Megatrain - Single Train Fares From £1!

zedhead

But you're not guaranteed a seat if you pay normal price, so why fret about a seat if you're getting a bargain ticket?

cricketmad_2

Great site especially cheap when using virgin trains Could save a fortune!

zappomatic

Getting a real bargain visiting family in Dorset next week, costing me a grand total of £4 return when booking fee is added. Apex fare is more than 5 times that.

paramonkey

by using megatrain.com i got a return ticket for TWO people from Nottingham to Southampton 21st-24th July for £30.50. I snapped this up as I was origninally going to drive, but would have cost me about £15 xtra just in petrol.

evesham1988la

Manchester to Edinburgh - FIVE RETURNS - £12.50

Lugh_Chronain

Well done evesham1988la
.
And I would like to point out that the best prices are offered to those who book early. Booking can be made up to 45 days in advance and close at 3.00am on the day of travel.

greyster

How do they make money doing this? Even Virgin who provide a lot of the train services for megatrain ticket holders, dont offer cheap tickets like this.

Anyway ... I am interested to know how much the T&Cs are policed. It says you have to get on the place you specify (from a smallish list) to destination place you specify. I can't see how they can stop people getting off whenever they like (before the specified stop of course) but getting on, between the two destinations ... I wonder how they prevent this. I do many Virgin Train cross country trips with durations of 4.5h+ and I'm only asked for my ticket 0-2 times.

malcolmwilliamson

Thought it worth reporting that both stages of my first megatrain experience (London - Bournemouth and return) went like clockwork. I managed to get £1 each way by booking as soon as they were placed online (45 days ahead). There was a booking fee of 50p .

On the outward journey there was a megatrain board up at the start of the platform advising which coach to use. There were megatrain stickers on that coach windows. There were ordinary ticket holders in the same coach.On the return from Bournemouth the info.about the megatrain coach was on a screen above the platform. Seats were not reserved but there were plenty of spaces in both directions.

You don't get a ticket, just a reference number for each leg to print off. Since my printer was down I just wrote them down.
In both directions the inspector just made a quick glance at my number and didn't check it against any register. I got a lovely moneysaver feeling when I saw the inspector issuing full price tickets to passengers without them on the train:rotfl:

The Reservation Number for my return was:
4-1924-100706-MT3-1959-BMH-WAT
The last three blocks are clearly the departure time, departure station code and destination code. It occurred to me that I could now make up my own megatrain code number and get the ultimate in low cost travel - a free journey. But why bother to take the risk in saving £2.50?

I'm planning to go to Exeter in the autumn and will certainly use megatrain again.

paramonkey

megatrain has been around quite a while, but i think its only now starting to get popular.

I have used them a few times, mainly as part of a journey from Nottingham to Sothampton i.e. the brum to soutmapton bit. Never had an issue the couple of times I have done it and managed to get the cost of the journey for two people to around £30 which is well under £10 less than the petrol would have cost me to drive that distance, and thats not even inlcudig any of the other costs of driving.

I have also used megatrain coming back from portsmouth to nottingham in conjunction with national express funfairs. The jounrey cost me £2.50 in total...I was severely happy about that!

Megabus has changed quite a bit from what it was when it first started out. All of their fleet are now modern and look just the same as any national express coach you would see. Interestingly megabus used to offer services along the M1 corridor to london (from Nottingham, Leicester etc) however they just were not economicly viable as load factors where low mainly due to the introduction of MML advance single fares and also national express funfares covering the same rotue. MML advance single fares are a little more expensive but still a bargain and the train has the added advantage of being at least 30mins quicker, but for a £1 funfare it's a no brainer!

crossleydd42

And some of them on the lesser-used routes are single-deckers!