Discount on train travel?

helenc1902

Hi all
We have been searching the internet to see if there is any way we can reduce my travel costs into work. i am due to start a new job and this now involves a daily commute on the train. We have looked and i am going to get a monthly rail pass but we just wondered if there was any way to make this cheaper. i am not eligible for any discount rail cards etc and it is only a 30min journey so the split ticketing is not an option.....but just wondered if anyone else had found a way to reduce the train costs??
Many thanks everyone

thelawnet

what is the journey?

helenc1902

Halifax to Leeds and then back again

Jeff_Bridges_hair

Im sur eyou have looked at the prices for a season ticket both monthly an annual

1 month £107
1 year £1120



What you could try and look at would be doing an odd period season of a month and a couple of days to always finish the tickets validity on a friday. You may find it a bit more beneficial over the year what with holidays and such like.

I see that the WYPTE transpot card zones 1-4 is a couple of quid more which actually would give you travel on all trains and buses within those zones which is a nice added benefit rather than the point to point rail ticket above.

Does your place of work do season ticket loans?

redux

Jeff_Bridges_hair wrote: »

What you could try and look at would be doing an odd period season of a month and a couple of days to always finish the tickets validity on a friday. You may find it a bit more beneficial over the year what with holidays and such like.

For instance book the first one to 28th March, which is the Thursday before the Easter weekend, then from Tues 2nd April to 3rd May, and that also fits well with the bank holiday on Mon 6th May so the next would be a month plus 1 day, 7th to 7th.

thelawnet

I would suggest a Sowerby Bridge - Morley season ticket.

This ticket is valid:

between Sowerby Bridge and Leeds
between Sowerby Bridge or Halifax and Huddersfield
between Leeds and Huddersfield

It's valid between Sowerby Bridge and Leeds, since Sowerby Bridge - Leeds is £4.90 single, and Sowerby Bridge - Morley is £5.10 single, so travel via Leeds is permitted.

It's valid for a Halifax - Leeds journey, since Halifax is between Sowerby Bridge and Leeds, and Leeds is between Sowerby Bridge and Morley on a permitted route, as discussed above, and you can use season tickets over any section of their validity.

There may be similar options that are slightly cheaper than this, but this is a better one than buying Halifax - Leeds.

As a very simple example of the savings, let's say you bought an annual Halifax - Leeds season.

This costs £1120

A Sowerby Bridge - Morley annual season is only £940, saving 16%

Now let's say that starting on February 11th, you bought a season valid for 1 month + 5 days (to expire Friday March 15th).

This would cost £105.30

Then you'd start your next season on March 18th (Monday), and this would last till Friday April 19th (1 month, 2 days), so £96.40

Then on April 22nd you'd buy up to Friday May 24th (1 month, 3 days), so £99.50

Then you'd buy another season ticket on May 27th, valid to June 28th (1 month 2days), so £96.40

And then July 1st to August 2nd, another £96.40

Let's say you then took 4 weeks off on holiday = zero.

Starting again September 2nd to October 4th, £99.50

October 7th to November 8th, £96.40

November 11th to December 20th would be 1 month + 10 days = £120.40

Then take off 2 weeks for Christmas (as an example), back on January 6th, run this up to February 7th = £96.40.

And that would then be a full year, at a total cost:

£105.30 +
£96.40 * 5
+ £99.50 * 2
+ £120.40

= £906.70

So a further £33.30 saved by not paying for periods when you are on holiday. And of course you don't have to tie up £1k for a year.

helenc1902

Wow, that sounds great. Just what i was after and to be honest i would never have thought of that option myself. Thank you so much for your help. Could i ask one further question as this is the first time i will have commuted to work on the train.... the monthly train tickets i just presumed that they had to be 30 days long and from the 1st to 1st of the month. Can you start them at any time in the month and can you add days on like you have put in your examples? if so how many days can you add on and how does this work? sorry if i am being a pain just want to get my head around the concept.
Thanks again Helen

Jeff_Bridges_hair

helenc1902 wrote: »

Wow, that sounds great. Just what i was after and to be honest i would never have thought of that option myself. Thank you so much for your help. Could i ask one further question as this is the first time i will have commuted to work on the train.... the monthly train tickets i just presumed that they had to be 30 days long and from the 1st to 1st of the month. Can you start them at any time in the month and can you add days on like you have put in your examples? if so how many days can you add on and how does this work? sorry if i am being a pain just want to get my head around the concept.
Thanks again Helen

You can have them for any period of time you wish to pay for.

Always start it on a monday and always finish on a friday.

spiro

Jeff_Bridges_hair wrote: »

You can have them for any period of time you wish to pay for.

Always start it on a monday and always finish on a friday.

But not on aBank Holiday Monday or Bank Holiday Friday.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

spiro wrote: »

But not on aBank Holiday Monday or Bank Holiday Friday.

Unless they work on them

thelawnet

helenc1902 wrote: »

Wow, that sounds great. Just what i was after and to be honest i would never have thought of that option myself. Thank you so much for your help. Could i ask one further question as this is the first time i will have commuted to work on the train.... the monthly train tickets i just presumed that they had to be 30 days long and from the 1st to 1st of the month. Can you start them at any time in the month and can you add days on like you have put in your examples? if so how many days can you add on and how does this work? sorry if i am being a pain just want to get my head around the concept.
Thanks again Helen

Monthly tickets are much cheaper than weekly tickets, and they last from e.g. the 6th to the 5th of the following month.

Extra days are charged at roughly 1/30th of the monthly rate, so you can buy a season ticket ending to a Friday and then not pay for the Saturday and Sunday before starting a new one on a Monday. So when you start work, e.g., on the 18th of February, you would check what day it is on the 17th of March - it's a Sunday, so it would make sense to buy up to the Friday, so 1 month + 5 days, because you are buying effectively a whole extra working week, but only paying 5/7 of the normal cost.

I would keep the tickets as close to a month as possible, but where you know you are going on holiday in say seven weeks time, it would be better to buy a 1 month + 12 days (or whatever it is) than to buy a monthly and weekly tickets.