Season tickets monthly vs yearly

cuffey

I have just renewed my season ticket online for the first time - monthly with 3 days added to take me to a weekend. I asked for the start date to be next Monday, as my current ticket runs out today. It arrived - and of course only has an 'expiry date' - so I could in theory use it over this weekend, even though I've not paid to do so.

Now, is it my imagination or does that mean I could have asked for it to start . . . . say next Wednesday, but with the same expiry date, and would've got extra days 'free' travel?!

Altarf

cuffey wrote: »

so I could in theory use it over this weekend

Not legally you couldn't because the ticket is only valid from Monday, even if it does not have a start date printed on it.

I have no idea whether the magnetic stripe encoding is smart enough to have a start as well as a stop date, and the bold expiry date would probably pass a cursory glance at a ticket barrier. Would it get picked up on a more detailed check - who knows.

If it did get picked up, you would be done for not having a ticket, and I suspect if you got caught a second time, prosecuted for fare evasion.

However I agree with you that it is stupid that it doesn't have a start date, and I could see that someone could easily make an innocent mistake because of it.

cuffey

Thanks - I don't intend to do it, because as you say, firstly it's illegal, and secondly, if anyone's going to get caught out, it would be me!

I've also noticed on the website from which I renewed the ticket that you can only 'renew' for tickets of the same or less time. I renewed this particualrly ticket for a slightly longer period than the last time, and with a 2 day gap. I'm suprised that wasn't picked up - but the season ticket is printed with the word renewal (suggesting continuity), so there is nothing on it at all to suggest that the intervening weekend is missing. Even if the chap at the station looked at it very carefully, there's nothing to see, other than the expiry date!

bnorth

its true with monthly you can add odd days and avoid paying for hols and weekends
That only works to an extent though, it can be hard to avoid wasted days eg making sure your monthly expires over a month before Easter or Xmas cos if it expries closer to the hol you have to make it up with weeklys or pay for some of the hol.
also if you have 2 separate 1 week hols within a month you'd have to fill in the weeks in between with 1 week travel cards.

also if you buy your annual in say Dec you can get most of next year at the previous years rate b4 the Jan increase.
Also I have a gold card and sometimes use it at weekends and hols. I also get 1/3 off train tickets and daily travelcards for those who travel with me.

sarah_elton

What you need is a company like mine that pays for your season ticket for you. :money:

Living 40 miles outside London I get much more benefit from this perk than people who live in town.

I am intrigued by the point about losing season tickets twice and having to pay for the replacement. The train company can see on their system that you have paid for a ticket. I wouldn't mind if they charged an admin fee (even one that increased with each loss to deter people). I always assumed I could get a replacement for a tenner or something. Never lost one but I'll warn OH - he lost his and they replaced it. I'll tell him not to do it again in the next year.