MARTIN Lewis’ MoneySavingExpert has explained how to pinch the pennies on train fares as the Great British Rail Sale launches.
From today, customers will be able to buy rail tickets with up to half off for the upcoming spring period, and the money saving guru explains how to make the most of it.
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The sale is said to be the first of its kind by the government and customers can get up to 50% off over 1million tickets on a first-come-first-served basis.
Not all train lines are taking part in the sale, and the reductions on offer vary.
The MoneySavingExpert (MSE) guide explains that the discounts are available through 17 train operators in England, most of which will only be discounting off-peak journeys.
Some of the operators taking part include C2C, Great Northern, Great Western Railway, Greater Anglia, and more.
You can check the full list of operators taking part here.
Although the sale is launching today, the discount is only available on journeys taken between April 25 and May 27 – but you can buy your tickets ahead of time.
To book tickets, customers have to go through the Great British Rail Sale website, which went live at 10am today.
The MSE guide gives examples of the new prices that have come into effect as part of the sale.
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One example of a qualifying discounted journey is a trip from London to Edinburgh, which normally costs £44, but will be £22 in sale.
Here’s Martin’s tips to get even lower rail fare prices.
Use a railcard
MSE confirms that railcards can be used on top of the Great British Rail Sale, as advised the Department for Transport.
This means you could book a journey at a discount of more than 50% off once you combine the discounts.
Railcards, such as a Young Person’s Railcard or Two Together Card, cost around £30 a year and can shave roughly a third off your travel costs.
You can sometimes get them for free – for example, Santander offers a free four year 16-25 railcard to those opening a 123 Student Current account.
Tesco shoppers are also able to convert their points to get annual railcards for a third of the price, meaning you could nab one for around £7 to £10.
If you can’t get one for free or on the cheap, you’re still likely to make your money back in savings if you’re using the trains often enough.
The guide estimates that you have to spend over £90 a year on train fares to benefit from getting a railcard.
There are 10 railcards to choose from, ranging from the 16-17 Saver Railcard to the Disabled Person’s Railcard.
Split tickets
Martin Lewis explains that you could bag cheaper tickets by simply breaking your journey into more than one leg – known as splitting tickets.
It’s entirely legal – the only rule is that the train must call at all the stations you buy tickets for.
Experts at MSE spot-checked prices for 15 journeys across 10 splitting tools and found that buying one single ticket was never the cheapest option.
So MSE recommends using apps like TrainPal and Rail Europe to help you figure out the logistics behind splitting the journey into multiple legs.
But fear not – just because you’ve got multiple tickets doesn’t mean you’ll have to faff around getting loads of different trains.
In theory, you could sit on exactly the same train for the entire time even when splitting tickets.
Check before buying a return ticket
Just like with splitting tickets into separate legs, it can also be cheaper to buy two one-way tickets rather than one return.
MSE notes that returns should be better value in theory, but often aren’t.
So it’s as simple as buying two single journey tickets, one for the way there and one for the way back, instead of the one return.
If the two single tickets come to less than the return, you’ve made another saving.
Check whether the whole journey is at peak-time
You could be paying more for a peak journey than you might have to.
If your travel starts within the peak-time hours, usually before 10am and then between 4pm and 7pm, but runs out of these hours, you could make a saving.
Splitting the ticket could mean you only pay peak fare costs for the part of the journey that is actually within those more expensive hours.
If you don’t split the journey, the entire fare will be charged at peak-time rates.
So make sure to check whether your journey crosses over off-peak and peak periods and divide your travel tickets up accordingly.
Book in advance
If you know you’ve got a trip coming up, book in advance instead of leaving it to the last minute when train fares can rocket.
Checking tickets about 12 weeks in advance typically gets you the best fares.
However, sometimes rail companies only release timetables 10 or 11 weeks ahead – so you’ll need to keep checking until you spot the advance tickets appear.
Make sure to be quick, as there are often limited numbers of tickets available at the cheapest fares, and early-bird tickets get snapped up very quickly.
Buy a season ticket
Rail commuters can save serious amounts by buying a season ticket rather than paying for individual journeys.
You can use National Rail’s season ticket calculator to work out if you’ll make a saving.
MSE warns that some journeys have multiple season ticket options, which should be checked carefully to avoid overpaying.
For example, a 12-month Guildford to London season ticket with a London travelcard costs £5,728, or a Clandon and Woking travelcard costs £4,744 – meaning customers could save almost £1,000 picking the latter.
If you’re on Universal Credit, the Flexible Support Fund could help you with travel costs in certain situations, for example if you’re travelling to an interview.
Elsewhere, one driver saves £2,500 a year on his commute to work by giving strangers lifts.
And one Southern Rail customer uses a credit card clause to get a £2,400 refund for delays.
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