Train ticket advice - weekly/monthly

Cholas

Hello all, I'm after a little bit of advice. I am about to start commuting from Cambridge to the outside of London by train daily and have been looking into monthly and weekly tickets.

Please could someone advise whether; if I was to buy a travel card or similar, would I be entitled to a reduction in the price of the monthly or weekly tickets?

wealdroam

Cholas wrote: »

Hello all, I'm after a little bit of advice. I am about to start commuting from Cambridge to the outside of London by train daily and have been looking into monthly and weekly tickets.

Please could someone advise whether; if I was to buy a travel card or similar, would I be entitled to a reduction in the price of the monthly or weekly tickets?

I know of no such 'travel card or similar' that will reduce the cost of weekly or monthly tickets.

Will you be travelling at peak times?
Monday to Friday?
What is your exact journey?
Name the stations and further advice will be forthcoming I'm sure.

Cholas

I'll be commuting at peak times, Monday to Friday from Cambridge (or possibly Foxton) to Welwyn Garden City.

I understood with a travel card (which may only be the case for London travel) that it was possible to get discount on single and return tickets. I wondered if this was also the case for weekly/monthly tickets - if such a thing exists!

wealdroam

Maybe you are thinking of railcards.

Railcards do not offer discounts on season tickets.

LexyBoy

Travelcards are zonal tickets used in London (or when you're travelling from outside London but into the Zones). You're thinking of Railcards, which don't apply to season tickets (though you might benefit from a Network Railcard for leisure travel).

A Season from Cambridge to Welwyn GC would cover you (including from Foxton, as an intermediate station). Welwyn is not in the London Zones so a Travelcard is not available. Your best bet moneywise is either to buy an annual season or 'monthly' tickets of around five weeks to finish on a Friday. Tickets can be issued for any period between 1 month and 12 months. This way, you can avoid paying for weekends and holidays. The annual ticket will give you some over benefits too (similar to a Network Railcard, but less restricted). You need to take a passport photo if you don't have a rail photocard already.

One more tip- if you're travelling beyond Welwyn, you need only buy a ticket from there (or Hitchin if going north towards P'bro) - the combination with a Season ticket allows you to travel on any train, even if they don't stop at those stations (this is specific to using a season and non-season mind!)

maniacmartin

I believe you were thinking of Gold cards, which give discounts when buying other tickets for travel wholly in the Network area (pdf).

The ticket does not need to be a Travelcard (ie include London zonal validity) to be issued as a Gold card. Any Annual season ticket issued at a station in the Network area for travel between stations in that area will be issued as a Gold card.