So I just bought my annual rail season ticket to beat the price rise...

Pmarmalade

There's a 6% rise in Scotland in 2012 and I had been buying monthly tickets previously so I got a yearly one (£460 for me), after a lot of consideration.

The thing is - IMO a yearly ticket it's not a massive or even clear-cut saving. If you ever need to get a refund you are only refunded at the discounted pro-rata price, minus an admin fee. So at any point in the next 12 months I:

Change job to one in a new location
My office location changes (entirely possible as the number of staff growing)
Lose my job
Move house (rented flat so entirely possible)

All savings are lost. Not only that, if I go on holiday for 3 weeks I am paying for those 3 weeks while on a monthly I would have just got a weekly for that month. So any refund beyond that point is then at a loss.

Worse still - if I ever lose it I have to buy a weekly ticket and pay an admin fee while they process my new one as they don't have a completely computerised system here. It's entirely likely I will lose this silly little plastic wallet at some point!

I am going to make a point of filing for every little bit of compensation I can due to delays, cancellations etc. while in the past I wouldn't have bothered.

/rant

wealdroam

Pmarmalade wrote: »

The thing is - IMO a yearly ticket it's not a massive or even clear-cut saving. If you ever need to get a refund you are only refunded at the discounted pro-rata price, minus an admin fee. So at any point in the next 12 months I:

Change job to one in a new location
My office location changes (entirely possible as the number of staff growing)
Lose my job
Move house (rented flat so entirely possible)

All savings are lost.

Not sure how you can possibly say that.
One thing at a time...
Change job to a new location... You can change your season ticket to a new destination and account will be taken of the remaining value of your current season ticket.
My office location changes... isn't that the same point?
Lose your job... ok if that happens a refund less admin fee is entirely appropriate... or are you suggesting that you should be able to buy a yearly ticket and get a refund at the yearly rate?
Move house... your choice.

Pmarmalade wrote: »

Not only that, if I go on holiday for 3 weeks I am paying for those 3 weeks while on a monthly I would have just got a weekly for that month. So any refund beyond that point is then at a loss.

If you were buying a monthly ticket then buy a ticket of the appropriate duration such that it finishes on the day before your holiday. A season ticket at the monthly rate can be purchased for any period over one month up to one year (although you would be silly to get a monthly rate ticket for ten moths or more as a yearly ticket would be cheaper).
If buying monthly tickets, it is a good idea to buy a ticket for five working weeks, starting on a monday and finishing on a Friday (assumes Mon-Fri working week). No point of paying for weekend travel if you will not use it.

Pmarmalade wrote: »

Worse still - if I ever lose it I have to buy a weekly ticket and pay an admin fee while they process my new one as they don't have a completely computerised system here. It's entirely likely I will lose this silly little plastic wallet at some point!

Why are you likely to lose it?
Do you frequently lose cash and/or credit cards?
Treat your season ticket as you would money and you will be ok.

Pmarmalade wrote: »

I am going to make a point of filing for every little bit of compensation I can due to delays, cancellations etc. while in the past I wouldn't have bothered.

Perfectly reasonable.


Anyway, I don't understand that if a yearly ticket is so inconvenient, why did you buy one?

rdwarr

If you get an annual ticket it's like getting "three months free". If you change your circumstances to that you cannot take advantage of that then there's no advantage over monthlies.
But that's not the fault of the TOCs.

property.advert

Color scan it on both sides, email it to yourself and make a laminated facsimile for use in an emergency. Perhaps not totally valid but you never know.

Stonk

property.advert wrote: »

Perhaps not totally valid

To say the least!

Don't do it. You might tempt yourself to believe it's valid, and if caught the consequences can be unpleasant. Just don't lose your ticket, and if you do, then accept you'll be a bit out of pocket, but follow the rules.

Stonk

rdwarr wrote: »

If you get an annual ticket it's like getting "three months free".

Not round here, it aint! It's more like 6 weeks free, and they've got all my money up front when I could be earning interest. If I'm taking a few weeks' holiday a year that I plan a bit in advance, then I reckon I'm better off on monthlies, but it is a close call.

luckwudaveit

I bought my first annual ticket last year on a 0% credit card for 9 months and paid it off in that time.

I was also concerned about losing it, but I'd never lost a monthly.

For me, an annual is about beating the 6% increase, but its also useful during weekends and leave. Other than financial, it also saves the grief of getting a new ticket each month.