How ‘Split Ticketing’ Could Save You Hundreds on UK Train Travel

In terms of the UK’s mega-expensive practice community, discovering any type of loophole, trick or discount feels fairly bloomin’ nice. So right here’s one you may not have heard of. It’s known as ‘cut up ticketing’, and whereas it’s been round for some time, as of late it’s getting a lot, rather more widespread.

So what precisely is cut up ticketing? Effectively, it’s the observe of shopping for two or extra tickets for a single journey. Routes with much less demand are normally priced decrease, so by chopping up your route into shorter, lower-demand bits, there’s the potential to avoid wasting fairly a bit of money. Supplied you’ve booked the identical practice (and, in fact, that the practice stops on the locations you’ve purchased tickets between), you don’t even should get off. 

Not solely is cut up ticketing completely authorized, however some web sites actively show you how to do it. On-line practice ticket retailer Trainline has boasted a SplitSave service (although just for customers of its app, slightly than the web site) since January 2020, providing low-cost cut up tickets on relevant routes.

And it isn’t simply ticket retailers getting in on the act. LNER (the primary operator which runs routes between London, Yorkshire, north-east England and Scotland) has trialled a ticket class known as Smart Save. LNER’s service is a bit swisher than Trainline’s, just because it permits passengers to maintain one seat for your entire journey.

Now, you might be questioning why LNER doesn’t simply worth its tickets decrease within the first place. And, truthfully, we’ve no concept. We assume that, given all of the nuances in timetables and ticket varieties and stuff, it’s all rather more difficult behind the scenes than you may suppose.

In any case, cut up ticketing may prevent just a few quid on just about any practice journey, gaining you lots of of kilos in the long term. Except for the SplitSave and Sensible Save instruments above, just a few extra websites that make splitting your ticket a bit simpler embrace Train Pal, TrainTickets and TrainSplit.

Did you see this handy map tool, which shows all the direct trains you can get from European cities?

Plus: an exciting new rail service could soon link London and South Wales.