season ticket changeover - advice please :)

[carotearoa]

hi there,

I've got a Baldock to Farringdon annual season ticket, which I bought just before the fare rise on 1st Jan - costing £4276. The price as of 2nd Jan was £4372.

I won't be working in Farringdon as of the end of the month and I'm trying to work out the best thing to do - would be very grateful for any advice : )

I don't yet know where I'll be working, so I am assuming I will be out of London at least for July, maybe August, if not permanently.

My question is - if I do a changeover to shorten the length, can i do another changeover later once I know where I need to go? Thus keeping the annual discount....

Ie. could I do a changeover to Letchworth (annual £660) and then do a changeover to kings cross (or welwyn, or wherever I end up)... in a month or two's time?

I think cancelling altogether would not be cost efficient, given I presume I will need to travel somewhere for at least 4 more months this calendar year.

I'm a bit baffled by this though, so would love some help!

Thank you : )

 

[bb21]

Yes, you can. You are not limited to one changeover per ticket.

 

[Hadders]

If you don't need to use the train while you aren't working then I suggest a changeover to a Lichfield Trent Valley - Lichfield City annual season ticket. The cost of this last year was £108.

This has the advantage of still qualifying for Gold Card benefits.

 

[Greeby]

Changeovers of annual seasons are worked out like so:

Base rate of current ticket = annual price + 365
Base rate of new ticket = annual price + 365

Note that if the season was bought at the previous year's pricing, the new ticket must also be calculated using last year's pricing.

Find out the number of days remaining on the ticket from the date you wish the new season to start. For this calculation, all months are treated equal as 30 days.

Base rate of old ticket X number of days = X (round up to nearest 10p)
Base rate of new ticket X number of days = Y (round up to nearest 10P)

X = The amount of credit that the old ticket will provide to pay for the new ticket
Y = the amount that will be displayed on the physical ticket

Y - X = The amount to either be charged or refunded.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Changeovers of annual seasons are worked out like so:

Base rate of current ticket = annual price + 365
Base rate of new ticket = annual price + 365

Those should be "annual price / 365" or "annual price ÷ 365". For the avoidance of doubt, the same divisor is used in leap years as well. These values are rounded to the nearest penny, so a figure of £13.52453 would be rounded down to £13.52, but a figure of £13.52653 would be rounded up to £13.53.

Find out the number of days remaining on the ticket from the date you wish the new season to start. For this calculation, all months are treated equal as 30 days.

Nope. The "one month = 30 days" applies to calculating the base rate for seasons with a validity of less than a year. The "number of days to charge for" is the actual number of calendar days between the date of changeover and the original ticket expiring.

Base rate of old ticket X number of days = X (round up to nearest 10p)
Base rate of new ticket X number of days = Y (round up to nearest 10P)

No rounding takes place at this stage. The charge for the new ticket and credit for the original are taken to the penny.

Doing a rough calculation assuming a change-over to Lichfield City - Trent Valley effective from 1st July:

Base rate for original ticket : £4276 ÷ 365 = £11.715068 ≈ £11.72
Base rate for new ticket : £108 ÷ 365 = £0.29589 ≈ £0.30

Number of days remaining from 1st July to 31st December : 26 weeks + 2 days = 184 days

Credit due on original ticket : £11.72 x 184 = £2156.48
Charge for new ticket : £0.30 x 184 = £55.20
Balance to refund : £2101.28 - No admin fee applies

Note that the refund would be made by the same method of payment which was used to buy the ticket, and if it was paid for by means of a company cheque you'd need a letter from the company saying whether they wanted it paid to them or authorising payment to you.

 

[carotearoa]

This is so helpful (and slightly headache inducing!) - thank you everyone.

I had understood that I could change the end destination, but not the starting point. I was assuming that my best option would be to change it to Letchworth which is a £600 / yearly season ticket.

Am I right in thinking I'll need to go to the original station to do this? And would I need to provide proof of why I need to move it to Lichfield?

I can prove that I need to travel Baldock to Letchworth if needed.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Theoretically, a change-over can be done at any station, though staff at smaller stations may not have been trained to do them.

In general, though, it tends to be quicker if you go to a ticket office run by the same company as issued the original ticket, as they should be able to access your season ticket records.

No reason needs to be given as to why you want the change-over, and there's nothing to stop you getting one every day for a month should you so desire, though you'd be unpopular if you did(!)

 

[Hadders]

I had understood that I could change the end destination, but not the starting point. I was assuming that my best option would be to change it to Letchworth which is a £600 / yearly season ticket

You are not required to keep the same destination. You can change the starting point and/or destination if you wish. No need to change to a Letchworth ticket unless you'll regularly use this service (generally making 4 journeys a week is the break even point)

Am I right in thinking I'll need to go to the original station to do this? And would I need to provide proof of why I need to move it to Lichfield?

It's best done at the original issuing station. Be aware that some poorly trained clerks are not aware of changeovers and you may need to persist! There is absolutely no need to provide proof of why you want to change to a Lichfield season ticket (NB. if you do go for a Lichfield season ticket make sure it's printed on Gold Card stock as Lichfield has only recently been admitted to the Gold card area)

I can prove that I need to travel Baldock to Letchworth if needed.

There is absolutely no need to do this.

This is so helpful (and slightly headache inducing!) - thank you everyone.

You're welcome You've certainly found the right place to ask for advice!

 

[carotearoa]

thank you for your help - I'll give it a go!

 

[carotearoa]

Hi guys,

thanks so much for your advice earlier in the year - you saved me a well-needed wodge of cash

As of today, I now work in Farringdon and will be here well into the new year. Am I able to do a changeover back from my Lichfield TV ticket to Farringdon, or are we too near the end of the year....? (I bought the original ticket on Jan 1st).

Thank you!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

There must be at least 7 days remaining on the ticket, but outside of that, in theory, there is no limit to how many times you can get a changeover.

 

[CyrusWuff]

There must be at least 7 days remaining on the ticket, but outside of that, in theory, there is no limit to how many times you can get a changeover.

That aside, if the OP does request another changeover, I'd advise doing so by the end of this month, as some Ticket Issuing Systems (FasTIS for one) can't handle issuing a changeover where less than a month remains on the original ticket, despite the rules having been changed some time ago.