Great Western Coffee Shop

I'm one of the many Reading annual season ticket holders who is already trying to work out the maths on off-peak TFL fares (separate thread!) but have now found my company has implemented a work from home period for certain staff including me.  The big unknown is for how long.

Specifically, given the gold card has a number of 'free' weeks that cover holidays, I realise that simply cancelling the card may work out more expensive if I then purchase a new one a few weeks later.   That is coupled with the fact that the card was at 2019 prices, and if I renew, I would be paying 2020 prices.

Has anyone figured out the maths to work out how many weeks the break-even point it (whether Coronavirus related or simply taking a long break)?

If not I will try and work it out, and post it here when I have the results.

There is something in the terms and conditions which cover extended periods of sickness whereby its validity is extended. You are not using the railway because of sickness because you have effectively signed off. I would explore that avenue.

Welcome to the forum - just the sort of mathematic juggling that some of our members love.  Oh for being able to phone or message someone and get a straightforward answer!  ;D ;D

But it's not the OP who is sick, and he hasn't signed off but is still working, albeit from home.

In his shoes I would be cross if I was paying for a service that I wasn't using, perhaps for a couple of months.

So one step sideways ... I called up GWR ticket sales and they first told me that I should cancel my ticket.   And then after we talked about how losing the 'free' days would possibly end up costing me more, they said I need to go to the local station to work it out!   

I'm not sure why the station and the telesales team would not have access to the same computers, but anyway...   Next stop Reading Station after the rush hour ends.

You need to see how long your season ticket has been running.  If you cancel late into its validity, it has very little residual value and you might be best just sticking it out.

Or convert it to one from Ryde Esplanade to Ryde St John's.

I've an annual ticket

Found out I was working with someone in Manchester that has had the virus confirmed
So now on 7 day self isolation - I was curious how my ticket could / would be affected

I noticed walking behind the surface car park opposite Didcot Parkway mid morning that it was barely half full, even less than seen during the summer holiday period. Not unusual to see a few scattered spaces on Fridays compared to a full Mon-Thu, but this was something else.  Potentially some wanting a different season ticket refund if that carries on.

Latest info published here: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/coronavirus.aspx

Just been browsing that. No refunds on Advance tickets although apparently I can change it to a future date for a small fee. No exactly helpful especially as many Advance tickets aren't especially cheap.

Do I keep pushing it forward a few weeks until the admin charge outweighs the price of the ticket?

Given govt advice not to travel without good reason, I would imagine TOCs will be under a lot of pressure from the government to change that policy, and rightly so.  LNER is allowing refunds without an admin fee, so there's a clue there as to what government thinks is the right thing to do.

GWR Twitter feed saying no charge but when I go to amend the booking still a £10 admin fee.

Because gov are only advising not telling, insurers won’t pay up, and t&cs don’t qualify for refunds, as it’s still your choice. This is what’s upsetting the pub and restaurant trade, if they had an enforced closure they could claim lost earnings, as it’s advisory they can’t

As soon as anything becomes a told you can’t travel, it becomes out of your control and changes things.

The govt briefing made it clear today that any hospitality businesses closing because of the advisory will be able to claim if they have business interruption insurance, and I presume the financial services regulator will lean on insurers to make sure that is the case. Only problem is.... most such businesses didn't pay for that type of cover, so they are a bit stuffed, whether it's advisory or compulsory.

But the insurance companies are Saying no because it’s only advisory.

No, if you look at the statements from the ABI they are saying the vast majority of businesses don't have that type of cover. The point of whether it's advisory or compulsory is not going to be an issue where the cover is in place. Although it also seems as though most business interruption cover is only in relation to specific risks, eg flood and fire, so this would not be covered even if they have the cover. But that's a different point entirely.

I found a solution - to the refund conundrum. I found a legacy Bignosemac post from 2012 on here. If you have a gold card, the trick is to do a ‘changeover’ to Ryde Esplanade to Ryde St Johns til renewal. By doing that now, I get the full credit refund of the differential, and so for the foreseeable weeks/ months, I only ‘lose’ 52p a day from £188 season ticket. And if I need to travel once on a train I have a gold card anyway.

When normality returns, I can then repay the difference to convert the ticket back to a regular gold card!

Just been looking at the possibility of getting a refund/changing some Advance tickets on GWR website.   If you go to the "Unused tickets refunds" page it is headed by a large photo of a ticket just about to disappear down a drain !!   I suppose someone in GWR thought that was funny ......................

https://www.gwr.com/help-and-support/refunds-and-compensation/unused-ticket-refunds

Further into the process the admin fee is waived but it then kept hanging when i tried to rebook. Guess a lot of people are cancelling tickets at the moment.

Went into Taplow station yesterday (now run by TfL), they refunded my season ticket there and then - no admin charge.

Very impressed.

Was there any information on how the 5/10% discounts might work when it all starts up again?

My employers providing taxis for certain roles so looks like i might not need mine. Just trying to do the sums of 9 months refund (a bit of a guess) vs refund ratio vs losing 10% on renewal.

I think that means if it goes on for more than 2 months its more economical to cash in.

Also look at a changeover to the cheapest local season ticket to preserve it's pro-rata value. Genuinely don't know what happens to the annual discounts in this case. If anyone does know, I would be interested to hear.

TAKEN FROM: www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52002272

Commuters with rail season tickets will receive a refund if they choose to stay at home during the coronavirus outbreak, the government has promised.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said it would "ensure no-one is unfairly out of pocket for doing the right thing".

The refund is part of a package of measures to support train companies.

There has been a 70% drop in passenger numbers and ticket sales have dropped by two-thirds, the Department for Transport (DfT) said.

As a result, the firms responsible for keeping the trains running are facing "significant drops" in their income, the government said.

To stop those firms from going under, the DfT has suspended all rail franchise agreements, which govern things such as how many trains run each hour and and restrict how much the companies that run them can charge for tickets.

Under these contracts, the train operators are generally required to make payments to the government to run services on parts of the rail network.

However, DfT has now suspended these agreements for six months.

Instead, all the money from fares will be paid to the government, which will also take on the financial risk of running the network, to save firms from going under as a result of the slump in demand.

However, the train operators will continue to run the services "for a small predetermined management fee", the DfT said.

GWR page now live

gwr.com/help-and-support/refunds-and-compensation/season-ticket-refunds

Unless I missed it though its still pro-rata over 40 weeks and no mention of what happens to renewal discounts so I'm still in the same situation as my earlier post in that it may not make financial sense yet?

I'll also still be travelling into London one or two days a week. No idea what a daily ticket costs from Twyford costs? About £25? So need to factor that into the sums I'm failing to work out.

I don't expect to make a profit but equally I'd rather not be losing money because of a lack of information or having to work.

Did a change-over on Thursday and with a significant refund due, it has still not hit my card as the slip from GWR indicates. Not happy and quite worried to be honest especially with today's announcement of franchise freezing.

Does anyone know / has anyone read if anything is being done about railcards?

I was wondering if there was going to be any extension to annual railcards? (two for two / family etc)

For the record, my refund arrived 3 business days (including a weekend) after the change-over was effected. Thank-you GWR.

We shall resume normal service once this emergency is over. I'm missing my trains  :(

A Tweet of relevance (https://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1244342813183090689) perhaps

The below is a section taken from an email I got from GWR this morning
I am intrigued what I am supposed to do with my annual ticket, I have one of the plastic touch cards
Also I assumed that the refund would be for the period of time when we are in lockdown, not for the remaining time on the card?
My doesn't expire until September, been house bound for three weeks already, so no idea now what I am supposed to do??


How to apply for your refund

If you bought your ticket at a GWR Ticket Office, through our telesales team or at GWR.com, you’ll need to apply for a refund here
 
You will need to make a note of the refund claim number, as you will need it later.  
  
There is no need to return tickets to us during this time, but to process your refund we will need you to cut your tickets in half, and email a photo of the destroyed ticket to us at: gwr.refunds.evidence@fastrailticketing.com, using the refund claim number as the subject of your email.   
 
Please note that the ticket should be cut in half, so we can still read the information on it and the photo should be taken against a clear background. Failure to do this may result in your refund request being rejected.   

This is why it may not make financial sense to cancel your season ticket.

Very true
Sadly the longer I am working from home the less benefit my season ticket is becoming

I am intrigued because there was this great advertising campaign for people to go paperless yet there is no mention of paperless tickets anywhere in relation to season ticket refunds

Try this link - https://www.gwr.com/help-and-support/refunds-and-compensation/season-ticket-refunds

This is the section you want.

On that next page:

Thank you so much

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/04/train-firms-to-allow-all-passengers-to-claim-ticket-refunds-remo/?utm_source=MSE_Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=14-Apr-20-50602162-1985&utm_campaign=nt-hiya&utm_content=34

Confirmation that you no longer need to visit the ticket office you bought your ticket to claim a refund for Season tickets.