting your ticket – according to time.

Splitting a journey from London to Newcastle at 8am into two separate journeys – one from London to Peterborough and one from Peterborough to Newcastle – allows you to make the second part of the trip on an off-peak ticket, cutting the cost by around £7.

3 Buy in advance

There are now three types of fares for UK travel: advance, off-peak and anytime. The cheapest is an advance fare, available up until 11.59pm on the day before you travel.

To confuse matters, within this category, operators offer a range of prices. For example, on the route from London Euston to Manchester, Virgin Trains charges between £8 to £28 for an advance ticket, depending on when you want to travel and when you book (the £8 ticket is very limited, so most passengers will pay upwards of £11).

This compares with £65.10 for an off-peak single and £123.50 for an anytime single. Advance tickets go on sale up to 12 weeks before they can be used – set your alarm clock, because on popular routes the cheapest tickets sell out fast.

4 Invest in a railcard

There are four kinds of railcard available which can save you up to a third on adult fares around the country.

The family railcard costs £26 for a year, or £65 for three years, and will save you up to 60% off travel for four children and a third off for four adults. A family of four, travelling from Birmingham to Manchester off-peak, can reduce the cost of their trip by around £38, so the card can pay for itself in one trip. Railcards for those aged 16-25 and seniors cost the same, while the disabled persons railcard costs £18 a year.

For full details see Railcard.co.uk. Local railcards will also save you cash – one covers the whole of the south-east while others, like the Dales railcard, are more limited.

5 Go in a group

Small groups of adults travelling together can save money by buying a "group save" ticket.

These are only available on off-peak services and allow three or four adults to travel for the price of two, so you can effectively save up to 50% on a journey.

You don't have to commit to travelling on a particular service, but you must travel as a group with the other people on the ticket. They can be bought online or at the station, on or before the day you travel.

One method of saving money that was left out, was if possible go by air!

The current British railway fare mechanisms and the rules surrounding them now require a university course, being added to the curricula at many of the major UK universities -- at least, that's what is needed. Needless to say such courses are not available to most of we colonials and foreigners.
I once bought a "through" ticket from Brighton to Stoke-on-Trent - at least I thought that was what I had bought. It turned out that, although I commenced my journey out of Brighton to Victoria station well before "peak hour", crossed London by cab (for speed and comfort), I could not board the next departing train at Euston station. Whilst journeying on the Brighton to London section, the dreaded and much feared "peak hour" had arrived. Despite pleading with the red-dressed Vestal Virgins, I could not get them to accept that this was a single-ticketed through trip and that, because I started my journey before the bewitching hour, and because the train soon departing was leaving only a few minutes into that dreaded hour, I should be allowed to continue the journey freely and unhindered.
"No", said the red-dressed Sacerdos Vestalis blocking the platform entrance, not without paying a peak hour premium that would, naturally, have cost more than the entire original ticket cost! I was directed to the red-logoed dis-information kiosk who, guess what, were entirely disinterested.
I ended up drowning my sorrows in the warm comfort of best bitter at the less than delightful station bar pretending to enjoy ever changing conversations as the bar company rotated over a 3 hour and 50 minute period. Why the extra 50 minutes? Well, the first train after the end of the peak hour sanction period only left 50 minutes into the next non-peak hourly slot. Could I be permitted to join the train that was leaving just 10 minutes before the end of the bannishment period and save an whole 60 minutes? No way! There was absolutely no way past their vows of red Viriginity. And that's why they will forever remain Virgins!

Ah Steve,

I see that you also encountered the dreaded 'jobsworth'! As soon as you start to talk to them their eyes glaze over, and the brain goes into single thought mode; 'When is this idiot going to understand that he will not get past me, its more than my jobs worth'! Where do they train these people, the Kremlin?

I recently encountered this type at Kings Cross when I was trying to get to Aberdeen. I had arrived on a delayed Eurostar. In the end I gave in and paid extra to fly from Luton. As far as National Express was concerned my journey started in London.

Malcolm

Yep, I even tried appealing to their rough-bearded Pontifex Maximus, but he was apparently very busy somewhere in North Africa, trying to set new high altitude balloon records!