How can I get half-price train tickets in Scotland?

A scheme offering half-price train travel in Scotland has been announced by ScotRail.

It was unveiled the day after a UK scheme offering 50% discounts on more than a million train tickets got under way.

These tickets will be valid during April and May as part of an initiative to encourage people to travel more on the railways.

The UK promotion applies to some cross-border services but did not include ScotRail, which runs rail services within Scotland.

It has now announced details of its own scheme, under which all off-peak weekday fares between any two stations in Scotland will be reduced by 50%.

How will the Scottish scheme work?

Passengers will be able to book their discounted tickets between 9 and 15 May through the ScotRail website.

Outward journeys must take place between 9 and 31 May, while return travel must be completed by 30 June.

The offer will reduce the price of an off-peak return between Edinburgh and Glasgow, which is valid for a month, to £9.55.

A similar return ticket between Inverness and Aberdeen will cost £23.85.

Some off-peak day return tickets between Glasgow and Edinburgh will cost £5.20.

How will the UK scheme work?

Discounted tickets are available for journeys made between 25 April and 27 May.

They are available on some cross-border services running to and from Scotland.

Those are operated by the likes of LNER, Avanti West Cost, TransPennine Express and Cross Country.

For example, some advance Edinburgh-London journeys have been cut from £44 to £22 on LNER.

And a trip from Glasgow to London has been reduced to £26 on some Avanti services.

Glasgow to Penrith fares start from £8 and the journey to Carlisle is available for £5.

In some cases, a limited number of tickets for journeys within Scotland will be available as part of this sale.

For example, the LNER service from Scotland to London originates in Aberdeen and so some tickets travelling from Aberdeen to Edinburgh on 28 April were available for £8.10 instead of for £14.80.

A similar ScotRail service was on sale on Tuesday at a cost of £12.90.

Why are the sales happening?

The UK government said its scheme was part of an initiative to ease cost of living pressures on struggling households, and provide a boost to domestic tourism.

It wants to encourage people back on to the railways and fill seats which would otherwise have been empty.

The UK government said the initiative was commercially funded and had received no government money. Therefore there was no extra money coming to the Scottish government as a result.

Transport is devolved to Holyrood, and ScotRail is run by a company owned by the Scottish government.

The previous operator, Abellio, had its franchise ended early amid criticism of the quality of the service.

Scottish Rail Holdings said the fares offer was backed by the Scottish government, and was one of several initiatives which were planned to encourage people back on to trains.

It said the scheme was a short-term offer, and that a fair fares review would be carried out.

What do passengers think about rail prices?

Robert Samson, of the consumer organisation Transport Focus, said the group's research had suggested value for money was the biggest driver for passenger satisfaction.

He said the sales could be one part of a jigsaw used to get passengers back into the habit of getting the train.

About 285 million rail passenger journeys were made in Britain in the last three months of 2021 - just 62% of the levels seen before the pandemic, according to the Office of Rail and Road.

Mr Samson stressed it was important to get commuters back to using the railways to get to and from work, and not just for leisure.

He said it would be necessary to consider a range of mechanisms and different types of tickets suitable for commuters, including more flexible ticket options to support hybrid working.

Now that ScotRail had been taken into public ownership, he said it was time to look at how passengers could be attracted back to the railways over the summer and consider what the future would look like for Scotland's train services.

However, he added it was also important to consider the amount of public money that was going into keeping rail going.