Lock-down is starting to ease and more travel is likely to take place over the coming weeks and months. What are those of you, who live within the Network Rail Card area and/or Gold Card Area planning to do, to get your third off going forward? I've created a poll.
I initially couldn't decide whether to get the cheapest annual season ticket that includes a Gold Card or a Network Rail Card. However I remembered my old South West Trains Gold Card free-travel tickets, which cam be used on South Western Railway Services, on Fridas [with some exceptions], Saturdays and Sundays. So these. in my case, swing it towards getting the Gold Card.
According to a post by kristiang85, in the Season Ticket refund thread, they were able to retain a Gold Card when switching to the part time Exeter Central to Exeter St Davids season ticket. This is £152.00 for the year. I've assumed one can obtain this. I know there was uncertainty over this being eligible.
A Network Rail Card costs £30.
I've done a comparison between them, of the pros and cons, which isn't complete but covers a fair number of points.
Annual Gold Card:
That is a saving of £1.70. However in order to break even on the £122 additional cost of a Gold Card, one would need to do 72 return journeys within a year. There is no discount for the Network Rail Card on Mondays to Fridays as the full price is under £13. I've not looked at the Off Peak price for this.
If one was going from Guildford to London the Super Off Peak ticket, at full price, is: £17.20. The annual gold card discount is £11.35. Again this is below the Network Rail Card discount threshold. The difference is £1.65 and you'd need to make 74 journeys to make it worthwhile.
If you went for an off peak day return ticket then, at full price, it becomes £21.90. The discount however becomes £14.45 and as this is above £13, there is no cost saving with the Annual Gold Card over a Network Rail Card.
However for those with any old South West Trains Gold Card free-travel tickets, you can get free journeys, which offsets the cost of the Gold Card. I have 11 of these remaining.
If I took those into account for the Super Off Peak travel into London, then £122/£11.35=11 trips to London in order to save. So that's a saving straight away with the Gold Card.
If it was the off peak return then it becomes: £122/£14.45=9 trips to London in order to save.
They can also be used in the peak on Fridays, with some exceptions or for longer journeys so there are other greater savings to be had. However it depends on what travel one might do within the 12 months from purchasing the Gold Card and how much of that might be doing on South Western Railway services.
I initially couldn't decide whether to get the cheapest annual season ticket that includes a Gold Card or a Network Rail Card. However I remembered my old South West Trains Gold Card free-travel tickets, which cam be used on South Western Railway Services, on Fridas [with some exceptions], Saturdays and Sundays. So these. in my case, swing it towards getting the Gold Card.
According to a post by kristiang85, in the Season Ticket refund thread, they were able to retain a Gold Card when switching to the part time Exeter Central to Exeter St Davids season ticket. This is £152.00 for the year. I've assumed one can obtain this. I know there was uncertainty over this being eligible.
I changed to Exeter and have the Gold card.
Season ticket refund
The notional number of days for calculating the base rate drops from 365 to 82 (2 months at 30 days, plus 22 'odd' days), giving revised base rates of £21.40 (up from £18.31) and 55p (up from 47p). How do you calculate the revised base rates? I can't work out the relationship of how £18.31...
www.railforums.co.uk
A Network Rail Card costs £30.
I've done a comparison between them, of the pros and cons, which isn't complete but covers a fair number of points.
Annual Gold Card:
- Pros over Network Rail Card
- No minimum £13 fare during the week when valid.
- Wider scheme in terms of coverage
- A third off on the Underground
- Ability to switch to another season ticket should the situation change
- If you still have some old South West Trains Gold Card free-travel tickets, you can use them on Fridays [with some exceptions] and Saturdays and Sundays but only on South Western Railway services. This will offset the cost of the Gold Card.
- Cons compared to Network Rail card
- £122 more expensive than a Network Rail Card
- In the current climate, how much travel will one do to cover the difference in costs? I think one needs to make enough sub £13 journeys, on Mondays to Fridays, to cover the difference or see the possibility that they will return to regular commuting at some point in the year, assuming one doesn't have any South West Trains Gold Card free-travel tickets.
- Pros over Annual Gold Card
- £122 cheaper than an Annual Gold Card
- Works on some train operators that don't accept Annual Gold Cards
- Cons over Annual Gold Card
- Minimum £13 fare during the week
- No third off Underground travel
- Scheme not as wide in terms of coverage
- No ability to switch to another season ticket should the situation change and regular travel resume. In this case a season ticket would need to be purchased and you'd have a Gold Card running concurrently with a Network Rail Card.
- No option to use the old South West Trains Gold Card free-travel tickets on Fridays [with some exceptions], Saturdays or Sundays.
That is a saving of £1.70. However in order to break even on the £122 additional cost of a Gold Card, one would need to do 72 return journeys within a year. There is no discount for the Network Rail Card on Mondays to Fridays as the full price is under £13. I've not looked at the Off Peak price for this.
If one was going from Guildford to London the Super Off Peak ticket, at full price, is: £17.20. The annual gold card discount is £11.35. Again this is below the Network Rail Card discount threshold. The difference is £1.65 and you'd need to make 74 journeys to make it worthwhile.
If you went for an off peak day return ticket then, at full price, it becomes £21.90. The discount however becomes £14.45 and as this is above £13, there is no cost saving with the Annual Gold Card over a Network Rail Card.
However for those with any old South West Trains Gold Card free-travel tickets, you can get free journeys, which offsets the cost of the Gold Card. I have 11 of these remaining.
If I took those into account for the Super Off Peak travel into London, then £122/£11.35=11 trips to London in order to save. So that's a saving straight away with the Gold Card.
If it was the off peak return then it becomes: £122/£14.45=9 trips to London in order to save.
They can also be used in the peak on Fridays, with some exceptions or for longer journeys so there are other greater savings to be had. However it depends on what travel one might do within the 12 months from purchasing the Gold Card and how much of that might be doing on South Western Railway services.