5

When I look on the main Eurostar website about tickets, it only mentions specific-train tickets (of varying levels of flexibility), as a single or a return. I can't see anything there about any sort of unlimited use / season ticket type options.

However, a couple of nights ago I was chatting with some people in a bar in Lille, and they seemed to think that it was possible to buy a special ticket (aimed at commuters) for unlimited travel on the Eurostar starting in Lille. They were all sure that you could get such a ticket between Lille and Brussels, and fairly sure that there was a Lille to London one too.

Try as I might though, I can't find anything about these tickets by googling. Do they exist? Or were the locals describing "something that really ought to exist, but sadly doesn't"?

Improve this question
4
  • I very much doubt it, especially considering their loyalty programmes are very reminiscent of airlines, which of course don't generally have season tickets.
    – AakashM
    Oct 16, 2013 at 12:42
  • I believe you can get a season ticket for travel by TGV, which is similar to the Eurostar, so the model isn't completely unknown
    – Gagravarr
    Oct 16, 2013 at 13:13
  • 1
    Loyalty programmes and seasonal tickets are not mutually exclusive. For example, Swedish railway company SJ has both.
    – gerrit
    Oct 16, 2013 at 13:16
  • @Gagravarr drifting OT a bit, but how do the TGV seasons work with mandatory seat reservations?
    – AakashM
    Oct 16, 2013 at 13:37

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
6

I don't know what your question is, if you want to commute on Lille-Bruxelles or if you want to commute on the Eurostar.

For Eurostar, most likely I would say this is not the case. On the SNCF page for commuters, while there is a link to actual commuter pages for other trains like TGVs and Thalys, there is no such thing for Eurostar, just a link to the frequent traveller program.

As for Thalys, they have frequent traveler passes (called ThePass), with discounts up to 50% offon all your trips on Lille-Brussels with possible connections anywhere in Belgium.

Finally, for TGVs in France, there is an offer (Frequence or Forfait) and you can simulate the price of such a pass. Unfortunately, there is no offer for Lille-Bruxelles nor for Lille-London. To answer @AakashM comment, TGV Forfait pass that offers unlimited rides on TGVs requires an extra fee for every seat reservation (1.5 euro per trip).

On some help page, there is a suggestion to go to a station in Lille to know more about Lille-Bruxelles commutes. I would recommmend to do so, because there are probably quite a lot of people interested in such an offer, the train sales agents probably are used to it.

Improve this answer
3
  • I left Lille last night, so it'd have to wait for another trip to ask in the station. Perhaps someone else will go there first? :)
    – Gagravarr
    Oct 16, 2013 at 13:56
  • At least one detail in this answer is out of date: Thalys started serving Lille April 2014.
    – gerrit
    Nov 19, 2015 at 19:56
  • @gerrit Thanks for the notice, I updated the post
    – Vince
    Nov 19, 2015 at 21:11

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .