       | On the road again with The Roaming Pen In April 2008 new transport regulations forced train companies to offer cheap fares but they did not tell them that they had to actively market them. And they don’t. Here are some simple ways to reduce your travel costs: If
you are over 60 you should get a National Bus Pass, these can be used
on any public service bus anywhere in England, but not Scotland or
Wales. It is possible to travel free from Lands End to Gretna Green by
bus, but I don’t recommend it. Despite rumours the new Coalition Government fully support travel concessions there are no plans to make any changes.
National
Express, the long distance coach company, offer Route60 fares for
anyone over that age, this gives a substantial discount. You have to
ask for it, they won’t offer it to you.
A
Brighton to Gatwick Route60 fare is just £6.75 return, don’t forget to
uncheck the insurance option if you’re buying online, or they will add
£1.00. The Gatwick—Heathrow link is expensive at £18.25, double that
if you’re under 60.
Not over 60? All is not lost as National Express offer a Fun Fare this costs just £5.00 for a return to London from Brighton, simple. It does take over two hours though. You can buy these online, at One Stop Travel or on the bus from the driver. Flying ? easyJet has very quietly improved their cabin luggage dimensions. They will now allow you to take a 'standard' size case on board - 56x45x25. They also have a 'no weight limit' condition, so long as you can lift the case into the overhead locker, then there is no problem. This is really good news for for those travelling with carry-on luggage only. Avoid Ryanair at all costs. They have abolished all check–in desks and will only allow online check-in. If you don’t have a boarding card on arrival at the airport you will be charged £40.00. Taking luggage, don’t. You will charged £30 per bag per flight. Paying by any card apart from a Visa Electron will cost £10.00 per person per flight. And they have the highest charges for in-flight food and drink. I expect they will soon be charging extra to actually sit down. They may appear to be the cheapest but you must read the site extremely carefully, don’t ‘scan’ you will end up paying more.There are about 12 flight comparison sites; too much choice (some of it unreliable) doesn’t make life easier - just more confusing. Skyscanner.net and Travelsupermarket.com are about the best there are, but the advice is the same as it has always been – shop around and read all the conditions very carefully then read them again. Trains All these fares are available to everyone regardless of age. The
following may seem complex - but it’s not. All train companies -
including Southern Trains (the same company that runs Brighton &
Hove Buses) have to offer just three types of fare : Advance; Off-Peak
and Anytime. We need only concern ourselves with the Advance. You can
only buy these online or one of the One Stop shops either at the Old
Steine or the One Stop Shop at the Station. Just ask for an Advance
Fare to wherever you wish to travel – Eastbourne or Edinburgh,
literally anywhere in the UK. You need to be reasonably flexible with
your time of travel as they only allocate a limited number of cheap
seats on every train. And you must travel on the train you have
selected and you cannot break your journey. On the Southern Trains
network these tickets cost a basic £3.00 per journey and are available
for travel anywhere regardless of distance on the entire Southern
network; yes anywhere. You can buy an Advance ticket up to 24 hours
before you travel, although the earlier you book the more chance you
have.
There are more Advance tickets available at weekends and less, predictably, during weekday rush hours.
For
long journeys splitting your tickets is usually cheaper. For example
if you want to take a train to, say, Bristol from Brighton, buy a
ticket to Portsmouth, then one from Portsmouth to Bath and so on. You
will be on the same train, you don’t have to get off or change but it
will be much cheaper than buying a direct ticket.
Southern DaySave tickets. These
are available from One Stop Travel shop in the Old Steine or the
Brighton Visitor Information Centre in the Royal Pavilion. You can buy
them on a Brighton & Hove Bus, but they will automatically add
£2.00 for PlusBus which gives you the cost of the bus to and from the
station. A saving if you don’t have a National Bus Pass.
You can’t buy DaySave tickets at the One Stop Shop at Brighton Station or at the ticket office.
Daysave
tickets are by far the best way to travel anywhere on the Southern
Trains Network, there are no restrictions apart from the usual Monday –
Friday rush hour and cost £12.00. You can break your journey and
travel on any train you like after 9.00. The Southern website is
incorrect, stating, as it does, that you have to buy these seven days
in advance – no, you can purchase these on the actual day of travel.
Even
better if you are a group of up to four people it costs just £24.00 –
that’s unlimited travel anywhere on their network for just £6.00 each.
Travelling
to London? Get yourself an Oyster Card, available from any Underground
station for just £3.00, you then ‘load’ it with money and travel on any
tube or bus for half price. Of course if you have a National Bus Pass
you travel on the buses for free of course.
Of
course you can improve on that, if you travel much by train get a
Senior Rail Card , they cost £27.00 per year and are easily available online,
then go to a Tube station with your Oyster card and have your Senior
Rail Card loaded onto it. Then you pay half price PLUS a further one
third discount. Eleven million people are now using their bus passes,
in the UK there are now more over 60’s than under 16’s, grey power does
exist!
You
can use a Senior Railcard for Advance tickets, this gives just a £1.00 reduction to £2.00, but at an annual cost of £27.00 you need to make 15 trips a year to make the cost worthwhile. Southern Trains enquiry number is 0800 138 1016 and that’s
free too!
There
are many websites offering value for money tickets but BEWARE some
charge a hefty commission, avoid Raileasy and the Trainline they both
cost more. By far the most efficient is the newly re-nationalised East
Coast service that runs from Kings Cross up to Edinburgh. They offer
some amazing bargains across the entire rail network. They even offer a
‘Cheap Fare Alert’ service, which will advise you in advance of special
fares from any of the other rail operators. There are many other ways
to reduce the cost of long distant travel but this may help for the
time being.
Don’t
forget the transport companies do not want to sell these tickets, but
they have to, so they make it as difficult as possible, but the effort
is certainly worth it.
Points to Remember:
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