How Long has it taken for your Railcard to pay for itself

[richw]

I bought myself a Devon and Cornwall Railcard (£10) on Saturday and it had paid for itself in savings made by Sunday lunchtime.

This got me wondering the quickest people's railcards have paid for itself in savings made.

Lets hear how quick your railcards have saved you more than the cost they were to purchase?

 

[bb21]

I remember the first ever Y-P I got. It took all of two minutes to pay for itself.

The card cost £18, ticket bought at the same time Branksome - Aberdeen Saver Return. £115.70 discounted to £76.35, a saving of more than double the card cost.

 

[Urban Gateline]

Well my PRIV Railcard must surely win, it cost £0.00 and saved me money on the first day of issue to get a discounted cross-london ticket!

 

[Squaddie]

I paid £300 for a three-year Swiss "halbtax abo" (giving 50% discount on all rail tickets), and it probably paid for itself within two months.

Next month I'll be travelling to Scotland with a friend; we'll buy a Two Together railcard, which will pay for itself immediately even if we never use it again.

 

[richw]

I remember the first ever Y-P I got. It took all of two minutes to pay for itself.

The card cost £18, ticket bought at the same time Branksome - Aberdeen Saver Return. £115.70 discounted to £76.35, a saving of more than double the card cost.

That will take some beating.
In previous years I've only just been worthwhile, but I've scrapped my car and cant justify another at this time as I live immediately next to one station and work 5 minutes from another- a 7DS is less than half the petrol cost.

 

[Merseysider]

My first one took six weeks to pay for itself; on a return journey from Merseyside to Manchester every weekend.

My current 4 year YP was free off my bank

 

[Kite159]

Network Railcard, paid for itself over the course of a couple weekends

 

[postye]

I bought myself a Devon and Cornwall Railcard (£10) on Saturday and it had paid for itself in savings made by Sunday lunchtime.

This got me wondering the quickest people's railcards have paid for itself in savings made.

Lets hear how quick your railcards have saved you more than the cost they were to purchase?

Our Two Together railcard paid for itself in about 3 minutes with 2 1st Advance return trips to Edinburgh

 

[causton]

Next month I'll be travelling to Scotland with a friend; we'll buy a Two Together railcard, which will pay for itself immediately even if we never use it again.

Considering my next ALR trip.
As the 16-25 railcard doesn't give First Class ALR discount, and the Two Together railcard does... I think this might be another winner!

 

[alex17595]

My Grandparents paid for mine (3 years) for my birthday, and I brought tickets before I had it so do I win?

 

[RJ]

I bought a 16-25 railcard in May this year. I used to discount several dozens tickets to cover commuting costs. Needless to say, it paid for itself that day. Better still, Southeastern paid for those tickets through the RTVs they issued me with.

One happy customer

 

[westv]

What's a Railcard?

 

[andrewkeith5]

My 3-year (£76 considering I had to pay for quick delivery because I'd already booked the tickets!) 16-25 Railcard paid for itself in aroundabout 13 weeks with a variety of long and short journeys. If I were to include the savings my employer made on my travel, that'd probably be about 8/9 weeks.

Howsabout that?

 

[nicobobinus]

My current railcard is a Gold Card discounted Network Railcard bought for me by a generous friend for the princely sum of £1. The first ticket I bought with it was a weekend discounted ODTC, saving me £3 - so it paid for itself instantly.

 

[Be3G]

Bah, I was just about to be slightly smug and tell the thread about my handy £1 railcard, but nicobobinus above has beaten me to it with exactly the same story. (Out of interest nicobobinus, where did you buy the railcard from, as I note you too are in NE London? It was Chingford for mine.)

 

[Sheepyaidan]

What's a Railcard?

Hi,

A railcard basically gives you a discount on train tickets. You pay for a certain length of time. But as you can see in this thread. They normally pay for themselves immediately!

Heres a link to the Railcard website: http://www.railcard.co.uk/

Thanks,

//Aidan

 

[Urban Gateline]

Hi,

A railcard basically gives you a discount on train tickets. You pay for a certain length of time. But as you can see in this thread. They normally pay for themselves immediately!

Heres a link to the Railcard website: http://www.railcard.co.uk/

Thanks,

//Aidan

I think Westv was being slightly sarcastic as they probably aren't entitled to any of the Railcards? (except Two Together if they find someone to go with!)

 

[richw]

I think Westv was being slightly sarcastic as they probably aren't entitled to any of the Railcards? (except Two Together if they find someone to go with!)

I couldn't decide whether west is not eligible and being sarcastic, or overseas and not familiar with our railcard system.

 

[bb21]

What's a Railcard?

Are you per chance one of those unfortunate ones who were too old (just) for a Y-P when they first brought it out, and again missed out (just) when they raised the upper limit to 25?

If so, I believe you should be eligible for a Senior Railcard now.

Please don't take it the wrong way. I am not being rude. I am being nosy.

 

[RJ]

What's a Railcard?

I do my five or so hours a week on the railways and get a Priv out of it - might be an option for you too if you're prepared to do the same?

 

[Searle]

Free with natwest so a total of zero minutes, ez

 

[nicobobinus]

Bah, I was just about to be slightly smug and tell the thread about my handy £1 railcard, but nicobobinus above has beaten me to it with exactly the same story. (Out of interest nicobobinus, where did you buy the railcard from, as I note you too are in NE London? It was Chingford for mine.)

Finsbury Park - not my closest NR station, but did have an open ticket office on the Sunday afternoon when I needed it.

 

[Tetchytyke]

My Gold Card paid for itself instantly, as did my girlfriend's £1 partner Network Railcard.

My Two Together Railcard's just paid for itself with a return trip to Truro in October.

 

[cuccir]

The 3 year 16-25 railcard that I got with my Natwest account back in 2004 must have paid for itself the first day I used it!

The replacement that I paid £10 for two years later after losing my wallet, which Natwest managed to issue as new three year railcard, also paid for itself pretty quickly and made up financially for the cost of the lost wallet

 

[Starmill]

Immediately upon issue, as I already had bought more than £100 of tickets with the discount.

 

[ModernRailways]

Straight away.

Newcastle to London Super off-peak return is £126 (think it was £5 less when I booked), but I got the railcard and it dropped to £83.15 (I believe it was £3 cheaper). So for a £23 railcard, I managed to save just over £40 (or £20 if you want to add in the railcard price).

 

[LexyBoy]

Between me and my wife:

Network Railcard - cost £1, paid for itself on first journey so probably a couple of days later
Family & Friends - cost £30, pays for itself within a month (renew it before summer hols)
Gold Card - cost £1650, not going to pay for itself as a Railcard Probably save around £200 a year, but a lot of this would be doable with a Network Railcard.
Two Together - going to buy one this weekend (£30) along with tickets to Leeds, so a couple of minutes.

 

[bairy]

Two Together. Immediately and then several times over.

We used it for a 3 week holiday that involved a LOT of travelling.

Immediately bought a £83 fare down by around £27 (don't remember exact numbers)
Few days later we used it to get 2 advance 1sts down from £107 to £72.

Over the holiday we spent something around £400 ish, which would've cost us around £600 without. But we didn't completely shaft the TOCs as we used the train where we would've otherwise used megabus, and added in a couple of 1sts where we would normally not have.

 

[westv]

Are you per chance one of those unfortunate ones who were too old (just) for a Y-P when they first brought it out, and again missed out (just) when they raised the upper limit to 25?

If so, I believe you should be eligible for a Senior Railcard now.

Please don't take it the wrong way. I am not being rude. I am being nosy.

I may remember when BR adult fares started at age 14 but I'm not that bl**dy old!