Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

jenny_f

thanks so much!!!!

do u know which company the man>MK part of the journey is with?

thanks again

jenny_f

would going from Leeds work out cheaper? I can only buy singles to/from leeds whereas manchester i'd have to get a return. Although I wouldn't want to do this journey on the return leg.

cheers for all your help

national express cheaper?

pompeyrich

jenny_f wrote:

thanks so much!!!!

do u know which company the man>MK part of the journey is with?

thanks again

Man-MK on Virgin, got the prices from National rail.co.uk, The Man-MK bit has to be pre-booked and is only valid on the specific train you select from the fare page, no flexibility at that price.

It's about the same price from Leeds or Huddersfield to Manchester for a single.

You can only get to MK coachway by National express, which is apparently junction 14 of the M1 and is £20 single,

If money is the main consideration you could get the Megabus from Leeds to London then from London to Milton Keynes for £2:50 single. Leave Leeds at 13:20 and get to MK at 21:40 a long time but dirt cheap !!

odds-n-sods

It can actually be the time involved in working out the permutations of selling a set of tickets like the above example. Ticket Booking Offices dont' have the time to research that you all can.

Weekly tickets are cheaper than standard tickets over 5 days use, you need to decide when you are going to travel to see which one is cheaper.

And one tip I haven't sen yet:

Don't buy tickets on the train when the ticket office is open!

Wait in the que even if you have to get the train after the one you had planned on (or give yourself MORE time to buy a ticket and get to the station earlier) as conductors can't sell cheap day tickets from a station that has an open booking office.
And if you are travelling on a train company that doesn't use conductors DON'T decide not to buy a ticket on the chance you won't get caught - the fine is whatever the judge decides it will be once it goes to court, never mind the £20 penalty fare on top of having to buy your ticket, too. And the embarrassment.

John_Davros_Cooper

Journey Help

I am planning two journeys and they have been called at reasonably short notice...

Journey one

Friday 1st Sept - London to Kendal (any time)
Sunday 3rd Sept - Kendal to London (afternoon onwards)

Wednesday 6th Sept - London to edinburgh (any time)
Thursday 16th Sept - Edinburgh to London (arrive back no later than 10pm)

So I am looking about and can see the generic fairs of around £45 to kendal and then might megabus it to edinburgh and back for around £30.

That said - any bright suggestions? I have a young persons railcard and won't be booking until tommorow evening...

Warm Regards and Thanks!
John

jenny_f

how about mega train from manchester if you can get a cheap ticket to manchester?

we did manchester to edinburgh for £8.25

frivolous_fay

Hello all... have just read the article. I've been looking at the national rail site but having put in journey details, I can't see the box Martin mentions 'click here for single fares'. Any pointers?

I'm planning to travel from Luton to Solihull in a little over a week's time.

leosheree

I start a new job in Birmingham in a few weeks but live in Sheffield. Can you help me find the cheapest way to travel to Birmingham from Sheffield daily? I travel by train. I am thinking of getting a season ticket but would appreciate cheaper options. Many thanks

pompeyrich

frivolous_fay wrote:

Hello all... have just read the article. I've been looking at the national rail site but having put in journey details, I can't see the box Martin mentions 'click here for single fares'. Any pointers?

I'm planning to travel from Luton to Solihull in a little over a week's time.

When you reach the page that shows you the return fare, just above is a line saying "single fares from £x" and "click here for single fares" just click one of these to get the single fare. I done a quick search for your planned journey and there doesnt seem to be any saving for 2 singles on this route. However if you could get to Leighton Buzzard, there are singles available from £8 as opposed to £13:50 from Luton.

martinbuckley

leosheree wrote:

I start a new job in Birmingham in a few weeks but live in Sheffield. Can you help me find the cheapest way to travel to Birmingham from Sheffield daily? I travel by train. I am thinking of getting a season ticket but would appreciate cheaper options. Many thanks

Assuming you need to be there by 0900 daily, a saver return with a railcard is about £19 rtn. No railcard and its about £30.

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk or https://www.virgin.com will give you exact fares

HTH