Local Railcards - why limited to local residents?

[lyndhurst25]

Looking at the local railcards available, it seems that nearly all are only available to people who are resident in the area. The Cotswold Line Railcard seems to be the exception.

National & Local Railcards

How to find rail rover and railway ranger tickets on the national rail network. Rover tickets are cheap tickets for rail travel

www.railrover.org

I wonder what the point of this restriction is and how it came about? It seems to be unnecessarily bureaucratic and unfriendly to those who want to visit the areas but do not actually live there. Most of the areas covered seem to be lightly used rural branch lines, so you would have thought that the railway would be looking to encourage more passengers to travel, regardless of where they reside. I can understand the railcards only bring available to purchase at local stations due to the need for them to hold the forms and ticket stock, but why not make them available to all passengers?

 

[Harpers Tate]

I suspect many of them are locally subsidised from local taxes by local authorities (either directly or via eg a PTE). Same logic that allows only local ENCTS passholders to ride the Nottingham tram.

 

[JonathanH]

The idea of the local railcards is to effectively charge a 'tourist tax', to make visitors pay higher prices that recognise the cost of providing a railway in a rural area while encouraging locals to travel more. In many cases, their introduction was linked with an increase in fares on the relevant routes back in Regional Railways days.

you would have thought that the railway would be looking to encourage more passengers to travel, regardless of where they reside

A 33% discount means you need 50% more passengers to bring in the same revenue. That is a lot of one-off travellers to attract who may be happy to pay the higher fares on that one-off journey.

The idea of restricting railcards to local residents is a fairly sound one.

 

[infobleep]

Looking at the local railcards available, it seems that nearly all are only available to people who are resident in the area. The Cotswold Line Railcard seems to be the exception.

National & Local Railcards

How to find rail rover and railway ranger tickets on the national rail network. Rover tickets are cheap tickets for rail travel

www.railrover.org

I wonder what the point of this restriction is and how it came about? It seems to be unnecessarily bureaucratic and unfriendly to those who want to visit the areas but do not actually live there. Most of the areas covered seem to be lightly used rural branch lines, so you would have thought that the railway would be looking to encourage more passengers to travel, regardless of where they reside. I can understand the railcards only bring available to purchase at local stations due to the need for them to hold the forms and ticket stock, but why not make them available to all passengers?

The Network Railcard and Annual Goldcard are also local schemes, not being national and you don't need to be a local resident either. They do cover a wide area of course so aren't as local as some of the other schemes.

 

[D6130]

The Dales Railcard is also available to members of the Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line - wherever in the world they live - as well as residents of the appropriate postcode areas.

 

[kieron]

Looking at the local railcards available, it seems that nearly all are only available to people who are resident in the area. The Cotswold Line Railcard seems to be the exception.

I would be cautious about relying on a third party web site to describe a railcard's T&C accurately. As an example, the Heart of Wales Railcard leaflet confirms that it is available to anyone who either lives in the area below*, or is a member of the Heart of Wales Line Travellers' Association (which appears to be open to anyone).

* Postcode data from here, other data either Rail Delivery Group or Crown copyright.

A 33% discount means you need 50% more passengers to bring in the same revenue. That is a lot of one-off travellers to attract who may be happy to pay the higher fares on that one-off journey.

I think you may be overlooking the fact that railcards costs money.

As an example, someone staying in Llandrindod might buy a day return to Shrewsbury and a day return to Swansea. These would cost £13.90 and £14.70 for one person without a railcard, or £9.70 and £9.15 with one, in addition to £15 for the railcard. This person should not buy this railcard. It would be more attractive if the person was travelling with children, but there's also a Family & Friends railcard for that.

If a railcard isn't worth having for a one-off traveller like this, then you're left with repeat users. Would someone from Swansea buy more tickets for the Heart of Wales line if they had a railcard than if they didn't? And, if so, how many more? And, as the government owns the railway, what other effects would it have on the person or the country at large? I don't know the answers, sadly.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Isn't the main purpose of these to allow a level of "tourist tax", a bit like the way Southern Vectis and Stagecoach Lakes charge fairly heftily for day tickets but much less so for seasons?

 

[Ken H]

Isn't the main purpose of these to allow a level of "tourist tax", a bit like the way Southern Vectis and Stagecoach Lakes charge fairly heftily for day tickets but much less so for seasons?

I live near the S&C and could get a dales railcard because of my postcode. I have no idea if its funded by my local authority*, or by Northern or what. maybe northern think it will make more locals use the train. Dunno.

* North Yorkshire County Council or Craven District Council.