How to cut the cost of your rail tickets

How to cut the cost of your rail tickets
Subscribe to the Guardian HERE: bitly.com/UvkFpD
Guardian Money editor Patrick Collinson shares his tips on how to cut the costs of your rail travel. He explains how to master split-ticketing; the best time to buy your season ticket; how to get your hands on the cheapest advanced fares; and how to get the best deals on rail tickets to the airport for your holidays.

[@johnmosley7738]

another top tip; when your booking 12 weeks in advance. check !st class for your journey. because like standard class it has a raising ticket pricing structure, but 1st class sell more slowly so standard class may have sold out a couple of tiers of discounted tickets and they are now more expensive than the slower selling 1st class tickets. Daft but true and when it happens the free stuff they give you in 1st class is all the sweeter.

[@VisuaLpauL]

If you have a railcard here is the trick: During morning peak train from Euston to Watford Jn will cost less if you use Oyster. (£8.3 v £10.2) The same holds true during the offpeak. (£3.5 v £6.75) However, there is no evening peak on the National Rail network, but there is one on the TfL, so between 16 and 19 on the weekdays Anytime Single ticket costs less (£6.75 v £8.3). Does it make sense? No. Can you save enough money for a cup of coffee by knowing that? Yes

[@jonswe5753]

How come the train to Stansted for example is more expensive than the flight abroad?

[@boykotgooglification]

Jon Swe parking charges at stansted is as criminal as the train tickets. Soon we will be forced to pay for breathing fresh air..

[@martinsophroniisccus9006]

You won’t be able to ask the same question after Brexit.

[@cristianchelaru141]

@@martinsophroniisccus9006 ... because will rain with flowers, skittles and unicorns. And everyone will live long and prosper.

[@basemalassi6253]

@@boykotgooglification is split ticket one way

[@Code-on-TRIPapp]

You can also save money if you buy a railcard from TrainPal😊

[@OEPNVInternational]

Thank you for the great tip with trainline. I'm going to travel from Edinburgh to Inverness in December, and I saw prices at about up to 45 pounds one-way, but because of the booking in Advance, I just pay 5 pounds, thats brilliant!

[@BBoyBiff]

its criminal you should have to go to these lengths to save a few quid leeds to london on the day at peak time costs £250 for a return , but if you split your tickets at peterborough it drops about £90 and you stay on the same train its an absolute joke!

[@cookingwithcallum1904]

its legal price discrimination and very smart. it seperates the buissness travelers who can afford to pay more and the normal people who cant

[@MrJimheeren]

@@cookingwithcallum1904 no it’s criminal. Just pay for distance traveled. I used to travel between Amsterdam and Utrecht for a while it only cost me 5,60 per day. 2,80 each way a distance of over 40km

[@Code-on-TRIPapp]

You should try get a railcard from TrainPal with code RT777E

[@5mnz7fg]

I am really shocked how expansive train travelling is in the UK! I mean, tickets of Deutsche Bahn (German rail) are far from being cheap but they are not *that* expansive.

[@agent_605]

It's because the fare structure is ridiculous and our Department for Transport are so inefficient at maintaining the rails that they charge train operating companies ridiculous amounts to access them. The DfT also control most ticket prices too, except for advance fares and some off-peak fares, which can be hundreds of pounds cheaper than the walk-up fare

[@Tttjdger]

5mnz7fg trains in germany are clean and not stink and you have nice space inside. London trains are terrible old smelly dirty and when coming underground its so noisiy.. 🙄🙄 horrible I will understand that we get something good from these transports as we paying expensive tickets.. but unfortunetly not 😏 👎🏼 Pure uk nonsence

[@stephensmith799]

DB own a lot of our freight operations too 😉

[@BennzyPlaysGamez]

Wish I knew about split ticketing earlier! Just bought tickets to London from Manchester for £250, when it’s only £130 if I split ticket at Milton Keynes!!

[@yiyodder]

Did you return them then buy again?

[@nigelkthomas9501]

Luke Bennett try doing Euston to Crewe on WMT and then Northern to Manchester! You’ll save a fortune!

[@1981peacemaker]

Or you could use national express bus for only £10

[@nigelkthomas9501]

Paul I wouldn’t dream of doing that! Long distance bus travel is more often than not completely unreliable.

[@1981peacemaker]

Nigel K Thomas you probably had some bad experiences but as for me i never had any issues

[@DelightfulTravellers]

Great vids. Well done! We truly liked it.

[@CBTvideos]

When you said First Capital Connect, I had to check the upload date.. My hopes was up that the provider was back

[@servertoaster]

Kimchi Gang Well, he also mentions east coast, which went out of business years ago!

[@willmelbourne]

No mention of railcards?!?

[@yiyodder]

That's a saving by itself, it's a railcard !

[@colmflaherty3963]

10 years ago. These things should be updated.

[@misterfunnybones]

Privatize the profits; socialize the losses/expenses. Some of the full-retail rates are comparable to chartering a helicopter.

[@irreduciblerascal]

Renationalise is the answer

[@santiandres5177]

On your commute on 5 day a work week, it there is virtually no savings on even an annual pass when compared to oyster card payasyougo. Its almost like they inflate the prices of your daily paper tickets just to make it more tempting to part with a months salary up front.

[@SamsVlogstrainsmore]

Are buy tickets at virgin trains from London to Manchester seen as your traveling with them, buy tickets with your usual company you travel with as they legally can't charge you booking fees.

[@nigelkthomas9501]

Or you can just buy a ticket and use what’s technically an invalid route! Leeds to Sheffield (Not Doncaster) is £12:30 off peak. Doesn’t say you can’t go via Manchester with it as I’ve done quite a few times! When XC services arrive at Sheffield the conductors nearly always say ‘change here for stations to Manchester and Nottingham!’

[@parabalani]

Wow. This has some incredible info. Hopefully most of it still works in 2021.

[@daredevil3744]

The Government thinks rising rail costs is a good way for railway companies to make money. But that's not the case because rising rail costs price people off railways. What the Government should actually do is to lower the rail costs. This way, more people will live in the UK due to the Government lowering rail costs and passengers are saving more money while railway companies make more money. This might sound like a lie, but railway companies will actually make money due to lowered costs though they think they'll lose money. Discomfort is saving lives.

[@martinjuulandersen9694]

Was visiting a mate in Chester with another mate. We landed in Manchester Airport. It was a little cheaper to get a taxi than taking the train. And easier and faster. It was ridiculous!

[@curtiscarpenter9881]

This information needs to be made more public.

[@abbiryt]

More expensive from LIV to WAC. But two or three times more cheaper from WAC to LIV. Basically cheaper from warring central station that Liverpool station.

[@Joe-cs3fr]

You didn't mention Railcards

[@yiyodder]

That's a saving by itself , it's a railcard.

[@dvidclapperton]

Walk up fares will be more expensive than online fares for the most part. Is it really fair to expect the ticket officer at the station to be able to quickly come up with the cheapest fare involving 5 part split tickets including 2 overlapping split tickets involving 3 trains each way?

[@blackandwhiterag1117]

Rotherham to Rugby in 1964, booking cheap day returns at Rotherham, Sheffield and Birmingham with 4 minutes to get over the footbridge and back at Sheffield. Those were the days. Marvellous !

[@notroll1279]

In a system with plain transparent prices the person at the ticket counter wouldn't have to fool around with split tickets in the first place. In most countries, ticket prices rise degressively with the distance covered - so saving money by split tickets appears to be a pretty British thing - I never heard about this before...

[@djk2509]

There is no first capital connect anymore its Great northern and thameslink.

[@3506Dodge]

How can you buy tickets online without a credit card?

[@TA-yt1qy]

3506Dodge rub money against the screen you idiot it works for me

[@yiyodder]

Doesn't have to be a credit card, they are evil things. Use your normal bank debit/visa card.

[@Pekeboodr]

What is the link to buy national rail ticket from gatwick airport to islington?

[@beckyzwhite]

We may be paying three times as much as our French counterparts, but don't forget that our railway system is at least three times as worse than theirs.

[@asherjackson4504]

A fare on the regional train in Perth Western Australia to Kalgoorlie which is about 340 miles only costs £45

[@agent_605]

You can get fares on London-Edinburgh trains (around 400 miles) for around £30 if booked far enough in advance

[@TA-yt1qy]

Alasdair Clift even cheaper for child tickets. About half that

[@beedgehog]

It’s nice living in Scotland sometimes 😂

[@aiiixaa]

Is East Coast a thing now????

[@shane_gentle]

It's called LNER now.

[@QT480uk]

Train fares are rip off. I'm a rail enthusiast and am starting to observe trains without going on one. Use national express coaches or easyJet, so much cheaper

[@jacksugden8190]

Fares went up today inflation busting season tickets price rises 2nd January 2020 😳.

[@stephensmith799]

Something else you can do: Campaign for Renationalisation of British Railways and NEVER EVER EVER VOTE TORY.

[@petersmit7650]

background music is very annoying

[@tinasilver2281]

Substitute the price of rail tickets for when you need to do this with the NHS to get basic treatment!

[@valentinmuraru3255]

THANK YOU

[@trainsMA]

I got split ticket and got to run 7 coaches and nearly miss our train.

[@Upstreamprovider]

Nationalize the bloody lot.

[@fireofficer6865]

Hello everyone mujha 1 train ticket ki information chahiya us ticket sa koi contact no ya mail ID mil jaye Because mujha 1 person ka bag mila hai us ko bapas dena hai ya ticket UK 🇬🇧 ka hai Everyone help me

[@moose_ringo9161]

Why do they not mention railcards? Most people can get one and they give you 1/3 off! (60% off for children with a Family & Friends railcard).

[@yiyodder]

It's already a saving . It's a railcard !

[@rupes3618]

This is poor I can’t find how to activate the ticket at all

[@carljones7992]

The old age pay part your journey then jump the rest

[@abbiryt]

Season tickets for me is a rip off. I get the train 5times a week so it saves me money if I get them one by one or pre order a direct train which for me is 55p cheaper each ticket. From WAC TO LIV.

[@andyc9902]

I just bought a bicycle. With 200 quid

[@neobhatia841]

Kings Cross Thameslink?????

[@Cloudrak]

Kings Cross St Pancras Thameslink

[@agent_605]

Kings Cross Thameslink existed from when Thameslink opened in the late 1980s until 2007 when St Pancras was redeveloped to take High Speed 1 services. It was far away from the actual kings Cross mainline and underground station so was inconvenient, so it was replaced by St Pancras Thameslink which integrated with the redeveloped station and had much quicker interchanges with mainline at St Pancras and Kings Cross as well as Kings Cross St Pancras underground station

[@cookwithme2358]

Its cost £198

[@arveloatwar]

does this work in ny

[@TransportGeekery]

****London-centric media klaxon****

[@kushalkumargupta718]

will it work in India

[@PravahanSalunke]

Blindly adopting such a system will be a disaster. Maybe IR can allot individual express trains to interested operators, control general unreserved ticket price and leave reservation ticket prices up to the market with a formula to distribute the proceeds from ticket sales between the operator and IR.

[@RaghunandanReddyC]

Why? No train costs that much in India

[@andyc9902]

No

[@PeterPete]

How to cut the cost of your rail tickets? Don't travel by rail!! Simples!!

[@TA-yt1qy]

Peter & Pete this reply adds nothing to the video. If you want to be thrown around, take 2x as long to arrive at your destination and stand next to people who smell like they haven’t showered at all then be my guest and ride the bus.

[@richardlamb5888]

Dark web, c.70% discount 😅

[@allmyothersubscriptions]

Take a coach, its much cheaper!!!!

[@SuperOpticJ]

Isaac O and much longer I ean seriously who has time for that?

[@camcab147]

It is but I get travel sickness on a coach :(

[@Bogeyboy-kz8uu]

I'm a trainspotter, coaches are unacceptable lol.

[@eyechubcunt3322]

Walking is even cheaper

[@dvidclapperton]

The coach is run parallel to only a small percentage of rail lines, and many coach services operate to where there's no train service. So in most cases it's either the extortionate rail journey or the painfully long bus journey, or you may even have no choice and only the bus serves your area.

[@OmarAli19591]

Him “train tickets cost around 2000-3000 pounds” *also him* “you just saved 2-3 pounds”

[@IjtabaHussain]

£2000 - £3000 per annum. Saving £2-3 on a single journey can certainly add up