Annual vs. Monthly Rail Season Tickets

4thinthetrilogy

I'm a regular commuter (5 days a week, peak times) into London and have been buying monthly season tickets (£349.50).

My 16-25 railcard does not make me any savings on a daily basis as I travel before 10am and I often use the trains at the weekends.

I'm considering buying an annual season ticket which works out at £3640 - on the face of it a saving of £554, in comparison to buying 12x£349.50 monthly tickets.

Is there anything I should be aware of catch-wise or from personal experiences before going for the annual ticket? It's a hell of a lot of money, and I wouldn't want to regret doing it in the long run.

Thanks in advance.

wealdroam

An alternative might be changing your approach to Monthly Season tickets, such that you avoid paying for days when you won't use the ticket.

Monthly seasons can be for any period from on month to one year.

For example, buy a monthly ticket starting on Monday 15 Aug and ending on Friday 16 Sept. Buy your next ticket to start on Mon 19 Sept... and so on.

With no forward planning, over a year you are saving about twenty days of travel costs.

With more planning to cover bank holidays, annual leave, other absences, etc, greater savings can be made.

Also, will your employer offer an interest season ticket loan?

Livingthedream

Might sound a stupid question, but is you job is secure? nothing worse than buying a yearly season ticket and in a couple of months later your employer informs you of redundancies.

I know you can get a refund, but refunds can get funny especially around the 10 month mark, as the season ticket then hold no value. You should also bear this in mind if you get an employer loan over 12 months.