Publicly owned train operators across Britain are offering summer discounts on rail tickets as part of wider government efforts to reduce the cost of family days out during the school holidays.
The Department for Transport said the offers include children’s fares from as little as £1 on some services, cut-price family tickets and on-board activities. The discounts apply across operators running publicly owned services around the country.
The rail offers sit alongside the Great British Summer Savings campaign. The government said children can travel free on buses in August, while single bus fares in England outside London are due to be capped at £2 from January.
Officials said the measures are intended to ease pressure on households facing higher holiday costs and make it simpler to plan affordable trips. They said families may be able to combine discounted train travel with free children’s bus journeys.
Examples listed by the government include £1 off-peak travel for under-16s on Southeastern services. c2c and GTR, which operates Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express, are continuing a weekend and school holiday offer allowing children to travel off-peak for £2 return.
The government linked the discounts to its wider rail reform programme, saying fares have been frozen until March next year, contactless ticketing has been extended to more than 100 additional stations and performance has improved across the country.