Cost of Train to College

[Belshels]

We are really struggling to pay, it's £12 a day for 18 year old yp! That's £240 a month, for her trip to and from college. She has just gone to a 16-25 railcard which doesn't discount before 10am... What is that then? The 16/17 railcard she had previously meant train was half price in rush hour too.
Am I missing something?
Season tickets are £92 per week which is even more!
I don't get how there isn't some sort of discount for teens?
Any advice appreciated xx

Thanks for the suggestion. It's a complicated and convoluted journey unfortunately, and would be long and dangerous. I'm anti cycling too as my cousin died in a bicycle crash.

I see a number of pps say there is a minimum fare of £12 during peak times before a discount can be applied. That's not our experience. I just tried using a 16-25 RC to book a £2.90 8am Tuesday single to our nearest city and the RC reduced it by £1. So how am I able to do this?

Is it an Advance fare? Because the railcard website says:

A £12 Minimum Fare
This applies for journeys starting between 4.30am and 9:59am Monday to Friday, excluding Advance Fares. This minimum fare does not apply on Public Holidays or throughout July and August. If you’re still not sure about minimum fares, just ask at your local staffed station and some National Rail-licensed Travel Agents.

@Belshels I do find that Trainline has really odd and random prices.
I always buy directly from the relevant train company.

Yes it's an advance fare - as I said, needs to be booked in advance. But surely that's possible?

This is very interesting ty. I just did a search though for a return ticket in mid Dec. And it's still £12. Thought I might have found a solution for a min!

Depends on the route, but it would definitely be something for OP and her daughter to look into.

Also look into whether split tickets might be cheaper, particularly if there’s a connection.

OP - advance fares are only for single tickets. You’d need to book an advance single in each direction.

Oh well that is rubbish. Does it not include the RC discount then? Honestly DD books her train ticket (on a very busy line it's true – and some trains cost more tbf).

Are there not many trains?

yes but when you book it you say "add a return"

We use this - got a reasonable discount for my son and includes peak time travel.
https://www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk/tickets-discounts/discounts/student-season-train-tickets

Greater Anglia does too. https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/tickets-fares/business-travel/schoolcollege-travel-discounts

Not helpful to the op but got me thinking as dd3 is year 10 and wants to go to a college that’s a long train journey. Her birthday is August so finally there’s an advantage as she’ll be able to use the 16-17 card the whole time.

It's very frustrating. Seems to get them both ways - paying adult prices but required to do things that mean they don't have adult money. It's what finally tipped me over the edge to get a car so I could get mine to school and back rather than pay a fortune for laughably shitty public transport.

Don’t get free transport once you’ve finished Year 11 in Hampshire. We had 3 kids doing A Levels/BTEC at college (Hampshire 6th forms are colleges rather than schools) and the bus passes were over £800 each for the year. We went into debt because of it.

Are you sure she doesn't qualify for SEND transport? https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools/travel/policies/travel-assistance-policy-for-post-16#section-1

Hampshire only have colleges for 6th form. Secondary schools only go to Yr 11.
Our catchment college is a 25 minute walk to the bus stop, followed by a 40 minute bus journey, then a 15 minute walk into college. It costs over £800 for a yearly bus pass. Annoyingly the buses (looking at you Stagecoach) aren’t even reliable and only run 5 times a day
Our 3 kids were at college together at the same time. Transport costs pushed us into debt.

This is all really crap, I’m sorry OP. It doesn’t help you now but please write to your MP, as I agree it’s crazy for this to be the situation for full time students in compulsory education. I found out by accident last week that in London at least, the (oyster) tickets by age last for the academic year. It might also be worth going to a ticket office and talking options over rather than relying on the websites.

Have you applied for disability allowance/PIP? It’s something she may very well be entitled to.