Non-Greater London (?) Railcard

[Starmill]

Please see the below post from @Kilopylae to avoid further clutter in the other thread:

A national 'trains that don't go to London' Railcard would make some amount of sense to encourage modal shift. Given how much the train is just 'how you get to London' but not a realistic option for local journeys in many areas.

My guess is the boundary could only be at a major station and quite a way outside of Greater London. It's an idea with lots of potential and lots of awkward implementation options. Obviously there would also be little way to prevent splitting, except for trains which run non-stop into the area from a long way away.

 

[SynthD]

A simpler version of that could be a CrossCountry and crosscountry specific subsidy, or funding improvements. If government were to pay what it takes to return to XC’s pre covid timetables, that would be a form of levelling up. I hope something like this will be a major part of GBR launch announcements, as it’s easier to achieve than squeezing even more peak paths into London.

 

[miklcct]

My guess is the boundary could only be at a major station and quite a way outside of Greater London. It's an idea with lots of potential and lots of awkward implementation options. Obviously there would also be little way to prevent splitting, except for trains which run non-stop into the area from a long way away.

In my opinion, the boundary should be set at as close to Greater London as possible, to encourage travel across the Home Counties by train, that means it should be valid at all stations outside Zones 1-9 (to prevent a non-stop split with a Zones 1-9 Travelcard).

 

[yorkie]

Sounds like a great way to shift booking away from TOCs such as LNER - who already charge huge premiums to book with them, and spend taxpayers money on advertising their site - and onto split ticketing sites, such as ours

 

[MatthewHutton]

I do like this idea. But yeah splitting is hard.

 

[yorkie]

I do like this idea. But yeah splitting is hard.

It's easy for the end user; our site does it for you.

However, train companies such as LNER don't like people splitting, and they show even more dislike of people buying longer distance tickets to save money, especially if it circumvents their high fares!

 

[43096]

Sounds like a great way to shift booking away from TOCs such as LNER - who already charge huge premiums to book with them, and spend taxpayers money on advertising their site - and onto split ticketing sites, such as ours

And then GBR will decide that they won't allow 3rd parties to provide ticket issuing services...

 

[yorkie]

And then GBR will decide that they won't allow 3rd parties to provide ticket issuing services...

Great British Railways online rail ticket retailing

www.gov.uk

..... It will work alongside a thriving private sector retail market, where all rail retailers can compete in an open and fair manner. The private sector will continue to play a key role in driving growth through innovation and investment and encouraging more people to choose rail...

I don't believe it will be fully "open and fair" (any attempts to make it so are rebutted), but at last they will be able to exist!