Season Ticket Question

[whole diary]

[newb]

Hello,

I will be starting a new commute very shortly.. and want to find the cheapest way to do it!

I noticed for a whole year and is alot cheaper than buying monthly but I dont know if I will be there for a year as my contract isn't that long! Can I get a refund on the remainder if it is not? Is there a limit for how long you have to use it?

Thanks

[inspector_blakey]

Welcome to the forum!

I've lifted the full conditions regarding refunds from the National Rail website and pasted them below. Bottom line is that if you turn in an annual season where you bought it then you'll receive the difference between what you paid and what you would have paid (using a combination of monthly or weekly tickets as appropriate) less an administration fee.

If your proposed journey is wholly within the Network Railcard area (see here for details) then an annual season will also be an annual gold card which comes with a range of perks like cheap off-peak first class upgrades and the ability to purchase discounted tickets for yourself and travelling companions.

Full refund details are here:

Refunds

    If you stop travelling and no longer need your Season Ticket, please hand it in at, or post it to, the ticket office where you bought it.
    Any refund is calculated from the date the Season Ticket was handed in. It will be the difference between the price you paid and the cost of a ticket or tickets for the period for which you have actually used the ticket, plus an administration charge (see section 9). Because of the discounts on longer term Season Tickets, refunds are not made pro rata to the periods before/after surrender and Annual Season Tickets have no refund value after about 10 1/2 months. For this reason we recommend that employers' Annual Season Ticket loan schemes are set up so that reimbursements are made in 10 equal monthly payments with two 'free' months at the end of the year, rather than in 12 equal monthly payments.
    There must be at least seven days remaining on a Monthly Season Ticket or at least three days remaining on a 7 Day Season Ticket to obtain a refund (although on some 7 Day Season Tickets there may be no refund value after three days of use, dependent upon the relevant Standard Day Return price.
    In cases of illness, the refund can be backdated if you produce suitable documentary evidence for a period before you hand in your ticket, provided that you have not started travelling again using your Season Ticket since your illness.
    We do not give refunds or allow Season Tickets to be extended for periods of non-use, for example holidays. We do not normally give refunds on duplicate Season Tickets although consideration will be given if you can give written evidence of redundancy, prolonged illness or similar circumstances or if the original ticket is recovered and returned to the issuing ticket office within one month of its loss. Please ask at the ticket office for more details.

[paul7575]

To add to the above IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) if you change jobs and still require a season, they can convert it pro-rata to finish on the same date and you either pay more or get a refund, but in this case it is calculated on a daily basis.

Paul

[newb]

Thanks for the quick reply.

It would be a Gold Card by the looks of things yes.

Bare with me here, I read what you wrote several times and are you saying that unless you're using the annual ticket for 10 months or more there is no point in getting one? Does anyone how much this annual fee is?

Paul - Interesting... thanks.

[ChrisB]

To work out what you'd be due back -

First - work out, in terms of Monthlys, weeklys & daily tickets what you'd have used at the date you surrender it, add on a fee of roughly ^25 & then deduct that from what you've paid. This amount would be returned to you, within 28 days, by cheque. If the amount is negative, you get nowt back.

There is no value in a ticket 10 months or older.

[JayMac]

Welcome newb. If you could let us know what your actual journey will be, then we can also look into the prices for a season ticket and whether any savings can be made using split ticketing.

[eightf48544]

It used to be that you could by a season ticket for any period between 3 months (or was it a month) and a year at pro rata rates. Thus if you were clever you could get a 3 month plus to Easter have a week off. Then another 3 months plus to June or July have 2 weeks off.  Then say another one to just before Christmas/ New Year.

Not sure if odd period tickets are still isued.

I used to get a Gold Card (Taplow All Zones) because I got a loan from my employer and paid it back over the year. It was good because you got a discount on other ex NSE^▸ (Network South East) travel and you could go all over London on it and buy Boundary Zone 6 to X tickets when required. I did Longport and Peterborough on it single journies. Guess how I got between the two?

[Ollie]

Not sure if odd period tickets are still isued.

Yep anything between a month and a year

[eightf48544]

Not sure if odd period tickets are still isued.

Yep anything between a month and a year

Thanks Ollie for confirming that. Maybe that's an option to you to explore if you know your leave dates.

[newb]

Welcome newb. If you could let us know what your actual journey will be, then we can also look into the prices for a season ticket and whether any savings can be made using split ticketing.

I didn't know you could do that!

Its from Crowthorne to London, including underground. I will be working in Zone 2 in West London. I would have liked to go the London Waterloo way, but unfortunatly it takes 20 minutes longer to get to the station compared to 10ish minutes from Paddington. So unless anyone has some bright ideas I'll have to stump up for the more expensive ticket.

Ollie/eightf48544 - Unfortunatly I don't know my leave dates its going to be between 3 months and possibly a year! A pain.

[newb]

Not sure if odd period tickets are still isued.

Yep anything between a month and a year

Thanks Ollie for confirming that. Maybe that's an option to you to explore if you know your leave dates.

I read your post wrong, I read it as 'leave date' not 'leave dates' 

Yes I do know my leave dates so I will do my best to tie these in with my purchase(s). Foward planning is the key!

[cholsey]

Its from Crowthorne to London, including underground. I will be working in Zone 2 in West London. I would have liked to go the London Waterloo way, but unfortunatly it takes 20 minutes longer to get to the station compared to 10ish minutes from Paddington. So unless anyone has some bright ideas I'll have to stump up for the more expensive ticket.

Wokingham to Waterloo trains stop at Clapham Junction.  Depending where you are in Zone 2 you could jump on the overground?  Might even be cheaper without needing to go into zone 1?

[newb]

Unfortuantly this would add an extra hour a day to my commute.  (Compared to Paddington)

Shame, as its so much cheaper..

[Ollie]

If I did regular hours I'd offer to drive you to Twyford seeing as I live in Finch.

I think if you can do specific dates do, otherwise do the year and just apply for refund when you don't need it anymore.