The cost of Conference, especially of travel, can be a burden on those of us attending conference, so it’s worth noting that Advance tickets to get to Glasgow on the 3rd & back on the 8th of October are now available on the national rail website.
Advance will be the cheapest available ticket type, but can be used on the booked train only – no open transfers, so choose carefully!
Furthermore, if you are planning to travel with a friend in both directions, it’s a good idea to get a Two Together Railcard – for £30 (£15 each) you get 33% off the cost of the ticket, so for any journey of £45 or more it’s worth it (and you could use it for travel to Liverpool and your regional or state conference as well).
Personally, I’ll be arriving on the Virgin Pendolino from London that arrives at 14:01 on Friday, and leaving on the 16:40 on Wednesday – coach B in both directions. Hope to see you either onboard or at Conference!
* Alisdair Calder McGregor is a member of the party's Federal International Relations Committee.
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An email to those registered for Conference is due from Conference Office giving details of a discount.
The cheapest fares are £21 single from Glasgow-London (before the discount) which is excellent value given the distance.
There is a Facebook group which focuses on trips to save money for those wishing to do Conference on a shoestring.
Facebook group only helpful for those on Facebook, though, Gareth. It’s good to cover as many bases as possible in getting information out there :)… as I keep saying to those who run Connect support… [/Tangent]
Anyway: see you on the train, if not before, Alisdair 😉
As Jennie says, some of us aren’t on Failbook, due to serious reservations over the privacy and intellectual property aspects of its terms & conditions.
I presume Virgin are not doing their extra cheap tickets to conference this time?
Virgin have got their 20% off page up: http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/lib-dems-annual-conference/
Conference reps should be getting the password by email shortly. Personally, I’m travelling by TransPennine Express (from Manchester) so won’t be using the Virgin deal.
For people travelling from the South of England, you might want to consider going up on the sleeper on the Friday night and saving yourself a night in a hotel in Glasgow.
The Virgin offer for 20% off tickets is now available: http://www.libdems.org.uk/save_20_on_your_travel_to_autumn_conference_with_virgin_trains
Note that it only applies to stations served by Virgin; for passengers who need to change onto the Virgin train, you need to book from where you change on. The cheapest London-Glasgow tickets are £16.80 each way (i.e.£33.60 return)
If you’re travelling from somewhere where your normal journey would not be on a Virgin train all the way (e.g. from Liverpool or Manchester) then you need to book using the discount from where you would join the Virgin service (e.g. Preston) and then book a separate ticket without the discount to the interchange.
For people travelling from somewhere near London, you will need a separate ticket to Euston and then a discount ticket London-Glasgow. You can book a single ticket from a TfL zone to Glasgow through Virgin, but Oyster is usually cheaper than the through-ticket (e.g. £4 for zone 6 to Euston; Oyster is £3).
If you’re not sure what your journey looks like, then check on http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ first so you can see where to book from on Virgin (most probably: London, Birmingham, Crewe or Preston).
Thanks for the update Richard.