Rail to work - advice please!

dandyhighwayman

Hi folks,

I'm moving house soon, and I'll be within 20 minutes' walk of a railway station that'll give me a 20 minute train ride to work. Driving in will take me 40 minutes+ on a good day, so I'm looking at getting the train.

For commuting to work what's the advice regarding cutting the costs? I should be able to adjust my working hours so that I can travel off-peak. Is there any other advice regarding season tickets, railcards etc? I've looked on the main site but it all seems to deal with one-off trips!

Thanks,


Tom

cosmojohnson

What stations will you be travelling between? 'Off-peak' can mean many different times depending on the exact journey.

dandyhighwayman

I'll be traveling between Northampton and Bletchley. I've looked up fares on different days that I'm likely to be traveling to and from work, and discussed the possibility of traveling at the times that have quoted me off-peak prices.

At these prices I've found out that the cost of getting to and from work by train will be very close (on a 'normal' day) to that of driving. What I'm looking for here is some advice regarding how best to cut the cost of commuting this route by train on a regular basis now that I've found the 'standard' cost.

p00hsticks

dandyhighwayman wrote: »

For commuting to work what's the advice regarding cutting the costs? I should be able to adjust my working hours so that I can travel off-peak. Is there any other advice regarding season tickets, railcards etc?

You can't use railcards to buy season tickets.
If you're under 26 then you would be eligible for a Young Persons railcard so it's worth seeing if the savings you'd make would be better using the card than with a season ticket - although you will be restricted to off-peak travel.

With season tickets, there are a few tricks. You can usually get weekly season tickets - which tend to be priced at between 4 and five peak returns. You don't need a photocard for these.

With a photocard, you can get tickets for any period you specify between a month and a year. Juggle the period covered so that you avoid paying for weekends / bank holidays/ annual leave when you don't travel - so for example (assuming you are working Monday to Friday) buy the ticket on a Monday and get it to run for a month and 3 or 4 days as appropriate so it finishes on a Friday. Then get your next one to start the following Monday, so you aren't paying for the intervening Saturday and Sunday.

Will your employer give you an (interest free?) loan for an annual season ticket ? Some companies do

Fares increase annually each January, so if you can afford it it is worth buying an annual season ticket at the end of December to get the benefit of a years travel at the lower prices. And pay for it using a cash back credit card.

dandyhighwayman

Thanks for the advice!

I'm not under 26, unfortunately, and my employer's unlikely to give me a loan for a season ticket.

One issue I'm going to come across is that I travel a fair bit for work, most of this travel will be by car, and if I'm doing my job well enough this will only increase. When I'm 'in the office' I'm sometimes there at weekends, and I don't have particularly predictable habits with regards to annual leave (I've only taken 2 days off since January, with day number 3 coming up this week).

HappyMJ

The cheapest option is to buy an annual season ticket at £1,988 per year which is 40 times the weekly season ticket cost of £49.70 saving you a fair amount. The off peak ticket cost is £9.80 return so the weekly ticket doesn't save you anything but using the weekly ticket means you can get the occasional peak train for no extra cost which would have cost £17.30 a day. It's almost 50 miles there and back so that would have cost about £12.50 in the car in running costs at 25p/mile.

I'd either drive the route or get rid of the car altogether and with the money you get for the car buy an annual season ticket.

wealdroam

A Network Railcard will get you pretty much the same benefits as a 16-25 railcard.

But is does seem from your last post that a season ticket may well be the better option if you are going to be 'in the office' four days a week or more.

dandyhighwayman

Thank you!

I'm unlikely to be in the office four days out of every 5, if all goes well.

rdwarr

When you're working out the "cost of driving" make sure you factor in more than just the petrol.