Use your Gold Card on bus and train journeys
Anyone over 60 and some disabled people can use their Gold Card to get free off-peak travel on local buses anywhere in England. Gold Card is also valid for free community transport dial-a-bus trips and for half fare local train travel.
On the buses
To get your free bus ride simply show the driver your Gold Card – the side which has your photograph on it - to prove you travel for free and tell them where you want to get off the bus. Even though you don’t need to give the driver any cash, you will be issued with a ticket.
When you make the return journey you will need to show your Gold Card and you will be issued with another ticket.
In some parts of the country buses may have machines which ‘read’ your card in which case you may have to swipe your card against the machine. If you are unsure just ask the driver what you need to do.
Gold Cards are valid for free travel, off-peak on local buses anywhere in England. You can also get free travel on the Sheffield Supertram.
This means you can travel free after 9.30am up to 11.00pm weekdays, anytime weekends and on bank holidays. If you want to travel before 9.30am or after 11.00pm then you will have to pay full fare.
You cannot get free bus travel in Wales and Scotlland or on long distance express coach services, coach tours, special excursions and on some late night services on Fridays and Saturdays.
These late night services are called ‘premium rate’ services and include:
- Mickleover Blue (MB)
- Spondon Flyer Blue
- trentbarton’s 9.2, 6.3 and H1
- llkeston Flyer
- Red Arrow Nottingham to/from Derby
- Heatherton Harlequin (HQ)
X38 Derby - Burton.
On the trains
If you want to use Gold Card to get half fare train travel you will need to buy your ticket before you board the train if you are travelling from a staffed station otherwise you may be charged full fare. You can pay on the train and get half fare if you are travelling from an unstaffed station.
You can view a map of where you can travel by rail with Gold Card and where you can travel by bus just outside of Derbyshire by clicking on the link in the more information section below.
You can use Gold Card to travel between any of the train stations marked on this map, but only on the routes shown and providing your journey starts or finishes in Derbyshire. Also, if your train journey starts or finishes in Derbyshire you may change trains at any station shown on the map to complete your journey.
You can also travel by train on the Robin Hood Line between Worksop and Nottingham. You can get on and off at both these places and any stop along the way (even though your journey doesn't start or finish in Derbyshire) and still claim your discounted fare.
More information
| Gold Card map (PDF, 105kb) |
