Network railcard off peak discount

[didcartfaraway]

I am looking at fares from either Didcot or Oxford to Reading. Off peak day return is £12.60 but the cheapest network railcard fare is £13.

Am I missing something very obvious as to why a network railcard discount is not being applied to the off peak day return?

GWR have now at least updated their site so the off peak fares apply from Reading in the afternoon evening, which respects the rules of restriction code FO.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Am I missing something very obvious as to why a network railcard discount is not being applied to the off peak day return?

A minimum fare of £13 applies to tickets discounted with a Network Railcard on Mondays to Fridays.

As the Off-Peak Day Return from Didcot to Reading is only £9.10, and that from Oxford to Reading is £12.60, no discount will be applied on a normal weekday.

 

[Watershed]

As per its terms and conditions, the Network Railcard has a minimum fare of £13 on weekdays. Therefore, there is no discount if the fare is less than £13. If the fare is between £13.05 and £19.55, you get a partial discount down to the minimum fare of £13. If it's £19.60 or higher, you get the full 33.4% discount.

 

[didcartfaraway]

Ah, I was missing something obvious. Thank you.

It is not on this page here which is why I was confused but it is in the other T&C

The benefits of a Network Railcard - Network Railcard

Use your Network Railcard in London and the South East for up to 30% off your leisure rail travel.

www.network-railcard.co.uk

 

[Watershed]

The 16-25, 26-30 or Senior Railcards would be better options if you're eligible for them, but even if you're aged 31-59 you can still get Off-Peak discounts by getting a Gold Card. This is something you get as a benefit of holding an annual season ticket for a journey to/from or within the Gold Card area (i.e. the Network Railcard area plus some extensions around the Midlands and East Anglia).

The cheapest eligible season ticket would be one between Hatton and Lapworth costing £212 a year. Obviously quite expensive, but it could be worth it if you regularly make off-peak journeys.

You can also have the Gold Card applied to your Oyster card to get a 1/3 discount with off-peak Oyster single train/Tube fares and daily caps. Unfortunately this doesn't work with contactless and you have to go to an Underground station to get the discount applied.

 

[ainsworth74]

Just to add to @Watershed's excellent suggestion of a Gold Card worth noting that you can also get a normal Railcard for a reduced price of £10 and the Gold Card discount can be applied to others that you're travelling with. So if you were travelling with a couple of friends they could also benefit from the discount on Off-Peak and Anytime fares as well.

About seven odd years ago I bought a season ticket to get a Gold Card despite living in the North East and just about broke even (so obviously didn't bother renewing!). But if I base all the way out here can break even someone who could make much more use of it would likely profit. National Rail has a bit more info here: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/railcards/annual-gold-card/