Rail travel can prove costly, particularly if you have to travel by train quite frequently, like me. Since April alone I’ve spent more than £125 on train tickets to Manchester, so I’ve been looking at ways to cut down my costs.
With the cost of living crisis and rise of inflation, it’s never been more crucial to save money where possible, and I discovered that a railcard could help me save around £174 a year on my weekly jaunt to the city.
When I heard that Trainline were offering a third off digital railcards , just days after I’d picked up an application form from the station to order one, I’ve never hit ‘add to basket’ so quickly.
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Currently, Trainline is offering 33 per cent off digital railcards if you use the code SUMMER33 at checkout, making them just £20 instead of £30. For some people who are strapped for cash, it may still feel like a big lump sum, but it will save you nearly nine times as much if you use it just once a week.
I ordered the 16-25 railcard, which is ideal for solo travel and a convenient way to save money on train fares. Of course, there’s also the 26-30, senior railcard, 16-17 saver, a two together railcard, a family and friends railcard, and a network railcard. You can work out the best one for you here.
The 16-25 railcard can be used at any time for peak and off-peak travel, however, there’s a minimum fare of £12 between 4.30am and 10am Monday to Friday. There is no minimum fare when you travel after 10am, at weekends, on Public Holidays, or during July and August.
Luckily, I usually get a slightly later train, and calculated that I can make some huge savings throughout the year.
Travelling from Congleton Station, my tickets into Piccadilly usually costs £11.30 for a return. Over the course of a year, travelling once a week, this would set me back an eye-watering £587.60 a year. That’s not to mention any additional trips like visits to the Christmas markets, gigs or heading up for a bite to eat.
The railcard earns you a third off your tickets, which would take my cost down to £7.57 a journey, saving me £3.73 every time I travelled into the city.
Travelling 52 times a year would now cost me £393.64, saving me a whopping £193.96 a year. When I deduct the initial railcard cost of £20, that’s still £173.96. Another way of looking at it is essentially 15 free journeys, priced at the full £11.30, meaning it’s definitely worth the investment.
In fact, I would only need to travel six times a year for the cost of the railcard to be worth the investment.
The cards can be bought to last a year for £20 (reduced from £30) or for three years at £47, down from £70.
All railcards offer an average of a third off the standard price, which is a lifeline considering the rate prices are currently rising. Looking at a direct return ticket from any Manchester station to London Euston would normally cost £68.60, with a 16-25 railcard this is discounted to £45.25.
You can discover the right railcard for you, and start saving on your train fares here.
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