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Peak ScotRail fares scrapped between Glasgow and Edinburgh e.g Current Peak Fare £28.90, New all-day fare £14.90
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Dan_82 Deal editor
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About this deal
Update 1
Now live
Note this is a six month trial - Going by train is on with Off-Peak fares all day for six months from 2 October 2023.
The six-month trial is funded by the Scottish Government, to make public transport more accessible and affordable, and encourage people to ditch the car and travel by train.
We recognise that the rail fare structure can seem complicated and often a barrier for customers, and this trial will make rail fares simpler, and often cheaper. Simplicity and affordability are key considerations in travel decisions, and we are looking forward to offering both to our customers during this trial.
What does this mean for customers?
Customers will be able to travel at any time of the day on Off-Peak tickets, enjoying huge savings. For example, train tickets for travel during traditional peak times between Edinburgh and Glasgow will drop from £28.90 to £14.90.
Examples of some of the other savings on routes in and out of the main cities include:
Will everyone save money with this trial?
We anticipate the trial will encourage more people to use ScotRail services, with cheaper fares early in the day attracting more people to consider travelling by rail.
We will have every available carriage out on the network. For the start of the trial we will have seven or eight carriage services operating during traditional peak hours on the Edinburgh-Glasgow via Falkirk High route, and additional carriages between Airdrie and Balloch, and on the Argyle Line. We do not have any more diesel trains to increase capacity on the routes where they operate, for example between Glasgow/Edinburgh and Aberdeen/Dundee/Inverness.
The ambitious project, which is a first of its kind in the UK rail industry, will support the Scottish Government’s ambition to achieve net zero, providing more people with the opportunity to use trains as their primary form of transport.
Buying train tickets during the trialWe expect more people travelling during the trial, which means ticket offices and ticket machines are likely to be busier. With that in mind, we recommend customers download the ScotRail app to buy Single and Returns as mTickets, which are available to download instantly.
The six-month trial is funded by the Scottish Government, to make public transport more accessible and affordable, and encourage people to ditch the car and travel by train.
We recognise that the rail fare structure can seem complicated and often a barrier for customers, and this trial will make rail fares simpler, and often cheaper. Simplicity and affordability are key considerations in travel decisions, and we are looking forward to offering both to our customers during this trial.
What does this mean for customers?
Customers will be able to travel at any time of the day on Off-Peak tickets, enjoying huge savings. For example, train tickets for travel during traditional peak times between Edinburgh and Glasgow will drop from £28.90 to £14.90.
Examples of some of the other savings on routes in and out of the main cities include:
- Inverkeithing – Edinburgh £11.10 to £6.50
- Perth – Dundee £14.40 to £9.90
- Glasgow – Stirling £16.10 to £9.60
- Inverurie – Aberdeen £11.10 to £8.90
- Inverness – Elgin £22.00 to £14.40
Will everyone save money with this trial?
We anticipate the trial will encourage more people to use ScotRail services, with cheaper fares early in the day attracting more people to consider travelling by rail.
We will have every available carriage out on the network. For the start of the trial we will have seven or eight carriage services operating during traditional peak hours on the Edinburgh-Glasgow via Falkirk High route, and additional carriages between Airdrie and Balloch, and on the Argyle Line. We do not have any more diesel trains to increase capacity on the routes where they operate, for example between Glasgow/Edinburgh and Aberdeen/Dundee/Inverness.
The ambitious project, which is a first of its kind in the UK rail industry, will support the Scottish Government’s ambition to achieve net zero, providing more people with the opportunity to use trains as their primary form of transport.
Buying train tickets during the trialWe expect more people travelling during the trial, which means ticket offices and ticket machines are likely to be busier. With that in mind, we recommend customers download the ScotRail app to buy Single and Returns as mTickets, which are available to download instantly.
More details at Community Updates
Edited by Dan_82, 2 October 2023
70 Comments
sorted byI'm just wondering when these price changes come in if the monthly tickets will also be reduced, as these now seem expensive in comparison. Under these changes if you buy the ticket each day it's about £298 per month versus a monthly ticket at £425 per month. (edited)
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-60842268 (edited)
Scotrail Flexi Pass, Cross Country from Central/Motherwell or even if you can only avoid Central/Queen Street with Scotrail can also be cheaper.
i.e. Disabled railcard can be used in the peak, but the two together you can't.
See the FAQ at the bottom of this page: scotrail.co.uk/off…ong 'What does this mean for railcards?'
Great. Or, I could drive. Even with traffic on the A9 I can make the journey in roughly the same amount of time. I would also have the benefit of my own air in the car, entertainment, and comfort, and the ability to stop anywhere I wish. I can make it to Glasgow and back on three quarters of a tank of fuel if I baby it there and back, so that’s already less than the cost of a train ticket.
No doubt some will make the argument that I’m still paying rose tax, insurance, all that crap. True. Unfortunately there is no option other than vehicle ownership where I live. Public transport is virtually non existent and the little that there is is awful and unreliable. So I’m paying for a vehicle no matter what. I may as well use it to get to Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Until rail travel is much, much cheaper, and is reliable, then I won’t be using it. It’s just not practical or affordable compared to the other options.
With great prices on Ember, Flixbus and Citylink I'd prefer to take the bus these days.
They say they're going to run at full carriage capacity but have no extra trains to put out on that line but from what I've seen personally that line is already mobbed during peak times which will be the core of this entire trial - the workers. Especially with the ULEZ.
It would be interesting to know if they've actually counted footfall already, I'm assuming this is a trial to gain numbers on the extra footfall to see if they need to build or pull extra trains for the lines?
I fear they may gain their extra footfall for a "week", people end up like sardines, that will put them off because comfort>money, then by the time Scotrail addresses the capacity issue, most of these extra people have already given up, they'll put more trains on the line by that point for zero reason, which costs more money of which they'll not gain back and it goes back to square one, lol.
They would have been better off putting an extra train on the busiest peak time lines to begin with even if it costs them more money in the meantime to anticipate the extra footfall so at least people can see they've addressed the capacity issue before it's even become an issue which would change their mentality to sticking with the change long-term, rather than being packed like sardines short-term and saying "bugger this" before Scotrail even realise it's an issue.
Long post but they have to realise the people they are trying to gain are people used to the comfort of a car who would likely rather pay the extra money to commute comfortably than be uncomfortable on an over-packed train to save themselves a few quid a month because Scotrail (__The Scottish Government__) are incapable of forecasting.
Good that the price has cut sure but don't think they'll get the results they're hoping for so we will see. (edited)
Also, the capacity issue is constrained by things like tracks, signalling and platform availability that are mostly controlled by Londinium