Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

the.weekender

chalky
Derby and Loughborough seem to offer cheap singles to Sheffield, could you use those stations?

MrSingh_3

Hi

I'm a new poster so apologies if this has been said before.

If you are traveling on the rail network and have a letter from a registered chairty saying you are travelling on their behalf, you get really cheap tickets, i paid £32 return from bham to london

hope this helps

dzug

MrSingh wrote: »

Hi

I'm a new poster so apologies if this has been said before.

If you are traveling on the rail network and have a letter from a registered chairty saying you are travelling on their behalf, you get really cheap tickets, i paid £32 return from bham to london

hope this helps

It doesn't help, not without more details - eg what discount, what tickets it can be used on, etc. £32 return from Birmingham to London is not 'really cheap' - it can be done for far less (and far more admittedly).

As Treasurer of a small registered charity I could quite easily knock one up for myself and the other committee members.....

mjon3105

One such scheme is : Virgin Trains Charity Line" with all normal restrictions removed for REGISTERED USERS of Charities . There is an annual fee of approx £50 as I understand payable by the Charity. Fuller details can be found on the National Rail website,under heading : SPECIAL OFFERS - Charity Line. It says "valid on all lines" but one imagines this is restricted to 'all lines' where Virgin operate.Seemingly scheme was introduced in 2004.

Sunshine_and_Roses

I need some help with train prices if anyone could help me out please.

I have just booked a holiday, and the cheapest flights were going from Manchester and coming back to Bristol. I will be travelling to and from Shrewsbury railway station.

I will need to book in at Manchester Airport at 11:00 on Friday 8th February, and I have found a train leaving Shrewsbury at 08:45, arriving at 10:11, costing £14.40 for a standard day single.

Coming back is not as straight forward. I am due to land at Bristol at 20:40 on Friday 15th February, and there is not a railway station at the airport. I dont know how long to leave myself to collect bags etc, there is a train from Bristol Parkway at 21:40, but not sure how far away this is. Otherwise I am looking at not getting home until about 03:00 and having to spend about £60 plus on a ticket, as I cannot guarantee times.

Is there an easy way of doing this?

Thanks

Altarf

Bristol Airport is on the Southwest side of the city and Bristol Parkway is on the Northeast side of the city, so it's about 15 miles and you have to cross Bristol. There is no chance that you will get there by 21:42 if your plane lands at 21:40.

Bristol does have another railway station, Temple Meads which is in the centre of the city and is only 8 miles away.

There is a airport bus service that connects the airport to Bristol Temple Meads that operates up to 23:45 and takes about 30 minutes between the airport and the station. It is possible to buy a combined bus / train ticket but as that will cost you £60.50 minimum, it is cheaper to buy a bus ticket at £5 single and an advance rail ticket.

From Temple Meads there is a 22:54, change at Newport (with quite a wait) and then on to Shrewsbury arriving 02:49, with advance tickets available for £15. Possibly a bit tight timewise, but you might be lucky.

If you don't get the 22:54 then you only other sensible alternative that night is the 00:17 from Parkway, which connects to the same Newport train so you still get back at 02:49. There don't seem to be any advance tickets from Parkway to Shrewsbury (or Newport to Shrewsbury), but you could buy a Parkway to Newport advance at £3 to go with the Temple Meads to Shrewsbury ticket (making sure your story was correct for any ticket inspectors).

To get to Parkway, you would either need to get a taxi from the airport (not cheap) or the airport bus into Bristol, but taking it as far as Clifton (£6) and a taxi the last 8 miles, or the airport bus into the centre of Bristol and then a bus to Parkway.

Have you considered a one-way car hire from Bristol Airport home?

Sunshine_and_Roses

Altarf - thank you so much for your reply. I did not consider car hire but it is worth a thought. Where would be the best places to start looking for prices?

Otherwise, the advance train ticket and a single on the bus is sounding good.

I have also got a quote for a taxi back home, which is £90. Could save a lot of hassle but its a bit pricey.

Altarf

clareski wrote: »

I did not consider car hire but it is worth a thought. Where would be the best places to start looking for prices?

Have a look back through the forums on here, but I would have thought the usual suspects such as Holiday Autos. They seem to be doing a Ford Ka or similar for less than £40 with CDW on a one-way hire from Bristol Airport. And you might get back before 3am.

Stuperman

HELP: I have organized a trip to Cardiff from Coventry starting on the 25/04 and ending on the 27/04 (Go and Leave About 12:30PM). We have been let down by our coach company and now i have 24 people who cant get to their hotel for their weekend in Cardiff. I have a small budget left and am struggling to find anything.

Does anyone know a way i can get there on the train for a cheap rate? can we get group discounts? as i understand there are two or three train company's involved?

Please help me if you can i don't want to let people down.

An upset saver - Stu

GLKing

Is there any cheap deals on for Newcastle - Blackpool? 2 of us are going feb 15th - 17th

Thanks