Finding affordable TGV or TER tickets at the last minute for a successful end-of-year celebration can be a challenge, but there are tips, or rather tips, to save on your train journeys.
We know that the golden rule for finding cheap train tickets is to book them in advance. Prices generally increase as the travel date approaches. But it is sometimes possible to find less expensive tickets at the last minute. Whether by registering on an OUIGO waiting list, or by purchasing TER reduction cards for the regions you can cross.
Never underestimate regional TER reduction cards…
Once is not customary, let’s start by discussing the case of TER. If we are to believe the accounts kept by user associations, there are no less than, hang on, 42 TER subscription or reduction cards in France!
Do you know their main advantage, apart from the fact that they allow you to obtain a price reduction on your trips? It is valid on weekends (like the Advantage cards for TGV INOUI and Intercités which are not always useful), but also during the week!
What you need to remember is that regional reduction cards valid on TERs quickly pay for themselves: generally after three journeys. The Tempo card in its +26 Normandy/Paris version, which allows you to travel in Normandy and to/from Paris for 49 euros per year, allows you to obtain a 50% reduction on weekend journeys, and 25% on those carried out during the week. It is always good to take.
So our advice: make sure you find out about the map offered in your region. In addition, the cards generally give the possibility of benefiting from discounts on journeys to neighboring regions. This is particularly the case for the TER ZOU card! from the South Region, which allows you to travel at reduced prices to neighboring regions (Occitanie and Auvergne Rhône-Alpes).
…nor the OUIGO waiting list, which deserves to gain popularity
As far as TGVs are concerned, there are no real good deals (except for possible exceptional promotions that the SNCF can, for example, relay in its newsletter) for last minute journeys. There is still an exception!
This solution can be found from OUIGO, the SNCF subsidiary. So, of course, OUIGOs do not yet cover the whole of France, but the destinations are more and more numerous, the network is increasingly vast, and the still little-known service, called OUIGOSWAP, could interest you.
If this allows you to resell your OUIGO ticket and be reimbursed for almost the entire price, it also offers the possibility of repurchasing a ticket, even if a train is full, thanks to registration on a list of dedicated wait. For journeys like Paris > Marseille, Bordeaux > Toulouse or Strasbourg > Paris, you may be able to save money by opting for an OUIGO ticket, rather than a TGV INOUI ticket.
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