Moving to England Forums

England Information · Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 22 Home Country: uk

GETTING AROUND IN ENGLAND

RAIL

Britain's rail network connects over 2,000 stations with over 18,000 departures everyday. Therefore, there is likely to be a train going your way! The network is modern and efficient and has state of the art trains including the tilting Pendolino train which connects London with cities including Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The BritRail range of multi-journey passes and point to point tickets is specially designed to meet the needs of overseas visitors to Britain. These tickets can be used on all of the privatised train companies that operate mainline services in Britain. These products can be bought on-line at www.britrail.com, from your travel agent or when you arrive in Britain at the Britain Visitors Centre, Lower Regent Street, London or from Lastminute.com at Victoria rail Station, London.

If you are planning to make a number of trips by rail, then the BritRail Pass is the best value way to do this, and there are excellent discounts for children, youth, seniors and groups. The main types of Passes valid for 2 months (1month if purchased in Europe) are:

BritRail Consecutive Pass
England, Wales & Scotland
or England only
Available for 2,4,8,15,22 days or 1 month consecutive travel

BritRail Flexi Pass
England, Wales & Scotland
or England only
Available for 2,3,4,8,15 days flexi travel

BritRail London Plus Pass
Travel anywhere in South-East England
Available for 2,4 or 7 days travel

You can use these Passes on any train and there is no need to make a seat reservation, although the facility is available should you wish. Reservations are recommended for busy times e.g. Friday afternoon/evening & Sunday evening.

You may of course buy your ticket at the station in Britain. A range of fares exist, the cheapest require you to buy in advance (often 7 days) and that you commit to travel on a specific train. Refund restrictions apply to the cheapest fares. Whilst there are many fares available, they fall into 3 broad categories which are:

Buy Anytime, travel on any train
Buy Anytime, travel on specific off peak trains
Buy in Advance, travel on specific trains

LONDON 'TUBE'

London Underground (or the Tube) runs for up to 20 hours a day (times vary according to location), every day and serves all parts of central London; it is one of the easiest ways to travel. Tickets can be purchased from ticket machines and ticket offices at all stations. Entering and leaving the Underground is made simple by the ticket-operated gates. At the end of your journey, if the value on your ticket is used up, the gate will open but your ticket will be retained. The Underground is divided into six fare zones, with Zone 1 covering central London.

For more information on London 'Tube', visit http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/

COACH & BUS

Most scheduled coach services are run by National Express and Scottish Citylink, allowing you to tour at your own pace on coaches which run to every major town and city in Britain. They are inevitably a little slower than trains but they are an economical alternative. Most coaches are very comfortable and many include refreshments on board. Details about local town and city buses (and post buses which travel around rural areas) can be obtained from local tourist information centres.

There are several ways to save money on coach tickets. If you are aged between 16 and 25, a mature student over 26, or over 50, you can purchase a NX2 (called Advantage 50 for over 50s) which entitles you to up to 30% off normal adult fares on National Express in mainland Britain (children get a 30% discount anyway). They are valid for one year and cost £10.00. Alternatively, a Tourist Trail Pass will give you unlimited travel on all coach services in England and Wales for a choice of 2, 5, 7 or 14 days. Adult prices start at £49.

LONDON BUS SYSTEM

Buses are a great way to travel around the city, ideal for informal sightseeing as well as getting around. There are over 17,000 bus stops all across London so you are never far from a bus route.

There are two cash single fares covering the whole of London. For any bus journey in outer London the fare is just 70p, and for journeys into or from, within, or across central London (Zone 1) the fare is £1.00. Children under 16 years old can make any bus journey in London for a flat fare of 40p (14 and 15 year olds require a Child Photocard).

For One Day Travelcards and longer period tickets, the bus network is divided into four zones. Zone 1 covering central London and Zones 2, 3 and 4 covering outer London. For one day travel passes (zones 1-4) the adults' fare is £2 and the children's fare is £1.

In London there are two types of bus stop which are treated differently:

* White background with red roundel: Compulsory. Buses always stop here unless they are full.

* Red background with white roundel: Request. To stop a bus put out your hand and the bus will stop, unless it is already full. To get off at a Request stop ring the bell once and in good time to let the driver know. Night buses (prefixed with the letter N) treat all stops as Request stops.

* Most of London's buses are red, but some come in other colours; all will display the London Bus Service sign.

Night Buses
Nightbirds should note that there's a very good network of night buses (prefixed with the letter 'N') which get you around for a lot less than the price of a taxi. Nearly all of these start at or go via Trafalgar Square. Night buses run all night.

Tour Buses
A good introduction to the sights of London is an open-top bus tour. Many companies offer hop-on, hop-off tours with full commentary in English, as well as digitally recorded audio versions in many other languages. Ask your local travel agent or VisitBritain office for further details.

Bus Fares
Bus fares can be paid to the driver/conductor once on board the bus. In London it isn't possible to buy a return ticket, therefore a separate ticket will be need to bought for each part of the journey (unless a Travelcard is purchased in advance).

More than 300 ticket machines serve all the stops in the West End used by 60 routes to enable passengers to buy single journey or day pass tickets before getting on the bus.

For maps of the bus network, ask at underground stations.

CAR RENTAL

Prices for hiring a car vary from company to company and depend not only on the size and model of the car but the hire location as well (hiring a car at an airport is likely to be more expensive).

Booking is usually secured by leaving a credit card number with the hire company. Conditions of car rental vary; generally drivers are expected to have held a full driving licence for at least a year (some companies ask for 2 years).

Average minimum age: 23 (lowest 21 years)
Average maximum age: 70 (occasionally up to 80 years)

Approximate car hire charge for 7 days:
Small car: £160.00
Medium-sized car: £200.00
Large car: £300.00

Some car rental companies:

* Alamo Rent a Car (www.alamo.co.uk)
* Avis (www.avis.co.uk)
* British Car Rental (www.bcvr.co.uk)
* Hertz (www.hertz.co.uk)
* Holiday Autos (www.holidayautos.co.uk)

TAXI

For over 300 years, taxis have been part of London life and both the vehicle and driver are licensed to carry passengers. The famous London 'black taxi' still exists but they now come in a variety of colours. London Taxis can be hired by hailing them in the street when the yellow 'For Hire' sign is illuminated. They can also be booked in advance by phone on +44 (0)20 7272 0272.

Taxis can also be found at taxi ranks outside or near most London rail stations and London airports. They are licensed to carry four or five people. A meter registers the fare and it is customary to tip the driver about 10% of the fare.

www.traintaxi.co.uk gives information on whether there is a taxi rank at train, tram or underground stations.

Taxis outside London
Taxis outside London operate in much the same way: the vehicles and drivers are also licensed. Occasionally a traditional taxi can be found but they are more likely to be saloon cars. However, they will still have the illuminated 'For Hire' sign.

Private hire vehicles (minicabs)
Minicabs can be hired in person from minicab offices or booked by telephoning a local minicab office (telephone numbers can be found in the Yellow Pages telephone directory or at www.yell.co.uk. All minicab operators must hold an operating license issued by the Public Carriage Office. Minicabs do not have a meter so it is advisable to agree a fare before starting your journey. It's unadvisable to accept an offer from drivers touting for business on the street; this is against the law.