Travel to school - age 16

[Swedes]

My son has recently turned 16 and travels to his (indepenent) school by train. Is buying a student railcard (and getting a third off his train fares) the best discount we can expect?

Can you get the discount during peak times?

Found this for Surrey:

TRAIN STUDENT FARE CARD

A train student fare card enables 16 to 18 year old Surrey students attending full-time further education to buy season tickets at half the adult rate for their home to school/college train journey. Season tickets are available for periods of 7 days (minimum), 1 month and between 1 month and 1 year.

Thanks - will get on to Herts LEA and see if they run a similar scheme.

Those schemes generally only apply to those in maintained schools/colleges - in our area (Cambridgeshire) you have to get the form countersigned by the college authorities.

The Surrey website says that you have to be in full-time education in Surrey - doesn't specify maintained schools. However, I have sent an email to them to double check, as DS is now 16 too, so it applies to him.

Got my reply:

"The bus and train student fare cards can be used to access any full time educational establishment therefore if your son is attending an independent school then he can apply for a fare card."

Thanks science teacher. I spoke to someoene at Herts LEA and they run a similar scheme - buy a photocard for £5 and son will get a third off adult fares. It is open to independent school students as well as those educated in the state sector.

We're in Herts and my dd (16) can buy a half-termly train ticket. We give the dates to the ticket guy and he works out the cheapest price. It's cheaper than monthly because we don't have to pay for any holiday periods.

I assumed it was a child price because she's been doing it since year 7. This will be the first half-term since she's turned 16 so I will check when we buy a new one this week.

wheresthehamster - interesting. I'll look into th half-termly ticket.

My son travels up and down the country quite often so it might just be more sensible for me to get him a student rail card.

I don't think he'll be able to use a student railcard at peak times, will he? You can't with a family or young person's railcard. I think this is why the LEAs have this special scheme.

Just checked the railcard website:

There is no student railcard - it's a young person's railcard. The price of a ticket before 10am is £8, and one-third off tickets after 10am. It says that if you regularly make journeys before 10am, it is worth enquiring about a season ticket.

I suspect the council scheme will be the most cost effective, as £8 per day one way seems like a lot.

Scienceteacher - Good research - thank you.