Leicester - London Season Ticket :(

[desi112]

Hey guys, I'm a placement student just about to start my new job on the 2nd of august.

I need a season ticket between Leicester and London (Inc tube) I've had a look at the EMT site and its £7736...

A few Questions I have...
1) How do EMT think I am going to pay £7736 in one lump sum? I am a student , I cant believe they cant just tie me in to a 12 month contract and let me pay the whole amount over 12 months...( I am aware there is a monthly option but this costs £2k+ more than the 12 month option)

2) Why on the national rail site does it say, I will get zones 1-6 with my season ticket, yet EMT site says 1,2,5,6?

3) How long does it take to order a season ticket? can I purchase one at Leicester RailWay station? ( I start work 2nd of August, I already have a rail card So I believe they already have my picture)

4) Also does anyone know what payment methods EMT take except Card?
Can I pay by cheque?

Thank you for all the help

 

[MikeWh]

Quick answer first, R1256 means zones 1-6.

 

[philjo]

Does your employer offer season ticket loans ? Many employers offer this - they will either pay you or provide a cheque payable to the train company up front and then deduct each month through payroll so that you pay it off over 12 months.

Providing you have your photocard etc the ticket is issued in a couple of minutes at the station ticket office.
The photocard is not the same as used for a railcard.
If you haven't got a photocard, then take 2 passport size photos with you & they will issue one with the season ticket.

 

[radamfi]

There is not enough room on the ticket for 123456 so that is why it says 1256. 1256 actually means 123456.

You can get weekly or monthly season tickets as well, but they cost more per week as an annual season ticket is 40 times a weekly and a monthly is 3.84 times a weekly.

Have you thought of moving closer to London? Most working people wouldn't consider paying that much to get to work. Sharing a flat in London may be cheaper.

 

[sonic2009]

were abouts is your placement. do you have adress?

 

[bengolding]

Hey guys, I'm a placement student just about to start my new job on the 2nd of august.

I need a season ticket between Leicester and London (Inc tube) I've had a look at the EMT site and its £7736...

A few Questions I have...
1) How do EMT think I am going to pay £7736 in one lump sum? I am a student , I cant believe they cant just tie me in to a 12 month contract and let me pay the whole amount over 12 months...( I am aware there is a monthly option but this costs £2k+ more than the 12 month option)

2) Why on the national rail site does it say, I will get zones 1-6 with my season ticket, yet EMT site says 1,2,5,6?

3) How long does it take to order a season ticket? can I purchase one at Leicester RailWay station? ( I start work 2nd of August, I already have a rail card So I believe they already have my picture)

4) Also does anyone know what payment methods EMT take except Card?
Can I pay by cheque?

Thank you for all the help

You have a PM.

 

[MikeWh]

OK,

I don't know what the position is with your college/employer but the usual way that people manage to pay monthly for an annual ticket is to get a loan. This is often interest free from an employer. Another way might be to get a credit card that offered 0% on purchases for a year, although if you haven't got one of those already you won't be fixed up before August starts.

As you are a student you may not qualify for a staff loan, so you probably will need to look at monthly tickets. You can buy seasons for any period from one month up to a year. One way to reduce the cost is to buy one month and two or three days starting on a Monday. This gives you 5 weeks and you don't pay for the last weekend. You then start the next ticket on the following Monday. If you will be getting a weeks holiday at some point then time a ticket to run out on your last day. I'm sure you get the picture.

I think you need a photocard rather than a railcard to get a season ticket. Even if they need to issue the photocard as well as the first ticket they can still do it on the spot. You'll need to take a photo with you (or is it two, I'm not sure). I don't think that there are any special checks, it's just to ensure that you don't transfer your season to someone else.

I've no idea about payment methods, except I'm sure cheque would be ok as that is how companies would pay where they are arranging for a staff loan. I'd imagine cash would be acceptable too, though I probably wouldn't saunter up to a ticket window with £7000+ in used notes.

 

[bengolding]

You have a PM.

...or not, as you can't receive one!

A friend commutes daily from an EMT station a little south of Leicester. Admittedly, they wanted to avoid paying the slightly more expense of a First Class Annual season, and I managed to save them a bit by splitting the journey into two which may be one option.

You mentioend that you have a railcard and I'm assuming it is a Young Persons. You may wish to consider going via Nuneaton to take advantage of the Virgin railcard concession, which allows railcard holders to trael on their peak services to/from Euston. Get an annual season Leicester-Nuneaton and then purchase daily off peak returns to Euston which comes to just over £100 a week. As Nuneaton to Euston is now less than an hour's journey, timings aren't that excessive either. E.g. get the 07:10 then the 07:34 from Nuneaton arriving 08:33. On the return the 17:10 from Euston gets you in at 18:50. In the peaks, most EMT services stop here, there and everywhere so this option may be worth exploring in order to still utilise your railcard!

 

[desi112]

Hi thank you for all the great replies! currently exploring all options will report back
My company will give me a 0% loan but this is only after I have worked for them for 2 months...
So if I buy a season ticket then I will loose 2 months? As i'm only working for them for 48 weeks...

 

[John @ home]

A few Questions

You may find that the Leicester -> London. Many Questions thread answers some of them.

You may wish to consider going via Nuneaton to take advantage of the Virgin railcard concession, which allows railcard holders to travel on their peak services to/from Euston.

The Nuneaton option is very good if you are able to plan your travel with certainty around the few fast Euston - Nuneaton trains. But if you need flexibilty I would not recommend this. The other services are very slow and you are likely to be tired at first if you're not used to long-distance commuting.

My company will give me a 0% loan but this is only after I have worked for them for 2 months...
So if I buy a season ticket then I will loose 2 months? As i'm only working for them for 48 weeks...

If you're only working for them for 48 weeks and unable to buy an annual season ticket at first, then I would forget about the idea of annual.

You can buy a season ticket for any period between 1 month 1 day and 10 months 12 days and pay pro rata at the monthly rate. This can be used to your advantage. For example, if you knew you were working Monday - Friday only and that you were not having any holidays in the first month or two, then start by buying a season ticket for 1 month 2 days from Monday 2 August to Friday 3 September. Then start your next season on Monday 6 September. If you plan your holidays well in advance, I would be surprised if you spent much more than the cost of an annual season over the 48 weeks.

 

[yorkie]

Hey guys, I'm a placement student just about to start my new job on the 2nd of august.

Congratulations, and welcome

I need a season ticket between Leicester and London (Inc tube) I've had a look at the EMT site and its £7736...

A few Questions I have...
1) How do EMT think I am going to pay £7736 in one lump sum? I am a student , I cant believe they cant just tie me in to a 12 month contract and let me pay the whole amount over 12 months...( I am aware there is a monthly option but this costs £2k+ more than the 12 month option)

This sum is a discount for those who can pay up front. Pay monthly options are available.

2) Why on the national rail site does it say, I will get zones 1-6 with my season ticket, yet EMT site says 1,2,5,6?

You need to use a teleporter to get from Zone 2 to 5
No, as already said it means 1-6.

3) How long does it take to order a season ticket? can I purchase one at Leicester RailWay station? ( I start work 2nd of August, I already have a rail card So I believe they already have my picture)

You can get one from the station on Friday.

4) Also does anyone know what payment methods EMT take except Card?
Can I pay by cheque?

Thank you for all the help

Yes you can.

A monthly costs £742.70.

However you can extend this for any period, e.g. 5 weeks. Say you want to start it on Monday 2 August, you may want to have the season expire on Friday 3 September, this costs £818.10.

Then assuming you won't be travelling over the weekend of 4/5 September, you can get another 5 weeks starting from 6 September, and so on...

If you know you will have a week off, bear that in mind before you purchase, e.g. you may want one to last 7 weeks, then a week off, then back to 5 weeks...

Depending on how much holiday you have this may not work out a lot more than a season, especially if you can take your holidays in either weekly chunks or on Mondays/Fridays.

 

[djw1981]

You could also work out if £7k wouldn't actually rent you a place in london close to where you will be working.

 

[Mojo]

You could also work out if £7k wouldn't actually rent you a place in london close to where you will be working.

Assuming the OP is staying at home living with parents, that's very unlikely that that price would buy you anything decent. I am looking at £200pw for a pokey one bedroom flat in the Docklands. Bills have to go on top of that.

 

[radamfi]

Assuming the OP is staying at home living with parents, that's very unlikely that that price would buy you anything decent. I am looking at £200pw for a pokey one bedroom flat in the Docklands. Bills have to go on top of that.

That's for a whole flat, though. Students and young professionals typically share a flat/house where £80pw is easily possible having just checked loot.com.

 

[Deerfold]

I know you'll have started already by now but there's another option you might want to considr if you don't have to be back in Leicester every night. Youth hostels in London can be very cheap (often £12 a night for a half decent one - look for hostelworld.com omongst others). If you can find advance tickets down and back this could save you a *lot* of money - and get you a bit of a lie in several mornings a week. Let me know if you want any more info - I do it fairly often (my season would be well over £10K).