Season tickets
Make your regular journey cheaper and simpler by opting for a weekly, monthly or annual season ticket.
Why choose a Season ticket?
As well as being great value for money, your Season ticket means you’re able to break your journey at any station on the route. So, if you want to hop off for a client meeting before heading into the office in the capital, you can easily do this with your Season pass.
What type of Rail Season Ticket do I need?
You can take your pick from several types of rail Season ticket: weekly, monthly, or any period up to an annual. This means that you’re able to select the one that best suits your travel needs, based on how long you expect to do that journey. The longer your ticket lasts, the more money you could save, making this an attractive way to get around.
Brighton to London
Weekly Season Travelcard
Horsham to London
Monthly season ticket
East Grinstead to London Victoria
Annual season ticket
Weekly train ticket
Our weekly tickets usually work out cheaper than paying daily for your return tickets, so they’re ideal if you’re planning some trips to Brighton, Eastbourne or London and want to spend less on getting there. Plus, weekends are usually included, too, so you can head into the city or to the seaside without having to worry about paying for another ticket.
How do I buy a Weekly Season Ticket?
You can buy your weekly Season ticket online and collect it from one of our Southern station vending machines the same day. You can also buy from a ticket machine or at the ticket office if you’d prefer. To start your weekly ticket on a Monday – or on a Tuesday if you’re travelling after a bank holiday – you can buy it from 6am the previous Sunday.
Monthly train ticket
If you want to make sure your travel for the month ahead is taken care of straight after payday, a monthly train pass is the ideal choice. These tickets combine flexibility with value for money and can ultimately save you paying more for the same journey.
How do I buy a Monthly train ticket?
You can either buy your monthly ticket online or from a ticket office. Should you want to use the ticket machines, you’ll need to register online or use your Key Smartcard. If the start date is a Saturday, Sunday or Monday (or Tuesday after a bank holiday), you can buy your ticket from noon on the previous Friday. If the start date is any other day, you can buy your ticket after noon of the previous day. Want to renew your monthly train ticket? Where there is no break between tickets, you can buy your ticket up to seven days in advance.
Annual train ticket
Are you looking ahead and planning on making huge savings across the year? If so, a yearly train ticket is the cheapest way to travel on your route. With these tickets, you pay for 40 weeks and get 12 weeks for free. That will save you 23% of the cost of a weekly season ticket.
Our Key Smartcard is the easier, faster way to buy, renew and use your annual train Season ticket. Your ticket starts just two hours after you buy your annual ticket on the Key Smartcard.
If you buy your paper annual Season ticket online, your need to start using your ticket within two weeks of the date you buy it. Your yearly paper train ticket will arrive within five working days via post. You can also acquire your annual Season ticket at your local ticket office.
What’s an Annual Gold Card?
When you buy an annual train ticket for travel within the Southern network, you will also qualify for an Annual Gold Card. This gives you a range of benefits including:
- 1/3 off a range of fares, including Anytime, Off-Peak tickets and Travelcards
- 60% off child fares for up to four children aged 5-15
- A one-year Railcard for £10
To qualify for your Gold Card, both your origin and destination stations must be within the Gold Card area. Find out if you’re eligible, as well as more details on how to apply here.
Custom train ticket
If a monthly or annual ticket is too long or too short, then a custom season ticket could be the perfect fit for you. Simply enter the dates you want to travel and then we’ll calculate the right price. These can be useful if you need your season ticket to finish for example when the schools break up.
No matter which train Season ticket you choose, remember to bring a valid photocard with you when you travel.
How do I buy Rail Season tickets?
Buying a rail Season ticket is easy. You can buy or renew your ticket in the following ways:
- Online – remember to tick the right box for weekly, monthly, annual or custom passes
- At your local ticket office
- At a station ticket machine (this applies for weekly passes, or monthly if you’re already registered online)
- On the Key Smartcard
Paying by cheque
You can’t use a personal cheque to pay at ticket offices – but you can use a debit or credit card or cash.
Company cheques for annual season tickets
Company cheques are only accepted at Ticket Offices in payment for Annual season tickets only and only in the following circumstances:
If the ticket is a new issue (first purchase) the customer must produce two forms of ID:
- Photo ID such as a driving licence or passport
- A seperate ID from those detailed above which verifies the customers home address
If the ticket is a renewal of an existing Annual season ticket paid for by cheque, it can be issued without further verification.
The cheque should be made payable to Govia Thameslink Railway Limited.
Things to Remember
There are a few things to remember when you buy or renew your season ticket online:
- Your season ticket must start within two weeks of the date you buy it
- Monthly and annual season tickets are sent by post, so allow five working days for delivery
- You can collect a weekly season ticket at the station, so it can start the next day
How does my train Season ticket work?
There are a few different formats for our rail Season tickets.
You can buy your rail season ticket on the Key Smartcard. This looks and works like an Oyster card, meaning you can buy or renew tickets online, then tap in and out of stations. If you lose your card, we’ll block it and replace it for free Alternatively, paper train Season tickets store your information on the magnetic strip on the back, so you can get through the ticket barriers at stations. This option means that you must keep it away from other magnetic items like your bank cards, Oyster card and phone to avoid wiping this information. If this does happen and you can’t get through the barriers, head to the nearest ticket office to get your ticket re-issued.
Have a valid Photocard?
Buy or renew your season ticket online now