Getting the Lowest Price Possible

1. Get relevant railcards – If you are in full time education or aged 16-25 make sure that you have a Young Persons Railcard. The card costs £20 and entitles you to a third off train travel. You can apply at the train station or online. If you apply online you can upload a photo, so there’s no need to get a passport photo.
2. Buy early – By booking as far in advance as possible you can get the best savings
3. Buy singles instead of a return – Sometimes buying 2 singles instead of a return can work out cheaper, as tickets are classed as advanced and fall into a different pricing category
4. Break up the journey when booking – If you are going on a long journey with many stops, it can sometimes be cheaper to get separate tickets. E.g instead of getting a ticket for Glasgow to Manchester, look at the cost of the journey if it was Glasgow to Preston then Preston to Manchester. For details of where the train stops, allowing you to get the best prices on your journey, look at transportdirect.info.
5. Only pay the peak price for peak time travel – If you do follow the advice in the previous step then make sure you are only paying peak travel rates for peak time – before 10am and between 5pm + 7pm – and the rest of the time is off-peak.
6. Buy last minute at the station - If you are buying your ticket at the last minute try and go into the station and talk to an actual employee – they can offer you savings which the computer cannot.
7. GroupSave – if there are going to be more than four people travelling at one time, look and see if there are group discounts available.
8. Use PLUSBUS if you are travelling by bus and train - This is a scheme allowing rail travellers to add bus travel to the beginning or end of their journey at a reduced rate. A set amount is added to your usual rail card. It can also be used with a zone card. More information is available at nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/plusbus.html