Cheapest Way from London to Ipswich

[Griff]

According to the ticket guy at PBO they've gone up to £24, i renewed mine for £20 because they hadnt updated the system yet. *giggles*

[orudge]

Hmm, they've gone up? Pffooy. I'd still save more than the £24 with a couple of journeys though, to be fair.

[Kevo00]

Interesting, glad I got my new one before Christmas then!

[stupidestfool]

Interesting. That reminds me, I read somewhere that it's possible to buy a year-long season ticket at the end of December, and thus avoid the customary January price rises. Anyone know if this is true? Seems like a sound way to save a decent amount of money for some people!

[Kevo00]

I guess you don't really save money though, you just delay the increase.

[stupidestfool]

But assume that a man buys a season ticket every year for the rest of his life, and that the cost of the season ticket goes up in January of each year. If he buys it on the 30th of December every year he is eventually going to save the difference between the cost of the season ticket when he first began buying them and the cost of the season ticket the year he dies.

I may be wrong on this, but when I make a cursory calculation, assuming for simplicity's sake that he lives 10 years, the season ticket is initially £10 and goes up by £1 each year on the 1st of January, I think it shows this:

Man buying season tickets on 30th of December pays overall: 10*10+10 = £110

Man buying season tickets on 1st of January pays overall: 11*10+10 = £120

Yes, I have overthought this, and need a life. If I'm wrong though, please correct me!!!

Oh, and before anyone says it, yes I'm aware prices don't always rise on January the 1st and yes, I'm aware that many ticket offices will be closed on that day!

[Kevo00]

Lol, very good, but surely theres no point saving the money if you are not going to be around to enjoy it!

There is a possible argument that because of inflation the season ticket is more expensive in January than December - if the inflation rate this year is 2% then technically you are saving something like 1.8% of the real price by buying it in Dec. But such a saving is so small its hardly worth it!

[stupidestfool]

Interesting about the inflation there. As for only saving a little bit, you underestimate how much of a cheapskate I am

[JamieLei]

2nd of January actually.

For more accurate sake, it's assume that the season ticket is £2000, and it goes up every year 5%.

By the end of 10 years, the man who pays on the 30th Dec pays £26413.57, whereas the 2nd January man pays 27734.25. That's a difference of £1320.68. Compared to the total cost, that's about a third of the cost of the final year's ticket.

(You need to add the inflation per year, not just once and x10).

[stupidestfool]

But it still proves the point, and indeed the amount saved is almost exactly the difference between the first season ticket and the final one, which I was able to prove with the simpler 10*10+10 analogy.

You, JameiLei, are a damnable pedant!