Every guide in this section answers the same question for one
route: is a private transfer or the train the better way to make this journey?
We drive these routes for a living, so the honest answer is that it depends on
who is travelling, and on three things in particular.
If you are travelling alone, with one bag, city centre to city centre, and
your timing is flexible, the train usually wins on price and often on time. A
single advance fare to London undercuts any car, and Manchester Piccadilly to
London Euston is a little over two hours of usable working time. We say so on
each guide, because a comparison that never concedes anything is an
advertisement, not a comparison.
The picture changes with people and luggage. Rail fares are per person and a
fixed transfer fare is per car, so a family of four or a group of six changes
the arithmetic completely. It changes again with an early flight, a cruise
departure, awkward connections, heavy cases, or any journey that starts or ends
somewhere a station does not serve. Door to door is a different journey from
station to station, and the difference is rarely visible in a ticket price.
A real indicative fare for the route, current journey times both ways, the
roads and rail lines involved, and a clear statement of which option we would
recommend for solo travellers, for couples, and for groups. Fares are fixed and
quoted on your postcodes before you book.
Each guide compares a fixed-price car with the train on one route, door to door, and says plainly where the train is the better choice. Every route we cover, with its fixed fare, is also listed on our transfers page.
