norwich to stowmarket return season ticket!

[adrian bond]

Hi Guys,

i have been told you guys are the best in the know! here goes;

Im due to start a new job in Stowmarket (i live in norwich) on the 21/11/2011.
I will be leaving norwich monday to thursday on the 07:05am train arriving in stowmarket @ 07:34. I will be returning to Norwich on the 17:19pm train arriving in norwich @ 17:53.

On the friday I will leave norwich normal time, but will return on the 12:50 pm train from stowmarket to Norwich (half day woo woo).

I have looked at season tickets and would consider an annual ticket (its £2300!!!!). I am also expecting to be doing an occasional bit of travelling away from the country on a fairly regular basis so i think a monthly ticket is probably a better bet (i will have the possibility of 46 days holiday over the course of a year so that would take back the saving between 12 x monthly season tickets (£2649.60) if i only used 11 (with correct planning of course

Now does anyone know of a way to reduce this cost at all? I have looked into splitting my journey at Diss (inbetween norwich and stowmarket) but this has worked out more expensive when i have tried.
Im a 30 year old single guy with no disabilities so i dont think im elligble for any of the fantastic rail cards either!

does anyone have any ideas as to how i could save some money as its horrendously expensive at the moment. thanks everyone

Adrian

 

[raildude]

Hi Guys,

i have been told you guys are the best in the know! here goes;

Im due to start a new job in Stowmarket (i live in norwich) on the 21/11/2011.
I will be leaving norwich monday to thursday on the 07:05am train arriving in stowmarket @ 07:34. I will be returning to Norwich on the 17:19pm train arriving in norwich @ 17:53.

On the friday I will leave norwich normal time, but will return on the 12:50 pm train from stowmarket to Norwich (half day woo woo).

I have looked at season tickets and would consider an annual ticket (its £2300!!!!). I am also expecting to be doing an occasional bit of travelling away from the country on a fairly regular basis so i think a monthly ticket is probably a better bet (i will have the possibility of 46 days holiday over the course of a year so that would take back the saving between 12 x monthly season tickets (£2649.60) if i only used 11 (with correct planning of course

Now does anyone know of a way to reduce this cost at all? I have looked into splitting my journey at Diss (inbetween norwich and stowmarket) but this has worked out more expensive when i have tried.
Im a 30 year old single guy with no disabilities so i dont think im elligble for any of the fantastic rail cards either!

does anyone have any ideas as to how i could save some money as its horrendously expensive at the moment. thanks everyone

Adrian

Maybe look at the Anglia Plus ticket.

 

[Chapeltom]

Although this probably isn't much help, Norwich to Stowmarket for £2300 a year isn't bad considering its a 72 mile round-trip, a season ticket to Manchester from where I live, 20 miles away is over £2300. Its nearly half the distance, twice the journey time and more in cost.

There are going to be other posters presumably with better ideas, but I don't think its bad value.

 

[cuccir]

You can buy season tickets for any length of time over a week month (corrected, thanks LexyBoy). If you have your holidays planned in advance - I presume that you will- then you can save by buying tickets for very specific lengths of time eg '1 month and 12 days', so that you're not paying for bank holidays, days off or weekends that you don't need.

 

[LexyBoy]

Welcome!

First of all, you don’t have to buy exactly a month – you can buy any period between a month and 10 months 12 days (more than which it’s the same price as an annual). Thus if you know when you’re next going away, buy a ticket valid till then so you’re not paying for travel when you’re not using it. Likewise, if you’re not going away soon, buy up till a Friday and then start your next ticket on the Monday.

If you’ll be using the bus, you can get a PlusBus season add-on which will be much better value than a ticket bought separately.

Don’t feel too bad about not being eligible for a Railcard – you wouldn’t get a discount on Season tickets anyway, and buying daily tickets even with a Railcard would cost more.

Finally, one little thing that some people don’t realise is that a Season ticket is valid at any intermediate stations on valid route(s) between your stations (Norwich and Stowmarket in your case), and that if you’re making a journey beyond either station you need only buy a ticket from the last station your season ticket is valid at – so if you were going from home to London, you’d only need a Stowmarket-London ticket (the train doesn’t need to stop in this case).

 

[bb21]

I am finding it very difficult to discover cheaper deals, mainly because not many flows in Norfolk seem to offer season ticket options.

I would stick with what the two posters above said, and plan your holidays ahead. If you can have up to 46 days holiday in a year, it is very likely that you can beat the annual season ticket price.

Also I agree that this season seemingly offers good value. To put it in perspective, Leicester - Birmingham is of a similar distance, and costs £73.10 for one week, whereas Norwich - Stowmarket is £57.50. Bournemouth - Weymouth is also of a similar distance and costs £63.50 per week.

 

[156402]

Hi Guys,

i have been told you guys are the best in the know! here goes;

Im due to start a new job in Stowmarket (i live in norwich) on the 21/11/2011.
I will be leaving norwich monday to thursday on the 07:05am train arriving in stowmarket @ 07:34. I will be returning to Norwich on the 17:19pm train arriving in norwich @ 17:53.

On the friday I will leave norwich normal time, but will return on the 12:50 pm train from stowmarket to Norwich (half day woo woo).

I have looked at season tickets and would consider an annual ticket (its £2300!!!!). I am also expecting to be doing an occasional bit of travelling away from the country on a fairly regular basis so i think a monthly ticket is probably a better bet (i will have the possibility of 46 days holiday over the course of a year so that would take back the saving between 12 x monthly season tickets (£2649.60) if i only used 11 (with correct planning of course

Now does anyone know of a way to reduce this cost at all? I have looked into splitting my journey at Diss (inbetween norwich and stowmarket) but this has worked out more expensive when i have tried.
Im a 30 year old single guy with no disabilities so i dont think im elligble for any of the fantastic rail cards either!

does anyone have any ideas as to how i could save some money as its horrendously expensive at the moment. thanks everyone

Adrian

Have a look at something called Season Direct from NXEA website.

A quick summary is that it is a Direct Debit scheme and for your journey quotes £209.80 per month. You can leave at anytime but appears you can not rejoin within 3 months. There is also some conditions regarding the notice period etc but best to look into that yourself to see if you can work around that.

However, the best thing about this ticket is that it provides FREE WEEKEND TRAVEL ACROSS THE ENTIRE NXEA NETWORK. Quite a perk considering...