The uni years are undoubtedly the best of your life, but budgeting as a student is complicated. Travelling is even more daunting, as bus or train tickets are often expensive. Whether it’s your local commute or a longer journey, use these 10 tips for saving on travel.

1. Use Free Inner-City Buses
A nice trick to cut off costs on your daily commute is to use the free metro buses. They are not present in each city, but it’s worth checking out your city’s local transport website and see if your city has one. Free metro buses are available in many big cities, including Manchester and Leeds.

2. Check Out The Price Zones
If you’re in a big city, such as London or Manchester, you should check out the local transport price zones and see where they begin and end. Sometimes, by simply walking to the next stop could help you save by just entering into a different bus zone.

3. Borrow Your Mate’s Pass
This is a nice emergency trick if you live in a city where bus passes are not nominal. If you and your flatmate don’t travel during the same hours, you could buy one pass for both of you.

4. Get A Bus Pass
Whether you plan to share it or not, a bus pass is a cost-effective solution if you commute daily. Annual passes are the cheapest, but if you can’t afford to pay a lump sum in advance, monthly or weekly passes are still cheaper than daily or single journey tickets.

5. Split Your Train Tickets
If you plan to go on a trip, let’s say from London to Manchester, you can save a quid by splitting your train tickets. For instance, if your train stops in Stafford, it could be cheaper to buy a ticket from London to Stafford and another one from Stafford to Manchester. This trick works even if you don’t have to change trains, as long as your train calls at all stations you buy tickets for.

6. Get A Cheap 16-25 Railcard
Another way to save on your daily commute is by investing in a cheap 16-25 railcard. It costs £30 a year (or £70 for 3 years) and gives you a third off discount for most rail fairs, Oyster card, and London travel cards.

7. Use Virgin Trains App
The easiest way to save some money on train tickets is by buying your ticket in advance. However, you can find various discounts and check out the minimum fare for your desired travel date on the Virgin Trains app.

8. Buy A Young Persons Coachcard
Similar to the 16-25 railcard, the Young Persons Coachcard offers discounts of up to a third off journeys to people between 16 and 26 years old. It’s a great alternative to the railcard if you’re mostly travelling by coach.

9. Use Your 16-25 Railcard For Longer
Your 16-25 railcard typically can’t be used once you’ve turned 25. However, if you buy a three-year 16-25 railcard on the day before your 24th birthday, you’ll be able to use it until you’re almost 27.

10. Get Single Instead of Return Tickets
We all know that return tickets are cheaper than single journey tickets, but that’s not always true. It is always best to check before buying and see what arrangement helps you save more.