Best way to travel from Glasgow to Edinburgh - help needed please

pandora205

Hi.

My son, daughter and I are staying in Milngavie and need to travel to Edinburgh on Tuesday 17th August. I was thinking of going by train but it is £33 each from Queens Street to Edinburgh Waverley station, so I wondered how much a taxi would cost. Does anyone know or have other suggestions please?

Thanks

PS DS is 18 and DD is 16: neither has a rail card at the moment.

scottishblondie

An adult anytime day return is £18.70. Are you wanting to travel 1st class?

Other options are the bus, for example the Megabus is £10.50 total for 3 single tickets (same price each way).

purplerose

Checking www.nationalrail.co.uk
Single Milngavie to Edinburgh = £12.70 anytime
Return Milngavie to Edinburgh = £15.60 off peak, £23.90 peak
Glasgow to Edinburgh = £10.60 off peak single
Glasgow to Edinburgh = £18.70 anytime return

£95 taxi (from here http://www.glasgowtaxis.co.uk/services_fare.php)

pandora205

Thanks.

Just looked again on the Scot rail site and this appears to be much cheaper than the Trainline.
We'll go by train as its much easier I think.

pandora205

purplerose wrote: »

Checking www.nationalrail.co.uk
Single Milngavie to Edinburgh = £12.70 anytime
Return Milngavie to Edinburgh = £15.60 off peak, £23.90 peak
Glasgow to Edinburgh = £10.60 off peak single
Glasgow to Edinburgh = £18.70 anytime return

£95 taxi (from here http://www.glasgowtaxis.co.uk/services_fare.php)

And that's even cheaper than the Scot rail price as this rockets when the Milngavie to Queens Street journey is added. Thanks.

beecher2

Sometimes you're cheaper getting separate tickets. There's a groupsave discount between Glasgow and Edinburgh which would make your day return tickets £32.10 for the 3 of you. When using the scotrail site select 'groupsave 3' under railcard.

http://www.scotrail.co.uk/content/groupsave.html

Add on £9.60 for your day returns from Milngavie to Glasgow andyou get a total of £41.70 saving you £5.10

Be_Happy

Bus is very much cheaper and the direct buses are fast. Not sure why you think the train is easier. Both travel from the centre of Glasgow to the centre of Edinburgh. Look up the info on https://www.traveline.org.uk.

yorkie2

If you can be up very early, you can board the 06:01 from Glasgow Central to Edinburgh (arriving 06:59), or 3 hours later there is the 09:00 from Glasgow Central to Edinburgh (arriving 09:58) these are Cross Country services, and the single fare is £1.90 in standard (or £2.70 in first class). These fares are available on board the train.

Note that these low fares are only available on CrossCountry trains, of which there are not many per day, hence the low price. They do not have to be booked in Advance and are Anytime fares, XCs policy is to allow these to be purchased on board, so no need to commit in advance. This is much lower than the price charged by Scotrail for an "Any Permitted" ticket.

There is an 0810 train from Milngavie that arrives at Glasgow Central at 0835, this gives plenty of time to go up the escalators from the low level platform onto the main concourse and you should have time spare to go the shops in the station and get a bite to eat, before boarding the 0900 train.

If you want a return, the standard return fare is £3.00 (or £5.10 first class) the return train times are at 19:07 from Edinburgh Waverley, or 21:14 from Edinburgh Waverley.

wattywattwatt

To Yorkie2,
Don't know where you got these fares from, but I have travelled to Edinburgh from Giffnock in Glasgow, which I would say is about as far out from Central as Milngavie, several times recently and have been charged £12.70 off-peak return using the cross country service. Are these special offer fares only for certain trains?

stormbreaker

wattywattwatt wrote: »

To Yorkie2,
Don't know where you got these fares from, but I have travelled to Edinburgh from Giffnock in Glasgow, which I would say is about as far out from Central as Milngavie, several times recently and have been charged £12.70 off-peak return using the cross country service. Are these special offer fares only for certain trains?

If you search the Cross Country web site these fares come up. You can even select a £3 return!

jamesbrownontheroad

wattywattwatt wrote: »

To Yorkie2,
Don't know where you got these fares from, but I have travelled to Edinburgh from Giffnock in Glasgow, which I would say is about as far out from Central as Milngavie, several times recently and have been charged £12.70 off-peak return using the cross country service. Are these special offer fares only for certain trains?

Buy them on the XC train from the conductor. You'll need to buy any fares to and from Glasgow Central separately as they are operator-specific and don't combine with any connecting fare.