Flexi Season Tickets, from National Rail, offer cheap rail travel for commuters travelling only a few days a week.
National Rail now supply an alternative season ticket that allows passengers to travel between designated stations 8 days in any 28, offering a minimum of 20% discount on an equivalent Monthly Season ticket.
This will provide great value for money for “hybrid” workers who are splitting their time between home and the office and commuting between 2 and 3 days a week.
And there’s no need to specify the days of travel ahead of time either, allowing you to take full advantage of working from home when you want to, and still being able to hop on the train for that last minute team meeting when you need.
This new ticket type comes in response to demand from passengers for a more flexible option as many workplaces decide to return to work on a hybrid basis, reducing time spent in the office.
So how does it work?
- You can buy a Flexi Season Ticket via the website of your train operator, their app or at the ticket office of your station. Most season tickets can be used with any operator, but a few are operator specific. This will depend on your journey and be specified when you buy the ticket.
- You’ll then be given a barcode or Smartcard which you will show on your journey. Northern rail uses Smartcards, so if you don’t have one already, make sure you order ahead as it can take up to 5 days for it to arrive.
- When you do travel, you need to activate your day pass either by “touching in” with your Smartcard on the yellow reader on the gate or on the platform validator. You can also activate your day pass on the National Rail Smartcard App.
- Once activated, the ticket offers unlimited travel between your designated stations until 4:29 AM the next day.
- You can have up to 8 days of travel over the period of validity, which is 28 days. That works out at 2 days per week.
Cross Gates is the closest station to Thorpe Park, with Garforth and East Garforth just a little further, all of which are operated by Northern Rail. For more information on Northern Rail Flexi Tickets, have a look at their website. To work out whether a Flexi Season Ticket is right for you, try National Rail’s Season Ticket Calculator.