Written September 2026
Festival exits produce one very specific offer: someone has a spare seat, and they are not going anywhere near your city. Take it anyway. The trick is to ride until their route and a good station cross, hop out there, and let a train do the rest, rather than either refusing the seat or dragging them an hour off their way.
Festival forums have run on this move for years. On the eFestivals boards people plan lifts one way and trains the other, and the lift-share threads are full of seats that go to the driver's town, not yours. What was missing is the maths: which station, and what the ticket costs from there.
A search we ran on 1 September 2026, the shape of a Leeds Festival exit: a mate driving back to Manchester, you heading to Liverpool with a 16-25 Railcard. The train all the way from Leeds was £30.75. Hopping out at Swinton, three minutes off the driver's route, the fare was £12.50, on a train arriving 17:31. Less than half the price, for a detour the driver won't feel.
Partway, our free iPhone app, does that check for any drive: every station along the route, real trains around your drop time, real fares with your railcard counted, in about ten seconds. Works best downloaded before the signal dies in the car park queue.
Got the offer of a seat out? Put the drive into Partway and send the driver one link. They pick the stop, you get the train and the ticket. Free, no sign-up.