Help with planning

Journey Planners

So, you’ve decided to give public transport a go. Perhaps you’re thinking about taking a trip on The Longest Weekend? Well, this is where you can find out more about how to plan your journey.

There are plenty of journey planners around to help you work out the best routes and timings for your trip. Here are some examples:

  • Direct Enquiries has interactive maps and journey planners for lots of attractions across the country.
  • Traveline is a national planner that allows you to plan your trip by bus, coach or train. It also has a phone service (see Help on your Mobile section below).
  • Transport Direct is a national journey planner for door-to-door travel on public transport and by car.
  • National Rail Enquiries is probably the best rail planner around. It also has a phone text service (see Help on your Mobile section below).
  • Trip Times for local bus and tram services in Nottingham.
  • If you’re in London, Transport for London has an excellent journey planner which includes walking and cycling options as well as rail, tube, bus and river services.

Engineering Works

The rail system sometimes operates restricted services to allow engineering works to take place, particularly at weekends. Check out the National Rail website for the latest news.

Manchester Metrolink

Parts of the Bury and Altrincham lines will be closed during Summer 2007 to replace worn out track. You can find further information here.

Route diversions

Sometimes, roadworks can lead to buses being diverted and taking longer to cover their route. Contact your local bus operator for relevant information.

Fares

Cities and regions often have different fare policies and there are different organisations running fare schemes for trains, buses and trams. Young people and disabled people often qualify for concessionary fares. You need to contact the passenger transport authority, local authority, or transport operator in your area to find out more. Find out more about regional fare information.

Bus

Anyone who is classified as disabled is eligible for a bus pass giving them free off-peak travel within the local authority area they live in. This has been extended in some areas, such as on some tram services. Reduced or concessionary fares are sometimes available for under-18s and full-time students. For more information, visit Directgov.

Rail

All young people aged 16-25 can qualify for a Young Person’s Railcard, which gives you a third off most rail travel in Britain. This website also has two-for-one offers and rough guides to cities, including Manchester and Newcastle.

You may also qualify for a Disabled Person’s Railcard - for example if you have a hearing impairment, a visual impairment, epilepsy or some other disability or long-term health condition. As well as giving you discounted rail travel, a Disabled Person’s Railcard can also enable a person travelling with you to claim discounted fares.

Help on the move

The advice and information website Direct Gov has just launched a new mobile service designed for 3G and newer handsets. The service includes up-to-the-minute travel alerts, including delays on road and rail around the UK, national train arrival and departure information, plus careers advice, severe weather warnings and more.

National Rail also has various options for receiving train information on the move, including a new service called TextMe JourneyPlanner which sends journey details from an online journey planner straight to your phone. It is currently available on the O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone networks.

Traveline also has phone and text services.

Up-to-date timetables

Don’t dig out that dog-eared timetable you last used two years ago – go online for the most up-to-date timetable information, or pick up the latest timetable at your local station. Find your local transport operators.

Never tried public transport before?

If you’ve never tried public transport before, you probably have some stuff to learn. You could try asking a friend or family member to talk you through some of the basics, such as buying a ticket, using ticket barriers, and working out the correct bus or train to get on.

Some areas run travel training schemes, which have trainers who talk you through the key information and sometimes accompany you on a trip or two. These schemes, however, are few and far between, but you can find more information at Coolmove. If you are part of a youth organisation or society, why not contact your local bus, tram or train operator and ask them to start up a travel training scheme? Find your local transport operators.

The Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive has put together a website packed with information about how to use public transport. While some of the information may be Manchester specific, it’s a useful starting point.