Senior Railcard - when can I use it?

[BanburyBlue]

Hi all.
There have been a few threads recently about time restrictions on railcards, so I’ve been getting a little nervous about when I can use my Senior railcard.

Firstly, I always use the Chiltern website to book my tickets, so assumed it would only allow me to apply a senior railcard discount if it was valid.

I make two regular journeys.

The first is Banbury to Birmingham Snow Hill (and return same day) where I catch the 07.09 in the morning. I believe I’m okay with this as the railcard website says time restrictions only apply on journeys completely within the Network South-East area?

The second is Banbury to Oxford, where I catch the 08.35, which is the first off-peak train of the day. Now this journey is wholly within the Network South-East area, and is before 10.00 a.m. When I go to book the ticket, it applies the railcard discount- is this correct?

Thanks.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Hi all.
There have been a few threads recently about time restrictions on railcards, so I’ve been getting a little nervous about when I can use my Senior railcard.

Firstly, I always use the Chiltern website to book my tickets, so assumed it would only allow me to apply a senior railcard discount if it was valid.

I make two regular journeys.

The first is Banbury to Birmingham Snow Hill (and return same day) where I catch the 07.09 in the morning. I believe I’m okay with this as the railcard website says time restrictions only apply on journeys completely within the Network South-East area?

As Banbury is the boundary of the Network Area, so your journey is fully outside the area, this is absolutely fine.

The second is Banbury to Oxford, where I catch the 08.35, which is the first off-peak train of the day. Now this journey is wholly within the Network South-East area, and is before 10.00 a.m. When I go to book the ticket, it applies the railcard discount- is this correct?

The restriction code for the Off-Peak Day Return is W5 which is valid from 08:30, so that's fine as well.

Interestingly, if you were starting from Oxford the restriction code would be W4 which isn't valid until 08:44.

 

[BanburyBlue]

As Banbury is the boundary of the Network Area, so your journey is fully outside the area, this is absolutely fine.


The restriction code for the Off-Peak Day Return is W5 which is valid from 08:30, so that's fine as well.

Interestingly, if you were starting from Oxford the restriction code would be W4 which isn't valid until 08:44.

Many thank.

So is this the restriction code for the ticket or for the railcard?

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Many thank.

So is this the restriction code for the ticket or for the railcard?

I think the rule is that if the "off Peak" clause applies, then so does the Senior railcard discount. One could speculate as to what the design motivations were for the Senior Railcard but perhaps they were to not undercut Season tickets in the NSE area for those over 60 but continuing to commute.

 

[Ralph Ayres]

From the Senior Railcard website: "Your Railcard is not valid during the morning peak period when travelling between two stations in the Network Railcard area of validity. Check locally to confirm morning peak times as these do differ." Basically then defined by an off-peak ticket being valid for the specific journey being made.
In a previous life I had to persuade Chiltern to introduce off-peak tickets on a few flows where the price was the same all day, notionally a superfluous ticket but without this there was no way to tell that the Senior Railcard was valid for that journey.

 

[BanburyBlue]

I think the rule is that if the "off Peak" clause applies, then so does the Senior railcard discount. One could speculate as to what the design motivations were for the Senior Railcard but perhaps they were to not undercut Season tickets in the NSE area for those over 60 but continuing to commute.

Thanks - makes sens.

 

[yorkie]

Booking sites take these rules into account; occasionally there can be discrepancies, however, when you book online and you travel in accordance with an itinerary, the itinerary is contractually binding.