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Traveling outside London
LB
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I just moved to London from the US and I haven't quite got the hang of public transportation just yet. If I want to take a National Rail train out of London, do I have to reserve a ticket, or can I just show up and buy it the day I want to leave (or return)? Is there a difference in price depending on what I do? And can I use an Oyster card, or are the fares the same?
LB on
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You can just show up on the day and buy a ticket at the station or one of the train. It will be more expensive to do this than just going to thetrainline.co.uk and buying a ticket ahead of time.
You can't use an Oyster card outside of London.
Train fares are deliberately complicated, so be sure to interrogate the ticket sales person if you do go to the station to find the cheapest ticket.
In addition to the previous response, you might want to also look into Plusbus, which gives you unlimited bus travel around your destination for a small additional fee on top of your train ticket.
We just booked tickets to come to London from the midlands. On thetrainline, the fare was some £70 each.
By using Virgin Trains, and taking a more indirect route, we got fares for £30 each, an amazing deal. If you let me know details of where you want to go and when, by PM, I don't mind looking at getting some good fares for you and letting you know how to book them. It's a bit of a minefield but you can get good results if you spend a bit of time on it.
Also - if you can commit to getting certain trains at certain times, you can travel cheaper. It's best to avoid rush hour (early mornings, early evenings). In our example, we chose a train out of London at 11:30am, and the seats on it were only £7 each, because we said we would go on that train, and that train alone (i.e. our tickets aren't valid for any other train).
I was also helped very well by the personnel at the stations. They can print you a small receipt that details which trains to take and they know a lot about the various trains leaving and connecting through their station.
I've booked through thetrainline, virgin trains, and easytrain online for the cheapest fares. At one point during my trip I was planning a trip from Whitehaven to Edinburgh, and booked the trip for £40 for 2 people (Whitehaven - Carlisle, Carlisle - Edinburgh, and back), my uncle tried to surprise me by buying our tickets, but he went to the station and his were over £100 for the same trip.
Thanks for the hint about the bus tickets. I saw that when I was buying my ticket but I wasn't sure if it was actually a good deal or not. I will be sure to get that next time I take a trip!
See here for the stations
If you can book far in advance and can travel during the week, I strongly recommend 1st class on Virgin. You can easily drink/eat the advanced ticket's cost on a journey.
Personally I find buses a complete nightmare out in the provinces and avoid them as much as possible.