Senior Railcard in evening peak - LNR suburban

[wildcard]

I wasn't aware until recently that my Senior Railcard is valid for use on peak evening services out of London Euston on LNR . My error . I had assumed wrongly it was exclusively off-peak only. Is this connected with the extension of contactless to my local station ( Berkhamsted )
You still can't use an Off peak Return 16:00 to 19:00 so the cheapest is now two singles off peak to London after 9:30 , peak back , both SNR discounted. Confusingly the LNR website lists two tickets both called Anytime Day return - £29.80 with SNR peak both ways and £19.80 SNR off peak into town , peak return. Both poor value . You can avoid a portion of the peak morning fare by alighting at Watford Junction , waiting to past 9.30 , then tap in or buy a ticket then catch the 9:32 to town.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

I wasn't aware until recently that my Senior Railcard is valid for use on peak evening services out of London Euston on LNR . My error . I had assumed wrongly it was exclusively off-peak only. Is this connected with the extension of contactless to my local station ( Berkhamsted )

I thought Senior Railcards are valid everywhere in the evening peak. There can be a problem in the evening peaks on some services with off peak returns and travelcards, but that's separate to the Railcard.

The general rule of thumb is that Senior Railcard dicounts don't apply before 9.30 an, but even that doesn't apply if leaving the south east.

 

[Bletchleyite]

No Railcards have evening peak restrictions. And indeed single in, Railcard single back represents better value than flexi-seasons on a whole host of South East commuter routes, particularly those with single fare pricing like the Oval area.

 

[jfollows]

Senior Railcards are valid all day, with the significant exception of mornings only in and around London, which fortunately hardly affects me.
See https://www.senior-railcard.co.uk/help/railcard-terms-conditions/

4.2. Discounts are not available on tickets for travel on morning peak services for journeys that start and end within the London & South East area (defined by the Network Railcard area – network-railcard.co.uk/map) on Monday to Friday (except on public holidays). The time when off-peak services start can vary by station. Use nationalrail.co.uk to plan your journey to identify when off-peak services start or ask rail staff for details.

 

[talldave]

Senior Railcards are valid all day, with the significant exception of mornings only in and around London, which fortunately hardly affects me.
See https://www.senior-railcard.co.uk/help/railcard-terms-conditions/

Unsurprisingly, Rail Delivery Group can't keep their s*** together and that Network Railcard link is dead - better to look here: https://www.network-railcard.co.uk/about-the-railcard/using-your-railcard/.

Lesson for RDG - when you revamp a site, take the time to check your OWN links into it and fix them!

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Unsurprisingly, Rail Delivery Group can't keep their s*** together and that Network Railcard link is dead - better to look here: https://www.network-railcard.co.uk/about-the-railcard/using-your-railcard/.

Lesson for RDG - when you revamp a site, take the time to check your OWN links into it and fix them!

Senior Railcard conditions are at

Railcard Terms & Conditions - Senior Railcard

www.senior-railcard.co.uk

which say

4. Conditions of use of the Senior Railcard

4.1. You must be aged 60 years or over to purchase a Senior Railcard.

4.2. Discounts are not available on tickets for travel on morning peak services for journeys that start and end within the London & South East area (defined by the Network Railcard area – network-railcard.co.uk/map) on Monday to Friday (except on public holidays). The time when off-peak services start can vary by station. Use nationalrail.co.uk to plan your journey to identify when off-peak services start or ask rail staff for details.

 

[talldave]

..and the link in 4.2 doesn't exist, because RDG redesigned their Network Railcard website without changing their Senior Railcard website that references it.

 

[Watershed]

@wildcard the restrictions on Senior Railcards are complex and confusing so your assumption that it's only valid for Off-Peak tickets is quite understandable!

The rule is that for journeys entirely within the Network Area*, you can't use your Senior Railcard in the morning peak until Off-Peak tickets become available for the journey you are making. After this time it is valid for the rest of the day, so you can entirely legitimately use a Senior Railcard-discounted Anytime ticket for your evening return journey.

It's worth noting that the Off-Peak Day Travelcard from Berkhamsted retains its restriction code of LW, meaning you can arrive into London from 10:00. This is in contrast to the Off-Peak Day Single/Return, which is only valid to depart from 09:30 onwards. This means you can use the 09:26 on a Travelcard but not a single/return - it leaves Berkhamsted before 09:30 but arrives into Euston at exactly 10:00.

It's also important to note that the Travelcard doesn't have any time restrictions in the evening. So if you are thinking of returning during the evening peak, it may work out as better value than buying two singles and paying separately for journeys you make around London.

*This is the area where Network Railcards are valid - see this map

 

[MarlowDonkey]

It's also important to note that the Travelcard doesn't have any time restrictions in the evening. So if you are thinking of returning during the evening peak, it may work out as better value than buying two singles and paying separately for journeys you make around London.

With a Travelcard you also get the Senior discount on trips within London. Paying separately it's not available on contactless and if using Oyster, has to be reloaded to the Oyster card every time the card is renewed.

 

[Bletchleyite]

You may also want to try out using contactless even without the Railcard. At the moment I'm seeing anecdotal suggestions that (and have experienced once myself that) the fare you actually get charged is far less than what was expected due to some sort of quirk of boundary zone fares and capping (sometimes well below what a Travelcard would be). You might find it's cheaper than using your Railcard overall!

It'll no doubt get fixed in due course though.

 

[Hophead]

For completeness, though perhaps of no interest to the OP, Senior Railcards will give a discount during the morning peak in the London area when the ticket is an Advance.

 

[wildcard]

It's worth noting that the Off-Peak Day Travelcard from Berkhamsted retains its restriction code of LW, meaning you can arrive into London from 10:00. This is in contrast to the Off-Peak Day Single/Return, which is only valid to depart from 09:30 onwards. This means you can use the 09:26 on a Travelcard but not a single/return - it leaves Berkhamsted before 09:30 but arrives into Euston at exactly 10:00.

@Watershed Thanks for confirming this . Several months ago I arrived at BKM in good time ( around 9:15 ) to buy a SNR travelcard for the 9:26 . The TVM refused to sell me a discounted one . Rather than buy at full price I decided to wait at the TVM until 9:30 to catch a later train. The queue of customers behind me kept on asking me whether I was in the queue or not ! Until one traveller realised and pointed out I could set the TVM to buy a ticket in advance. To this point I had always bought London bound tickets as paper on the day just before departure ( I still do for this sort of journey) - so wasn't aware of this function. From memory I had to spoof the departure time to 9:45 or 10:00 as it wouldn't allow 9:30 or earlier.

 

[Bletchleyite]

For completeness, though perhaps of no interest to the OP, Senior Railcards will give a discount during the morning peak in the London area when the ticket is an Advance.

This may be relevant because WMT do sell Advances on some of their services including sometimes peak ones, though they are a bit of a niche thing not used by very many people (aside from on the Crewes) and may not be available on the services the OP is using.

 

[Watershed]

@Watershed Thanks for confirming this . Several months ago I arrived at BKM in good time ( around 9:15 ) to buy a SNR travelcard for the 9:26 . The TVM refused to sell me a discounted one . Rather than buy at full price I decided to wait at the TVM until 9:30 to catch a later train. The queue of customers behind me kept on asking me whether I was in the queue or not ! Until one traveller realised and pointed out I could set the TVM to buy a ticket in advance. To this point I had always bought London bound tickets as paper on the day just before departure ( I still do for this sort of journey) - so wasn't aware of this function. From memory I had to spoof the departure time to 9:45 or 10:00 as it wouldn't allow 9:30 or earlier.

It's poor that you have to work around the incorrect TVM restrictions like this. Still, there is always the option of buying the ticket online or through an app and then collecting it at the ticket machine.