Slightly Terrified Newbie

Candy0107

Hi,

Looking at your budget for rail fares, can you look at doing the journeys cheaper ? Are you able to buy a rail discount card (network rail card etc) - yes there is an initial outlay, but it makes journeys cheaper.

If you buy a season ticket, look at alternatives. I spent 18 months paying £300 for my monthly pass to get to work, then I looked at alternatives. I will call my journey a-c with a being home and c being workshire.

A-c direct £300
A-b -c splitting journey half way = £140 + £140 = £280
A-d buying a ticket to a station beyond my destination £230

Not too sure whether you have heard of split ticketing, but it is essentially buying 2 tickets for one journey. So, if you were travelling from Exeter to London, find out where majority of trains stop (somewhere like Salisbury) and look at the price for Exeter to Salisbury then Salisbury to London. Just make sure you get a train that stops at the intermediary station.

The last suggestion may take a bit more research, and a break from 'commuters code of not talking to fellow passengers'. You will need to check this out to make sure it works for you. Is the destination close to any army towns new or old? I got chatting to a number of commuters and one of them let me into a secret that they had been doing for years - workshire had a number of army bases near to it and workshire was the place to change trains to travel on to these places. Apparently, travel to bases is cheaper. So I used to get the fast train direct to workshire and flash my ticket to the guard by the barrier to be let through - my ticket wouldn't go through the automatic barrier as it was not for this station. There are 2 conditions in the national rail guidelines that state that you can 'break' your journey (there is a different condition for daily tickets and season tickets).

I hope that I have explained this well enough, but if you have any queries, pm me.

Good luck

Candy xxx

ZenJen

Candy0107 wrote: »

Looking at your budget for rail fares, can you look at doing the journeys cheaper ? Are you able to buy a rail discount card (network rail card etc) - yes there is an initial outlay, but it makes journeys cheaper.

One thing I did notice the other day is that there's a new railcard now for couples who are making the same journey. Although I travel alone for most of my work stuff, we travel loads together for social visits and weekends away. I think that knocks about a 1/3rd off the price for each journey we do together - I could look into that a bit more.

Candy0107 wrote: »

The last suggestion may take a bit more research, and a break from 'commuters code of not talking to fellow passengers'. You will need to check this out to make sure it works for you. Is the destination close to any army towns new or old? I got chatting to a number of commuters and one of them let me into a secret that they had been doing for years - workshire had a number of army bases near to it and workshire was the place to change trains to travel on to these places. Apparently, travel to bases is cheaper.

I believe there are quite a few army/RAF bases in Lincolnshire, so that could end up being a most excellent tip!

I am not that shy and do sometimes end up nattering to people on trains anyway, so will remember to ask if anyone has any bright ideas for cutting fares.

Good advice, thanks!

loveka

In response to your question about the NI, I think there was an option to pay the back payments in installments, but ask them when you phone. They were very informative. I so with I had done it when I was 33!