Shall I buy a railcard?

[Anthony Hongz]

I study in London and am not sure if I need to buy a railcard since I would like to travel in UK at weekends and holidays. What kind of railcard should I buy? Can anyone give any advice?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@Anthony Hongz. Welcome to the forum.

A first question... How old are you?

This will help determine / narrow down what railcard(s) you may (or may not) be eligible to purchase.

 

[miklcct]

Do you have a Gold Card already? If so it functions as a railcard as well.

 

[Haywain]

I study in London

Are you a full time student?

 

[Fawkes Cat]

The first question is how much you expect to travel (every weekend? Once a month? Only once in the year?) and - assuming that you're starting in London as that's where you are a student - where you're planning to go (Ealing? Hampton Court? Guildford? Birmingham? Edinburgh?)

The thing is, if you're planning on making more than a couple of journeys in a year, a Railcard will probably save you money. But if you are only travelling very occasionally and locally it's possible that you will never cover the costs of the Railcard.

 

[Runningaround]

I study in London and am not sure if I need to buy a railcard since I would like to travel in UK at weekends and holidays. What kind of railcard should I buy? Can anyone give any advice?

I'm sure there's a list you can fill in to find if you are eligible and it pops up with railcards for your circumstance

 

[Runningaround]

UK Digital Railcards for £30 | Buy Online with Trainline

Buy a digital Railcard online today & enjoy savings of up to 1/3 on UK rail travel. Find out about the different Railcard types, prices & buy online today.

www.thetrainline.com

Doesn't add local Railcards

 

[Vespa]

Different railcards have their own terms and conditions which you should read carefully, it can save you a lot of money if you make more than 4 trips a year round the UK, two important advice and I can't stress this enough, make sure you have it with you when travel and renew it early before it expires so you don't get caught out.

Having a railcard is a no brainer.

I have a disabled railcard renewed every 3 years which is cheaper than an annual renewal it's more than paid for itself.

 

[fandroid]

Just one or two trips long distance will pay for a national Railcard. After that every short trip discount is a bonus. If you are a full time student then the obvious one is a 16-25 Railcard. It's not just for people in that age bracket. My daughter had one in her late 30s when she retrained as a midwife. The other bonus for London-based students is that every offpeak Tube journey fare can be reduced by 30% with a national (not Network card) Railcard. But you must get a London Underground staff member to load the Railcard onto your Oyster Card in order to benefit.

Once you start your travels come back to this Forum for advice on how to get best value when buying tickets.

 

[MrJeeves]

The other bonus for London-based students is that every offpeak Tube journey fare can be reduced by 30% with a national (not Network card) Railcard.

This is an important point that, to me, would make the railcard worth it in the first place! The off-peak daily cap also gets reduced (e.g., Z1-4 is £7.70 rather than £11.70), which is a big difference if you spend a Sat/Sun going around London with friends. 8 days of off-peak daily capped travel in a year already pays off the railcard in my example.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Hopefully we'll hear back from @Anthony Hongz in due course, as he doesn't seem to have been on the forum for any longer / more recently, than five minutes after making his original post.

 

[Ediswan]

Hopefully we'll hear back from @Anthony Hongz in due course, as he doesn't seem to have been on the forum for any longer / more recently, than five minutes after making his original post.

That was only a few hours ago. Maybe they have had lectures to attend ...