Flexible seasons - suggested to be carnets with 15% discount

[whole diary]

[eightf48544]

One thing tht's I can't see mentioned is whethrer the tickets are transferrable. I seem to remember in Paris you buy a set of tickets (carnet) and share it with who ever your're travelling with.

We seem to be hung up a issuing tickets for use by individuals.

[Tim K]

It seems like a reasonable compromise to me, cheaper than buying a season ticket for every day and cheaper than buying individual tickets, so although the per journey cost is higher, it still means I would spend less money commuting.

Key for me is how these will work in practice (I haven't read anything more than the FT summary); do I have to commute on the same days each week?  Can I commute 5 days one week and none the next?  Can I change the flexible ticket to a standard season ticket if I need to commute 5 days a week?   

Before the pandemic I commuted 3-5 days a week depending on what meetings I had and what days my wife was working at home.  My employer is going to try flexi working once we go back to the office (going in at the same time as the rest of the team) but the details still need to be worked out.

[jamestheredengine]

They'd do better either to address certain Anytime (Day) Returns being disproportionately priced first, or to price the 8 and 12 days in 28 flexi-seasons as 8/5 and 12/5 of a weekly respectively.

[Ralph Ayres]

In some senses they can't win.  In London the Day cap is already 1/5 the weekly cap, along the lines of jamestheredengine's suggestion to make things better value for those who travel only one or two days a week.  That then leads to complaints from those who still need to travel every day that they don't get any more discount than those who travel less frequently.

[grahame]

Which? takes a look at  "Flexible train tickets: how much could you save when you return to the office?"

The Covid-19 pandemic has transformed working patterns, and the options commuters have for buying train tickets are being adapted to keep up.

Office buildings have remained empty throughout the pandemic with millions of people working from home. As lockdown eases, many companies are adopting new flexible working policies, with a mix of office and home-based working. All of this means the five-day commute could become a thing of the past. Currently, weekly, monthly and annual season tickets provide discounts to rail passengers who commute every day. But what if you will only commute for two or three days when you return to the office?

From 21 June, you’ll be able to buy new flexible season tickets that address this very problem – just in time for the possible lifting of the government’s ‘work from home’ advice.

Here, Which? takes a look at how flexible train tickets will work, and how much you could save.

[Sixty3Closure]

Just got an email from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) about the new flexi tickets.

https://www.gwr.com/your-tickets/choosing-your-ticket/season-tickets/flexi-season-ticket?utm_source=Inspire&utm_medium=email&utm_term=find_out_more&utm_content=EB1151175&utm_campaign=PL_FLEXI_ST_21

No prices yet but coming in a couple of weeks.

[grahame]

On sale from today ... for use starting a week from now.

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

New flexible season tickets go on sale from Monday aimed at commuters who only travel to work two or three days a week.

The new tickets can be used for eight days in any month-long period.

The National Rail website will allow passengers to calculate savings and book the new tickets.

It's part of the government's planned shake-up of rail services, but is being introduced immediately to cater to the trend for more home-working.

From 2023 a new state-owned body, Great British Railways (GBR^▸ (Great British Railways)), will set rail timetables and prices, sell tickets in England and manage rail infrastructure.

The flexible season tickets are being introduced separately, ahead of the structural changes, and can be used from 28 June.

Saving estimates are interesting:

The government estimates commuters could save between £60 and £350 a year on selected journeys.

when looked against annual season ticket costs doesn't look like a big saving  I am not sure, though, if the government is estimating based on those season ticket costs or on the cost of 8 x daily tickets in a month.  I would guess that people who are working 3 days a week could use up their ticket and buy another even within the month.

[grahame]

Birdie100 wrote the following, and invited a topic split - good idea, continuing at http://gwr.passenger.chat/25134 under the subject

"Flexible seasons - practicalities and questions"

Please feel free to split this - but as a possible returning commuter I need some help! I use this as an illustration that the new ticket apparently just seems to make things yet more complex!

Suppose I wish to commute to Barbican from Twyford 8x days a month in peak hours. Using the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) site (as I must - this is a smart ticket only) there appear to be two options - a Flexible Ticket for £211.20 and another for £361.20. One is for Paddington, the other for London Terminals. There appears to be no linked ‘Travelcard’ option for the tube as you’d be used to for the classic day/weekly/annual ticket. I assume each offer 8x days travel

Why would anyone ever buy the London Terminals Flexi ticket? From TfL^» (Transport for London - about)» a single Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) tube fare is £2.40. So 16x £2.40 is £38.40. I get it’s the purchasers responsibility to check, but that seems a steep penalty of nearly £100 for falling down that trap!

Add to that this flexi ticket (I assume) can’t be treated as a gold  card, and suddenly this ‘offer’ loses its value.

What I can’t work out is if you ‘exhaust’ the FlexiTicket eg actually end up doing 9x days whether you can top up the days as needed or simply reset and rebut a new ticket. As a former annual ticket holder it was a ‘perk’ to have the free weekend travel - now that weekend trip becomes very expensive!

I am going to lock this thread - probably for just a few days - so that we don't get answers sprayed into two different places.  If anyone wants to post in this thread particularly, please let me know and I can release the lock.   I really wish I had an "are you sure you want to post to this thread" option in my moderators toolbox ...