Rail season tickets for Children

colby1967

My daughter commutes to school from Ashford, Kent to London on a daily basis. She has another year at school but turns 16 next month, at which point she will become an "Adult" in the eyes of Southern Rail. Her season ticket will double to in excess of £6500.

There does not seem to be any way around this but has anyone challenged rail companies on a similar matter or does anyone know of any schemes?

Thank you

elverson

I'm assuming she uses the High Speed route so one way to save would be a 'Not High Speed' ticket going via Maidstone East or Tonbridge, although that would be a longer journey time.

She can still get a child rate ticket for the first four months after her 16th birthday if the ticket starts before her birthday:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/season_tickets.aspx

A child who becomes 16 years old on the first day of a 'period' Season Ticket/Travelcards pays the adult rate. If the birthday is within the ticket's validity period, but after the first day, the half rate ticket will continue to be valid, but needs to expire up to a maximum of four months after the 16th birthday.

You may already know this but instead of an annual ticket, you can get a custom season ticket for any period longer than a month but shorter than a year, so you can buy one starting today (or the first day of term) and ending on the day before she is '16 years and 4 months'.

colby1967

Many thanks.
Yes, the Maidstone/Tonbridge route is an option but the considerable extra travel time on that journey plus the additional underground makes it prohibitive.
It "erks" me that at 16 and in full time education, one is classed and charged as an adult!

Thanks again for your suggestions.

gazapc

How do individual returns combined with a 16-25 railcard workout?

elverson

You can't use a 16-25 Railcard before 10am so it won't be much use for school travel.

securityguy

elverson wrote: »

You can't use a 16-25 Railcard before 10am so it won't be much use for school travel.

Untrue. "A £12 minimum fare applies on all journeys made between 04:30 and 10:00 Monday to Friday", but if the alternative is a six grand season, that doesn't arise.

Kite2010

I hope the school is worth the extra cost & time in commuting to it