London to Birmingham, Birmingham to London 7 August 2022 at 4:50PM in Public transport & cycling 3 replies 91 views

CupofTea

A few years back I was recommended a way to find cheap train tickets (£6) for these one way journeys by searching and then refining the search to select a tick box which revealed the cheap tickets.

I've not travelled by train for awhile and can now see the train websites have all changed. What is the newest way of getting cheap train tickets?

I'm also open to bus. 

Also, if travelling from nearby areas (West Bromwich, Wednesbury etc) and needed to catch a additional bus/train, it all adds up. Is there a way to save here? 

SiliconChip

I don't know the tick box you're referring to, but the key to finding cheap tickets is to buy at the right time, which is normally when the Advance purchase tickets are first released (often 12 weeks ahead). However, once you've sussed the timing then price quite often relates to speed of journey, with the cheapest tickets on Chiltern Railways from Moor Street to Marylebone, then West Midlands Railway and finally Avanti West Coast, both of these from New Street to Euston. There's usually quite a lot of overlap between the cheaper tickets on one service and the more expensive tickets on another.

For your travel to and from the stations in the centre of Birmingham you may find that a West Midlands Railway ticket will include it at little (or sometimes no) extra cost, whereas other providers may not show you cheaper tickets at all if you specify a different station. You should be offered PlusBus as an option which is a little cheaper than buying a ticket on the bus.

KeithP

Do keep in mind that Avanti seem to have great difficulty to running trains to a timetable, or at all, at the moment.

[Deleted User]

The £6 tickets were always the Chiltern ones from Moor Street or Snow Hill

You can still do them cheap - I can see £6.40 on Friday 12th (just as an example) for the 21:18-23:23 service or £10 19:25-21:37