Annual season ticket question

[trc666]

Any idea if annual season tickets can be paid for in instalments (ie monthly Direct Debit)?

Considering buying a zone 1-2 Gold Card next year but not sure if I can afford to pay for it in one go, and not sure if my company does a season ticket loan scheme for its staff.

 

[bb21]

Some TOCs do, although this is not a universal payment method.

East Coast offer quarterly direct debit for purchases of annual season tickets, while a number of others such as Southern allow you to pay by monthly direct debit for purchases of monthly seasons.

Best check with the relevant TOC to you.

 

[wibble]

Most TOCs don't offer due to the cost and risk involved in setting up a direct debit scheme. The TOC effectively acts as a bank - it pays the cost of the season ticket when it's issued and recoups it from the customer when each direct debit clears.

 

[LexyBoy]

And of course they'd rather have the money resting in their account.

 

[barrykas]

And of course they'd rather have the money resting in their account.

Which they don't get in one go anyway, as it's spread throughout the validity of the ticket per the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement.

 

[LexyBoy]

So it is. I have a feeling I knew that as well.

Of course they still have the knowledge of a certain expected payment from annual season tickets held, but this applies equally to tickets bought on direct debit.

 

[jon0844]

FCC does a monthly scheme where I think it gives you one month free (so not as good as effectively getting two months free with an annual). What's more, you only get ordinary tickets - not a Gold Card.

Could a TOC issue a Gold Card but only for a 3-month validity? On the basis that you signed up for an annual ticket and then paid four quarterly payments, but adjusted to protect the TOC by giving a much reduced final payment (thus, if you stopped paying both your ticket would expire and you'd have not saved anything) to work out at the same cost as paying a whole year?

 

[barrykas]

FCC does a monthly scheme where I think it gives you one month free (so not as good as effectively getting two months free with an annual). What's more, you only get ordinary tickets - not a Gold Card.

Chiltern have recently started a similar thing, which they're calling "Monthly Money Saver". administered by their Business Travel office in Bicester. It's only available for tickets with validity on Chiltern though.

Could a TOC issue a Gold Card but only for a 3-month validity? On the basis that you signed up for an annual ticket and then paid four quarterly payments, but adjusted to protect the TOC by giving a much reduced final payment (thus, if you stopped paying both your ticket would expire and you'd have not saved anything) to work out at the same cost as paying a whole year?

Theoretically they could, but doing so would affect revenue allocation and no doubt cause issues when the fare changes part way through the year.

Cheers,

Barry

 

[MadCommuter]

I put my annual season ticket on a 0% APR credit card for as long a period as possible before the rate ends. During that time I save the equivalent monthly payment into a savings account and then use it to pay the credit card off. Depending on how good the savings rate is, you can make a bit of money this way too.

 

[johnnycache]

I work for Southern
Just to clarify one point

When a season ticket with validity one month and above is purchased the money is allocated to the train operating companies who are entitled to a share of the revenue and goes into a "season ticket suspense account". These TOCs do have the money in their bank accounts and the value appears on their balance sheet (as a pre-payment)

However the money is only paid into their profit and loss account on a daily basis so that the income is not accounted for until the journeys are made.

You don't need to understand the book keeping here but the point is that the TOCs do have the money straight away.

 

[Goatboy]

These TOCs do have the money in their bank accounts and the value appears on their balance sheet (as a pre-payment)

However the money is only paid into their profit and loss account on a daily basis so that the income is not accounted for until the journeys are made.

A pre-payment is not money in the bank. A profit and loss account is a financial statement and not a physical bank account you pay money into.