ADVICE WANTED:Weekly or 'PAYG' rail travel for student

HockeyDuo8083

Me: Going back to Uni in August on a PGDE in Scotland which runs Aug 09 to June 10. I will be at Uni Mon-Fri 9-4ish. When on placement I will be taking my car or walking depending on location.
Planning on getting a railcard as will be in FT education.

Been looking on Scotrail website and it's showing around £70 per for a weekly ticket but not sure if I should just get a ticket everyday at the station
I know student railcards don't give you a discount before 9am(??) and not sure if it's cheaper to purchase the night before travel on the internet with collection at the station machines the next morning??

Forgive but I have only been on the train a handful of times and have always booked as far in advance as possible but as i will be using the train everyday I want to use the cheapest option possible and have thought about weekly/monthly tickets.

I will be claiming back the travel expenses through SAAS/SLC in Dec and I know they don't pay the first £159 of any claim.

Any advice from seasoned rail travellers/students would be greatly appreciated.:A

Thank you in advance

dzug1

HockeyDuo8083 wrote: »

Me: Going back to Uni in August on a PGDE in Scotland which runs Aug 09 to June 10. I will be at Uni Mon-Fri 9-4ish. When on placement I will be taking my car or walking depending on location.
Planning on getting a railcard as will be in FT education.

Been looking on Scotrail website and it's showing around £70 per for a weekly ticket but not sure if I should just get a ticket everyday at the station
I know student railcards don't give you a discount before 9am(??) and not sure if it's cheaper to purchase the night before travel on the internet with collection at the station machines the next morning??

Forgive but I have only been on the train a handful of times and have always booked as far in advance as possible but as i will be using the train everyday I want to use the cheapest option possible and have thought about weekly/monthly tickets.

I will be claiming back the travel expenses through SAAS/SLC in Dec and I know they don't pay the first £159 of any claim.

Any advice from seasoned rail travellers/students would be greatly appreciated.:A

Thank you in advance

The railcard DOES give you a discount at peak hours, but subject to a minimum fare which might be more than the normal fare. In July/August the minimum fare rule doesn't apply.

It's unlikely to be cheaper to buy the night before on the internet - it usually needs to be further in advance than that. Always assuming that your journey is one that qualifies for advance reductions - if it's a local service it normally won't.

Any more detailed reply means knowing your journey. Without details of the normal fare it's impossible to say if a weekly will save over dailies or not

westv

If you do more than 3 journeys a week over a year (I think that's the right number) you will always get the best price by going for an annual ticket - probably even allowing for any interest you may have to pay on a loan to get one..

dzug1

westv wrote: »

If you do more than 3 journeys a week over a year (I think that's the right number) you will always get the best price by going for an annual ticket - probably even allowing for any interest you may have to pay on a loan to get one..

Whilst that's a fair generalisation, it's not always true. It can be more or less depending on the journey. And as OP isn't travelling for a full year it requires even more careful calculation.

HockeyDuo8083

Would be going from Inverkeithing to Dundee 7.20am and leave Dundee again around 4/4.30/5pm.

I am thinking a monthly ticket might be best??

dzug1

An anytime return bought with your railcard is £12.70.

A monthly season is £270.40

So you need to do 22 journeys a month to make the season pay