Annual ticket / refund or Monthly- which is cheaper?

[ess]

Does it always work out better to get a refund from an annual or can it be cheaper to buy monthly tickets if - say - commuting from 3 months?

Trying to find out as it’s unclear whether the commute will be 3,6,9 or 12 months

 

[Haywain]

If you only need 3 months, nothing will be significantly cheaper than buying a 3-month season. If there is a possibility of the commute continuing then you may be better to buy an annual.
No doubt someone will be along to say that you can save by buying for odd periods around holidays, but that does require good planning.

 

[Wallsendmag]

If you’re good at planning you can buy odd periods around holidays

 

[Haywain]

If you’re good at planning you can buy odd periods around holidays

Where's that like button?

 

[717001]

It may depend on what you are planning on doing afterwards - I was able to change the route on an annual season ticket without penalty when I moved house some years ago (same train company / different line).

 

[cool110]

A refund be calculated to be the same, other than the £10 admin fee. A changeover to a different route is pro-rata, so depending on what happens you might be able to get ahead slightly.

 

[kristiang85]

If you’re good at planning you can buy odd periods around holidays

This is what I do. As SWR removed all the perks of an annual, and the network railcard - for me- is a decent enough substitute for a Gold Card, I worked out that doing odd period tickets around holidays and work travel works out around £200 cheaper this year, and on top of that DR payments (of which there are a LOT with SWR) are about double on shorter season tickets than on the annual. Its a no brainer for me.

 

[cjohnson]

on top of that DR payments (of which there are a LOT with SWR) are about double on shorter season tickets than on the annual. Its a no brainer for me.

That can’t be right, can it? SWR say DR is based on 1/464th of the cost of an annual, and 1/40th of a monthly. That gives a small premium to a shorter ticket when calculating delay repay but nowhere near double as far as I can make out.