Preston Lancs to St Albans - Cheapest way.

Infidel

I'm going to be getting a return from Preston Lancs to St Albans (Herts). Can anybody advise on the cheapest way to do this?

I think the train is showing the cheapest method at over £60. Megabus can get me a return to London for around £20-25 - but if i took that method what would be the cheapest way to get from Greenline coach station to St Albans.

Lastly, is there any way i can get a 3-day pass kind of thing, as i will be travelling from St Albans into London during my stay down there.
Can i get a travelcard thing that stretches as far out as St Albans.

Thanks for any help and advice.

u2o

hi-

i havent done preston lancs to stalbans before but i've done it between manchester and stalbans many times - and it's easy enough for you to go between preston and manchester.

i'd probably recommend megabus to london but if you're thinking of train, you can get a cheap ticket between Manchester and Luton. You'll be taking a transpennine express to sheffield and then midland mainline to Luton. this can be purchased as cheap as £6 or £7 (i used to pay £4.95 for cheapest one with YP card). then take a first capital connect to St Albans for few quid more.

from London Greenline to St Albans, take a tube from from victoria, change at kings cross for first capital connect to stalbans. this, with Young Persons railcard is about £6 or £7 so few quid more without.

there is no 3-day pass between stalbans and london. You can get a one-day travel card that includes stalbans for around £10.

my prices may be slightly out as i havent done it for about a year now.

loobs40

Don't know if it helps, but you can get a train to Watford Junction on the West Coast main line and then either a train from Watford Junction to St Albans (about 20 minutes) or a bus from Watford Junction to St Albans

Don't know what the costs are

Infidel

Thanks for the input so far.

The return journey from Lancs could also be to Hatfield if that's any easier/cheaper.

deva

have a look at www.transportdirect.co.uk for options and some prices

dzug

By booking in advance you should be able to get a return for £31 upwards - as two singles. To do this you need to specify St Albans Abbey as your destination and the route as avoiding London. Try Watford Junction as well - also avoiding London.

I doubt if Hatfield will help at all.

Also note that the £10 ish travelcard mentioned earlier is only available FROM St Albans TO London - you cannot buy it in London to travel to St Albans

Infidel

Damned, the cheapest return for thursday i can find Preston-St Albans is £224

dzug

Infidel wrote: »

Damned, the cheapest return for thursday i can find Preston-St Albans is £224

???? Then you must be insisting on travelling on peak hour trains. The original fare you had of just over £60 is a walk on fare (ie buy it on the day, don't need to reserve) and the only restriction is having to travel on off-peak trains.

Peak hour trains at the last minute will always cost you.

Infidel

I'm sure that was for the 10.49am train, which shouldn't be peak should it???


I'm going to get a walk on fair anyway, as generally you can get an open return, whereas on the internet you seem to have to book the return journey at an exact time and day.

dzug

Infidel wrote: »

I'm sure that was for the 10.49am train, which shouldn't be peak should it???


I'm going to get a walk on fair anyway, as generally you can get an open return, whereas on the internet you seem to have to book the return journey at an exact time and day.

Yes 1049 is off peak - you can use a saver return (£64.90) which is a walk on fare.

If you buy a walk on ticket via the internet it does force you to book both journeys - but you don't have to use that reservation. You can use any train on which the ticket is valid. Bit silly really - loads of reservations go unused (by those in the know) and loads of people wait around unnecessarily or even buy another ticket coz they don't know