Relocation outside London for job, but travel ???

You could get a 16-25 rail card where you save a 1/3 of the fair. Check it out.

OK cool. thanks for that.

Any idea what's the Birmingham (or ANY other outside-of-London place in UK, e.g. Reading, Basingstoke etc) equivalent to the TfL Oyster card you get here in London, through which you can actually get onto buses? Thanks. Otherwise, I'm clueless how bus driver would accept me on board.

A lot of places don't have an Oyster equivalent. You generally pay the fare when you get on the bus.

There are usually options to buy a weekly or monthly ticket if you make the journey regularly.

Ohhh I see. Rush hr must be a bit slow to get in and board buses, right?

HOW would you go about buying a monthly bus ticket? I'd be making bus journey to and from Work every Mon-Fri...

Thanks!

You'd need to figure out which route you're getting, as there are different operators. And then you'd go on their website, and read how to buy the tickets there - for some you'd still buy it on the bus, but for others you'd need to buy it in advance.

You could get a 16-25 rail card where you save a 1/3 of the fair. Check it out.

Does the 16-26 Rail Card apply for literally JUST Rail travel or for buses (out of London) too? Thanks

EDIT: seems to be JUST for Rail (+Tube), not for the buses. Don't think it'll be worth the £30 cost I'd have to pay for getting it. Rail travel expenses for going to interviews out of London, the firms should offer to reimburse these anyways...

OK cool. thanks for that.

Any idea what's the Birmingham (or ANY other outside-of-London place in UK, e.g. Reading, Basingstoke etc) equivalent to the TfL Oyster card you get here in London, through which you can actually get onto buses? Thanks. Otherwise, I'm clueless how bus driver would accept me on board.

It's for rail and also applies to coaches like national express. Good luck with the interviews!

For bus and tram, you can get a pay-as-you-go top-up Swift Card from Network West Midlands Travel Shops.

Alternatively, you can just pay cash when you get on the bus/tram.

As well as the pay-as-you-go Swift card, you can also get a season ticket Swift card that covers the bus, tram and train in the local area.

Ok nice. Thanks. The pay-as-you-go Swift card sounds V impressive, sounds close to TfL Oyster here in London . Any idea if this PAYG Swift card exists just for Birmingham ? What about Reading ??? Thanks

Hi,

I've grown up in London for all my life pretty much, but tbh relocation outside London (Birmingham or Basingstoke(it's in Hampshire)) seems to be absolutely necessary for me by the looks of things, in terms of securing my dream job. Just the commute/public transport side of things I'm trying to get my head around really (and I don't have a car/driving license nor intend to get it)

I know that to travel from London to, say Birmingham, I'd just use the Railways to make it there. Makes sense and is v much doable. No Bus need too, for the interview/Assessment Day.

Suppose I got the job offer for the firm at their Birmingham office (the preferred office location I put down actually). According to Google Maps, there are no Train stations in Birmingham (as opposed to TfL train stations here, in London), but bus stations I can certainly see exist there, so I presume I'd commute to Work daily by bus, which sounds doable, never mind slightly crowded by the sound of it.

But, what's the equivalent of the TfL Oyster card that I currently use for buses here, in London, for Birmingham's busses ??? What about more generally for buses outside London, like those in Basingstoke, Hampshire? Any ideas?


Thanks

EDIT: I rang TfL up and asked if my Oyster card would work for the busses outside of London, like those in Birmingham, but she goes it wouldn't, which isn't really a surprise though since TfL means Transport for LONDON...

It's for rail and also applies to coaches like national express. Good luck with the interviews!

The Swift card is just for the West Midlands area unfortunately.

If you know the name of the bus operator, you can check on the following link to see if they accept Swift pay-as-you-go.

Click on the operator and look under the "Multi-operator tickets and passes" section to check.

I live in the outskirts of Birmingham and pretty much almost every commuter here uses a Swift card operated by Network West Midlands (equivalent to Transport for London basically).
Have a look on their website for passes for Birmingham, it is always cheap getting a bus pass.
As a regular commuter in Birmingham myself I'm sure I can give you every advice there is.

Any more information needed, please quote me!

Thanks for that . Link didn't show up in your post actually, so would you mind posting it plz, that would be nice. Thanks

Ok, good to hear. Birmingham sounds great transport-wise. Thanks

EDIT: Wow, TRANSPORT FOR West Midlands really is quite similar to TRANSPORT FOR London! Amazing! Makes Birmingham cool to relocate to from London for a job, convenient and nice. Thanks

That's the advantage of living in the region as it covers the whole area!

Here is a link: https://www.networkwestmidlands.com

Whereabouts in Birmingham is the office based?