Travelling to Burham, too much £££!

[mark7144]

I currently live in West Kensington and will need to travel to Burnham (Slough) from Ealing Broadway most days.

So apparently I will need a Oyster annual card for zones 2-3 which is £600 and then I need an annual season ticket for Ealing Broadway to Burnham for a whopping £1700!

Please someone tell me there is a cheaper way of doing this? It makes me sick

 

[Gizmogle]

That sounds about right. Think yourself lucky, my friends season ticket costs him about £3,000 every year.
But if you add it all up, it is worth it compared to what you'd pay on single/return fares.

 

[mark7144]

My entire travel comes to £2300, I don't consider that lucky
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I don't suppose I could have any reduction for being 21? Like the Young Person's Railcard...

 

[Daniel]

'Fraid not:

Tickets you can't get with a Young Persons Railcard

These are the tickets you cannot use your Railcard for purchasing:

<snip>

Season tickets including Travelcard Season tickets

 

[Tom B]

Plus YPR's aren't valid before 9am anyway.

 

[westcoaster]

why not see how much a burnham to zone 1-3 tc is.

 

[Tom]

Plus YPR's aren't valid before 9am anyway.

Yes it is - minimum fare applies of £16 on SDR/SOR, or £8 on CDS/CDR.

 

[mark7144]

why not see how much a burnham to zone 1-3 tc is.

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean?

 

[adambro]

Yes it is - minimum fare applies of £16 on SDR/SOR, or £8 on CDS/CDR.

9am? No, minimum fare applies before 10am.

 

[Gizmogle]

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean?

Look up the season ticket from Burnham to zones 1-3.

 

[Tom]

Look up the season ticket from Burnham to zones 1-3.

Doesn't exist - Zone 1 through 6 only from looking... the cheapest way looks to be the way you're doing it currently.

I'd look if you can find a different route via Clapham Junction or something.

 

[mrcheek]

why not try moving home?
My annual expenditure on travelling to work = zero.
ten minutes walk....

 

[djw1981]

To be fair, thats why your job will have south east weighting included in the salary to some extent.

 

[yorkie]

Plus YPR's aren't valid before 9am anyway.

??!?!??!

Not sure where you get that idea?

 

[me123]

??!?!??!

Not sure where you get that idea?

I think he means 10am.

YP Railcards have a restriction before 10am Mon-Fri. The minimum you pay after discount is £8. It doesn't apply weekends, bank holidays or in July and August.

I also usually just say you can't use them becuase I rarely have to buy tickets at this time which qualify for a discount.

 

[yorkie]

I think he means 10am.

YP Railcards have a restriction before 10am Mon-Fri. The minimum you pay after discount is £8. It doesn't apply weekends, bank holidays or in July and August.

True, and well documented.

I also usually just say you can't use them becuase I rarely have to buy tickets at this time which qualify for a discount.

Misleading to say that though. What about someone doing York-Leeds at peak time? You have to think creatively and ask for (e.g.) Bradford instead!

 

[mark7144]

A person on a forum I own said this, does anyone understand it?

"I only ask, as when I worked in UK, we had a person who worked in Doncaster but travelled from somewhere in Shropshire and he bought his tickets months in advance - he worked the same shift, knew when the school holidays would be, etc - so he got tickets at really cheap prices."

"I think about £10-£15 for a week return, as against £40+

When we went up to Scotland, we got return tickets for £30 each instead of about £80+ each coz we bought them early."

Look up the season ticket from Burnham to zones 1-3.

Can someone tell me where the best place is to buy tickets online for my particular journey?

 

[Tom]

A person on a forum I own said this, does anyone understand it?

"I only ask, as when I worked in UK, we had a person who worked in Doncaster but travelled from somewhere in Shropshire and he bought his tickets months in advance - he worked the same shift, knew when the school holidays would be, etc - so he got tickets at really cheap prices."

"I think about £10-£15 for a week return, as against £40+

When we went up to Scotland, we got return tickets for £30 each instead of about £80+ each coz we bought them early."

Advance purchase tickets - but they won't be available for your journey.

Can someone tell me where the best place is to buy tickets online for my particular journey?

http://www.firstscotrail.trainsfares.co.uk/ if you just want to buy day singles/returns - if you're doing season tickets then it really is best to do it from an NR ticket office.

 

[yorkie]

A person on a forum I own said this, does anyone understand it?

"I only ask, as when I worked in UK, we had a person who worked in Doncaster but travelled from somewhere in Shropshire and he bought his tickets months in advance - he worked the same shift, knew when the school holidays would be, etc - so he got tickets at really cheap prices."

"I think about £10-£15 for a week return, as against £40+

Yes, he must have done that journey once a week (not every day as you are doing!), and he bought advance purchase tickets, probably VirginValue advance singles.

When we went up to Scotland, we got return tickets for £30 each instead of about £80+ each coz we bought them early."

Yes, probably VirginValue or GNER Advance.

Can someone tell me where the best place is to buy tickets online for my particular journey?

Your regular commute? you won't save money buying online. Some of the TOCs do sell season tickets online ( http://www.firsttranspennine.trainsfares.co.uk/LandingPage.asp?sitecode=FTP ), however I recommend purchasing it locally to ensure it is printed on Gold Card stock. Do you make use of your Gold Card? Some people even go to the expense of purchasing a season ticket they rarely, or never, use in order to obtain one for the benefits.

You are rather unlikely to save money purchasing a combination of tickets if you:
* are travelling every day (a season ticket is going to be best value)
* are travelling relatively short distances (advance purchase won't help, and there is no option for buying SVRs to get round railcard minimum fare restrictions)

I know someone who does a regular commute York-Leeds several times a week (but not daily), who holds a Y-P. He can save money by purchasing a series of SVR returns (the FSR50 offer would have been useful here!) to somewhere like Bradford. However if he travelled every day, or did not hold a railcard, or made a journey that was too short for SVRs to be of any use, then he'd be best off with a season. There is also the option of buying to South Milford on the basis that it's valid via Leeds, but I doubt any routeing loopholes are going to help you on your journey.

 

[mark7144]

I got a Gold Card with my Oyster Annual but I lost it... I'll need to get sent another one.

So will a Gold Card actually benefit me considering I'll be doing it every day?

 

[yorkie]

I got a Gold Card with my Oyster Annual but I lost it... I'll need to get sent another one.

So will a Gold Card actually benefit me considering I'll be doing it every day?

Both your seasons should be gold cards! So you have two gold cards! The only advantage I can see in having two, though, are that you can get 2 Network cards for 2 friends/relatives for only £1 each (worth a combined £40 I believe).

Will it benefit you? Depends what you do! See the benefits.

 

[mark7144]

I don't see it being much use for my family... if it doesn't give me any discount for my daily commute then it's not really that beneficial to me.

 

[Tom]

You can't get a discount for your daily commute, no, however, your Gold Card itself acts as a Network Railcard giving you 33% discount (as well as the Network Railcard, which AFAIK are actually printed as Network Goldcard on the railcard stock)...

 

[metrocammel]

Your regular commute? you won't save money buying online. Some of the TOCs do sell season tickets online ( http://www.firsttranspennine.trainsfares.co.uk/LandingPage.asp?sitecode=FTP ), however I recommend purchasing it locally to ensure it is printed on Gold Card stock. Do you make use of your Gold Card? Some people even go to the expense of purchasing a season ticket they rarely, or never, use in order to obtain one for the benefits.
.

I am almost certain that it is a myth regarding what stock your "goldcard" is issued on. If you have a yearly season between two ex-NSE stations, your ticket is automatically a "Goldcard", regardless of stock- and this means that, even if the ticket is printed on standard Season blue, grey or green stock, if it is a yearly season within NSE stations, you should get the "Gold Card" priviledges. I'm sure many jobsworth ticket clerks would get arsey if you tried to explain this though- so yes- to be safe, Buy it at an NSE station!

I think he means 10am.

YP Railcards have a restriction before 10am Mon-Fri. The minimum you pay after discount is £8. It doesn't apply weekends, bank holidays or in July and August.

I also usually just say you can't use them becuase I rarely have to buy tickets at this time which qualify for a discount.

Obviously, it doesn't effect this situation, but do Virgin's Railcard easments cancel this out? And does anyone know the situation with railcards at peak times now on the new "XC Trains".

 

[Tom]

Obviously, it doesn't effect this situation, but do Virgin's Railcard easments cancel this out? And does anyone know the situation with railcards at peak times now on the new "XC Trains".

No change.

 

[yorkie]

Obviously, it doesn't effect this situation, but do Virgin's Railcard easments cancel this out?

No, but how many SVR fares can you think of that are under £8?

And does anyone know the situation with railcards at peak times now on the new "XC Trains".

No.

However tickets bought before the end of the current NFM period with a Y-P are valid on any train even if they abandon it, because the new franchise holder HAS to honour existing contracts.

 

[Tom]

yorkie, XC posted on their website the railcard situation would remain unchanged...

 

[yorkie]

yorkie, XC posted on their website the railcard situation would remain unchanged...

http://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/TicketsAndFares/Railcards.aspx nothing mentioned there.

After a bit of digging, I eventually found it documented here:-

http://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/AboutCrossCountry/FAQs.aspx#Willcurrentarrangementsrelating