please empty your brain below
Just to Rub it in Brit Rail passes are available in Australia with a special offer for travel until September 2017 as a Two for One or Buy One get One Free.

Peter Watmore | 20.08.17 - 7:42 a.m. | #

ALRcanbe brought with a railcard so 1/3rd off is available.

100andthirty | 20.08.17 - 7:56 a.m. | #

I'm presuming the logic here is that the passes available to UK residents have to be more expensive than the most expensive plausible season ticket or daily ticketing, especially tickets into London. For example, for someone who needs to go to London a couple of times a week on average, the Britrail GB Flexi 15 days in 2 months pass at £477 - that's £31.80 a day - is substantially cheaper than buying e.g. 15 Anytime day returns (e.g from Brighton to London Terminals £50.10 a day - or £751.50 for the two months). Now, about those part-time season tickets that keep being promised...

Radinden | 20.08.17 - 7:58 a.m. | #

UK isn't alone in doing this.

European interrail passes exclude your home country. Japanese rail passes are for foreign tourists only.

Mark | 20.08.17 - 8:05 a.m. | #

Hmm, I'm already hatching a plan involving friends with an overseas address, budget Ryanair flights and feigning a foreign accent whenever the ticket collector calls. Depends if they actually ask to see your passport at any stage in the proceedings I suppose (though dual nationals could work around this)

James | 20.08.17 - 8:06 a.m. | #

In Germany an annual season ticket (BahnCard) for the railway network, including local transport networks in 109 cities, is €4,190 for the year. Basically a tenner a day.

Ewan | 20.08.17 - 8:17 a.m. | #

Yay! Another benefit of me having an Irish passport.

Maurice Joy | Homepage | 20.08.17 - 8:28 a.m. | #

And the britrail pass is now 20% cheaper for foreigners thanks to the little englanders.

ian | 20.08.17 - 8:29 a.m. | #

But still quite expensive.

Leslie Smith | Homepage | 20.08.17 - 8:34 a.m. | #

Funnily I used a Britrail Pass two weeks ago when travelling in Britain. €222 for two persons, nine days and all of Great Britain. Might be a bit unfair, but then again, you Brits can get the German Rail Pass (or Interrail Germany Pass) which is much cheaper than anything we can get. I think these passes are a nice gesture to foreigners.

Simon Hellinger | 20.08.17 - 8:47 a.m. | #

The logic of excluding morning peak hour journeys (before 10am MF) into/out of stations such as Kings Cross, St Pancras, Euston and Birmingham New Street on an All Line Rover (introduced a few years ago) has always been dubious when other London mainline termini are ok - but it's even more annoying when you see overseas visitors can use the much cheaper Britrail pass from those stations in the morning peak.
Many congratulations to Geoff and Vicki - an absolutely amazing achievement by an amazing couple with brilliant videos.

Roger French | 20.08.17 - 8:47 a.m. | #

Same in Japan - the delightfully easy "Japan Rail Pass" isn't available for people living in Japan.

When one return Shinkansen journey from Tokyo-Osaka costs just less than the 7 day pass, you know it's good value!

James Scantlebury | 20.08.17 - 9:23 a.m. | #

I have fallen behind on the All the Stations videos so as far as I'm concerned they're about to go from Settle to Carlisle.
One of the answers to your final question is that a privatised rail system in the UK sends dividend payments to nationalised rail systems abroad who have taken advantage of our largesse.
Daft.

Chris | 20.08.17 - 9:29 a.m. | #

While the marketing bumph on the website's main page does indeed say "You can’t buy a BritRail Pass if you have a UK passport", the actual T&Cs at http://www.britrail.com/britrail-passes/eligibility-conditions-of-use/ merely says "Pass holders must be non-UK residents." The Dutch-language bumph also says nothing about it excluding British passports.

So I think the actual requirement is to not be UK resident, and "You can’t buy a BritRail Pass if you have a UK passport" is an incorrect summary of the terms. Otherwise, UK residents who do not have a passport (or are prepared to hide it and lie convincingly) would also be able to take advantage of a BritRail Pass. I suppose it is plausible that the eligibility rules for buying are different to those for using, but even the sadists who come up with the arcane British ticketing rules would surely not try that one.

Since I have a British passport but Dutch residency, it looks like I could take advantage of this. I'd almost certainly need to take a printout of the T&Cs to show to any grippers that got sniffy about somebody with an obviously British accent travelling on a "foreigner" ticket.

FWIW, there's also an unavoidable delivery charge of €5-8 on top of the advertised ticket price. I assume they learned that wheeze from TicketMaster et al. I didn't proceed far enough with the booking process to find out if there are further charges for e.g. paying with a foreign bank card, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Peter C | 20.08.17 - 9:36 a.m. | #

Being an unashamed railway enthusiast I've done a number of all-line rover tickets in the past. My strategy was to save up vouchers from delayed journeys to reduce the cost - I once saved enough to hand over about £95 in cash for a First Class 7-day rover.

The ticketing staff, whilst being mostly impressed with this strategy, considered using the vouchers to buy an ALR made me a glutton for punishment!

Mike | Homepage | 20.08.17 - 9:55 a.m. | #

The rationale for not allowing certain stations before 10am is in part due to the eye watering prices that a turn up and go ticket costs - London Euston to Manchester is £169 for a anytime single.

Messiah | 20.08.17 - 10:04 a.m. | #

I did an ALR a couple of years ago - £478 for a week at that time, using airbnb and ad-hoc last minute hotel bookings to make my way round the country as I pleased. Friends balked at the price, and I've recently spent the same all-in on six days for two people in Rome including flights. But no regrets re the ALR, a thoroughly enjoyable experience and one I had wanted to do for a long time. Expecting to be routed as an enthusiast by rail staff it came as a surprise when the only query I got over the ticket was from an older guard on a Hull- Leeds service who asked if I was a Railway Chaplain!

Older hands will say they won't do one now, how the inflation of the ticket price over the years has made it poor value, etc etc, and they have a point, but I do think anyone tempted to do it should just try it the once, especially if you have limited experience of travelling in other parts of the country and have a lot of sights/lines you want to tick off. Once you have a rounded view of the country you can try a cheaper regional rover ticket and focus on a specific area later (I did a FONE rover the following year basing myself in Bradford for about half of the cost of the first trip).

Nico | 20.08.17 - 10:40 a.m. | #

It looks as if anyone qualifying with certain railcards could get a reduced price of around £492?

rashbre | Homepage | 20.08.17 - 10:47 a.m. | #

"Look, overseas tourists can even buy a 22-day go-anywhere rail ticket for less money than Britons pay for 7 days. How can that fare be fair?"

Look, Britons speak a world language without effort as it's their mother tongue. Millions of people struggle to learn English. How can this be fair? ;-)

Welcome | 20.08.17 - 10:50 a.m. | #

As an Irishman, I've made much use of the BritRail passes over the years and have explored much of the GB Rail network.

Smart timetable planning can reduce the effective cost even further with 1st Class passes, by selecting trains which serve breakfast and dinner too!

www.britrail.net have an offer of a free additional day's travel if you buy before September 18th, which is a great offer.

Funnily enough that website doesn't have the same stringent checks and I've never been asked for details of my return travel from GB, and only once had to show any ID.

John | 20.08.17 - 11:24 a.m. | #

Those with a priv card can also get the standard 75% off an All Line Rover.

The Rover is certainly worth buying, for its turn-up-and-go flexibility if nothing else. Even the few M-F AM peak restrictions at a few stations doesn’t make that much difference with a little careful planning.

How about a trip from one end of the UK to the other?
A direct train (slower, but saves changing) from Aberdeen to Penzance - dep 08:20, arr 21:43, costs £233.70 for an Anytime ticket, making a round trip at about £25 less than the cost of a 7 day Rover :-)
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P31007/2017/08/22/advanced

Rogmi | Homepage | 20.08.17 - 11:37 a.m. | #

In a sense, the unavailability of Britrail passes to UK residents is "unfair". However, there are so many other unfairnesses in transport pricing (let alone in the world in general) that this particular one does not really stand out.

Those who cry "unfair" would perhaps like to see a flat fare (£X per km) for all rail fares. But that would immediately rule out all the "special offers" and off-peak fares. It would also make peaks even peakier.

Malcolm | 20.08.17 - 12:26 p.m. | #

Rogmi not sure how the priv card works but would it give you 25% off the Aberdeen to Penzance fair as well?

Messiah | 20.08.17 - 12:32 p.m. | #

"One end of the UK to the other"

You can go over 280 miles further north than Aberdeen (not all by train) and yet remain in the UK.

Malcolm | 20.08.17 - 1:08 p.m. | #

£495 for a week's travel on the entire rail network strikes me as pretty good, given how far you can go.

Anonymous | 20.08.17 - 3:23 p.m. | #

Well this is very interesting, for this dual national who will soon be non-resident but plans to visit the UK once a year.

The choice of wording is confusing though. The warning on the front page seems clear - you're not eligible if you have a UK passport. But the small print elsewhere states only that it is restricted to non-UK passport holders. What if you are a non-UK passport holder who also has a UK passport? I could email them to ask but I'm worried that might push them to close the loophole! As a non-resident visitor I will easily meet all the other criteria - the only potential snag being the lack of an entry stamp in my foreign passport. Well that and maybe my London accent.

Leo | 20.08.17 - 3:43 p.m. | #

I've followed Geoff and Vicki all the way through their adventure and been fascinated. I don't know much about railways and I've learned a lot. And they seem to be such a lovely couple, they deserve all the praise they're receiving. The fun will continue for a week or so as the rest of the videos come out, but after that what do I do with my life ??? (strictly rhetorical question)
No, I won't be following in their footsteps. Much as I've come to appreciate the rail network more, the inaccessibility is a real downer for someone with mobility difficulties.

Caz | 20.08.17 - 4:16 p.m. | #

This is why I voted leave. Brexit will sort this out, right? 🤣

(Comment typed whilst actually ... NOT on a train for the first time in many weeks! Thanks, DG)

Geofftech | 20.08.17 - 4:43 p.m. | #

Also, something interesting to note - we met an Australian couple in edinburgh on our travels and they had these tickets and showed us them. And get this - they don't have to be used for consecutive days, you can choose to not travel one day and carry on using the pass the next day, it has a date stamp system incorporated into it ...

Geofftech | 20.08.17 - 4:47 p.m. | #

I've done several All Line Rovers but mostly when they were unrestricted. I was also lucky enough to have staff discount which made them very affordable. I've also done a few Inter-Rails, the old Benelux Rover and TTB ticket (all buses and trams too) and a Japan Rail Pass.

My first trip took in Scotland, the Settle & Carlisle, Wales and the West Country. I have very fond memories of that trip in BR days. The only train to run late in the week was the final one from Truro to London. All the Inter-Rails were fun with some great people met along the way and moments in history experienced (e.g. German unification, visting East Germany, travelling across Yugoslavia before the Balkan wars).

PC | 20.08.17 - 6:13 p.m. | #

It's always worth remembering that if you have a normal, any permitted routes (not advance) return, that as long as you make the outward journey in the first day, with certain exceptions, that the return can be spread over a month with as many stops as you like. In terms of routes, study the ATOC Routeing Guide (with a wet towel around the head!). For example, London up to Edinburgh via Cambridge. Then back via Carlisle, Settle, Leeds, Derby & Leicester. Or Carlisle, Cumbrian Coast, Manchester, Birmingham, Leamington Spa... £138. Usual Railcard discounts available = £91.

Nick | 20.08.17 - 6:46 p.m. | #

Just makes me think of Russia where if you're a tourist, they'll charge you ten times the same price as a local!

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 20.08.17 - 7:36 p.m. | #

PC - similar memories. And in East Germany you had to pay for a transit visa FFS!

Chris | 20.08.17 - 9:37 p.m. | #

@Leo, EU/EEA citizens don't get entry stamps, and neither do citizens of 25 other countries who are eligible to register for the electronic passport gates.

Do you really expect ticket inspectors to know the intricacies of immigration control?

John | 20.08.17 - 10:24 p.m. | #

The point Nick makes about "break of journey" on National Rail return trips is very valuable. Even with reduced price Saver or Super Off Peak tickets break of journey is often allowed on the return leg if you check the restriction codes / validity information. Depending on what you want to do in a day / weekend / week you can find some good bargains. Just make sure a ticket gate doesn't swallow your ticket if breaking your trip. Just ask to be let through and say you're breaking your journey.

Some ticket types also allow break of journey on the outward trip too - again always worth checking if you need to visit a couple of places in a day on a particular line of route / valid journey definition.

Sorry for the small plug but Railforums UK has an excellent set of people who advise on ticket queries in the relevant part of the discussion forum - if people want advice.

PC | 21.08.17 - 12:53 p.m. | #

One problem is that you brittish people always have to do everything your own way.

In most (perhaps all?) other countries in the EU the ticket is called "Interrail one country pass". That's about the only major difference. If your tickets would have the same name as those in other countries you would realize that the system is fair as you get lower prices than the local inhabitants if you visit any other country.

Btw this is atleast something where a visitor gets better treatment than local inhabitants. If you visit London the Oyster cards are worse for tourists as you can't get a refund if something happends the last days of your visit, as there is no way to pick up a refund when you have already left London. Also it seems like you can't get access to the online oyster stuff if you don't live in the UK.

MiaM | 21.08.17 - 3:05 p.m. | #

@MiaM Britrail passes are different from Interrail passes. There *is* an Interrail One Country Pass for Great Britain (https://www.interrail.eu/en/interrail-passes/one-country-pass/great-britain) and also one for Ireland. Interrail Passes are offered by all of the European Railways in cooperation, Britrail Passes on the other hand are a product of National Rail/ATOC/RDC.

Simon Hellinger | 23.08.17 - 8:00 a.m. | #

It is based on residence rather than nationality. I have a UK passport but live overseas and have purchased Britrail passes without any problem.

In theory they can ask for proof that you live overseas, though in practice they usually ask for your passport.

Chris | 03.10.17 - 10:36 a.m. | #











TridentScan v2.10.0 | Privacy Policy