You can always buy your ticket when you travel (if you're going to do that, you should arrive at the station at least 10 minutes before your train is due to leave in case there is a queue) or in advance (and you might get a better price if you do so)

Reduced fares are available for children from 5 to 15 years old, and children under 5 travel free.

Buying on the day

You'll need to decide whether to buy a single or a return ticket, and if you buy a return ticket you'll need to know if you're coming back the same day or on a later date, and whether you'll be coming back on a peak time train.

At all stations except Melksham and Dilton Marsh, you must buy your ticket before you board, or you may be liable to pay a very high or penalty fare. There is an exception made to this rule if there are no facilities to but the ticket at the station - very late at night at a station without an automatic ticket machine, for example, or if the machine is out of order.

At Melksham and Dilton Marsh, you may join the train without a ticket and purchase one at the first opportunity from the conductor.

Note that many special deals, such as "Groupsave" which allows 3 or 4 adults to travel for the price of 4, and Ranger and Rover tickets which give flexible travel within an area for a day or a number of days, may be bought on the day.

Various railcards, which give discounts, are available - there's a young person's car, a senior car, a disabled card, and a forces card, all of which have slightly different terms and conditions attached to them. There is no loyalty railcard which you can buy if you are a regular traveller but make different journeys.

Buying in advance

There is a wide range of advanced fares available on First Great Western trains. Although they usually apply to longer journeys, they may include part of their route on the TransWilts. Such fares are often very good value, but you often have to travel only on the train specified, and will be considered to have no ticket (and thus be subject to a very high fare such as a penalty fare) if you travel on another.

Advanced tickets can be ordered by phone or online, and can be posted to you or picked up at ticket machines at some stations. Note that if you buy an advanced ticket from stations such as Melksham, where there is no ticket machine, you will need to have it posted to you well in advance or make a journey to another station to collect the ticket ahead of time.

Residents of non-UK countries can also buy special tickets known as "Britrail" before they travel to the UK. They are more flexible that most advanced tickets, and are usually much lower cost than tickets bought at the time of travel.

For regular travellers

Season tickets are available, and will save you money if you make the same return trip 3 or more times per week.

Some example fares ...

Rail fares have a reputation of being very expensive in the UK, but most of the TransWilts fares are very good value at around 16 to 20p per mile. There are some bargains - the Swindon to Weymouth groupsave quoted below for example - at under 3p per mile, and some very expensive journeys such as Swindon to Salisbury which costs over £1.25 per mile.

Adult, buy on the day.

Day return, Melksham to Swindon £8.20 (Monday to Friday) or £6.00 (Saturday)
Single, Chippenham to Warminster £8.10
Single, Swindon to Salisbury £53.00

You are allowed to buy two tickets for a journey, for example Swindon to Warminster and Warminster to Salisbury, provided that you catch a train that stops at the 'splitting' station. We rarely advocate doing this for journey wholly on the TransWilts, with the exception of Swindon to Salisbury where you can reduce the single fare of £53.00 (which some consider to be extortionate) to £29.50 day return by splitting at Westbury (£16.00 Swindon to Westbury return plus £13.50 Westbury to Salisbury return)

Day return, Weymouth to Swindon £15.60 (off peak fare, valid on Saturdays) or for four adults + 4 children (8 people) £35.20 off peak (i.e. £4.40 return per person)

To look up prices for Groupsave, select "Groupsave" on the First Great Western site. It's under railcards, even though this fare is not a railcard and is available to everyone.

Further Information

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=4254.0
http://www.britrail.com/