Buying month season ticket starting 2 January

[radamfi]

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/season_tickets.html

says

If the start date is a Saturday, Sunday or Monday (also Tuesday after a Bank Holiday), the ticket may be issued from noon on the previous Friday.If the start date is another day, the ticket may be issued after noon on the previous day.

That implies that a season ticket starting 2 January can only be bought from noon on 1 January. Surely that can't be right? That can only lead to long queues at the ticket office on Wednesday as presumably a lot of people will have let their season tickets expire before Christmas and will not want to make a special trip to the station on 1 January.

 

[GoByThameslink]

That implies that a season ticket starting 2 January can only be bought from noon on 1 January. Surely that can't be right? That can only lead to long queues at the ticket office on Wednesday as presumably a lot of people will have let their season tickets expire before Christmas and will not want to make a special trip to the station on 1 January.

If you are renewing a monthly or more, you can buy up to 7 days in advance:

The ticket may be issued anytime up to SEVEN DAYS in advance

(also http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/season_tickets.html)

If you want a new ticket to start 2 January, then it does look like noon on the 1st if the TOC sticks to the precise wording. I would hope that most TOCs / stations would take the spirit of "If the start date is a Sunday or Monday (or Tuesday after a Bank Holiday), the season ticket may be issued from noon on the previous Friday" to treat noon on the 31st the same as noon on a normal Friday.

 

[island]

If you are renewing a monthly or longer ticket with no break in validity, then you can do so seven days in advance. Otherwise it is noon the day before normally. However, some TOCs have special policies around this time of year. I am aware that South West Trains, for example, was issuing tickets last week to start on 01-JNR-13.

 

[radamfi]

I think the main issue is that a lot of people will have a break in validity as they didn't want to pay for the Christmas period.

 

[LondonJohn]

If I was renewing a season ticket I would buy it to start on 1 Jan as I would still be paying the old prices.

I guess it depends on people's usage but today is the first day of my annual season ticket always bought a few days before the price goes up. Doesnt make a difference that I have lost 2 days due to Christmas.. might make a difference to those on weeklies etc.

 

[Greenback]

The first 'working day' of January has always been very busy for season ticket sales. We used to have additional staff rostered when I worked in the ticket office, and it was still non stop.

It doesn't really matter when you allow the tickets to be sold, there will still be a large number of customers who leave it until the last minute!