Newcastle to Darlington - season ticket

[n20998]

Hi all,

I've just found this forum and it looks excellent. I travel from Newcastle to Darlington, usually 4 times a week, for a total of around 160 - 170 times per year. I'm hoping to get some advice on season tickets and other possible ways to make it cheaper...

1) If I get a season ticket for Newcastle to Darlington, can I travel to Durham as an intermediate station? Could I, say, travel from Newcastle to Durham, then back from Durham to Newcastle without any problems?

2) Any ideas to make travel a bit cheaper. The season ticket works out at the same cost as about 166 individual journeys, which is around what I do. Monthly tickets (are these actually a month or 28 days?) don't really help. I don't think I qualify for any type of railcard. The best I can find is possibly using a site which offers points worth about 1% back. Is there anything else I can be doing?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thansk

 

[Tetchytyke]

Season tickets are valid at any intermediate station, so you can use your ticket for any journeys between any of Newcastle, Chester-le-Street, Durham and Darlington.

A monthly ticket is valid for one calendar month. You can save some money across the year by getting "odd period" season tickets, adding a few odd days to a monthly ticket, so that it always starts on a Monday and ends on a Friday.

 

[Merseysider]

With a season ticket, you can use it to make an infinite number of journeys to/from any station on a permitted route between the stations on the ticket, as per the National Rail Conditions of Carriage.

In this case, a Newcastle to Darlington season could be used to travel Newcastle-Durham and back without any issues whatsoever.

I've found an option that would save approximately 10% on the cost of what you pay per season ticket. It's not a loophole or anything 'naughty' but nonetheless I will send it over PM to prevent the train companies picking up on it. Edited to add that I'll only be able to do this once "awaiting activation" changes and/or mods enable your PM facilities!

 

[n20998]

Thanks both for the very quick responses. I hope I get activated soon!

Arctic Troll - I don't understand what you mean by odd periods. How do I do that? The 4 days I use are usually Mon - Thurs, does that help me?

 

[Merseysider]

PM sent. If anything needs further explanation, just send me, Arctic Troll or anyone with "Fares Advisor" in their title a PM

 

[yorkie]

Arctic Troll - I don't understand what you mean by odd periods. How do I do that? The 4 days I use are usually Mon - Thurs, does that help me?

Any period of your choosing between 1 calendar month and 1 year.

Unless you require the Season on other days, it's best to ensure the Season starts and finishes on a work day (taking into account annual leave, bank holidays etc)

So for example you may wish a Season to start this Tuesday (26th) and finish on Thursday the 2nd of July. Then your next Season could start Monday 6th July, and so on, typically 5 week blocks (extending it to 6 or 7 weeks if convenient).

 

[Merseysider]

The National Rail Enquiries season ticket calculator can be helpful to work out the best ticket to buy. You can enter custom time periods or just ask for 1 week/1 month or all options.

 

[n20998]

Thanks everyone for your help, in particular JakeF for the detail in the PMs. Really glad I signed up and asked!