West Midlands Railway Festive Fiver

[Brum900]

I see West Midlands Railway have a new seasonal day return valid after 16:00 for £5. This however seems to have replaced the previous Evening Day Return (valid after 18:30) which was £3.50.

Hopefully this will be reverted to when the Fiver offer ends at Christmas - although my test bookings suggest not - otherwise they will have sneaked in a 43% increase in evening out prices.

Festive Fiver Tickets - now ended

Travel after 4pm for just £5 return with Festive Fiver. Perfect for markets, shopping & festive nights out!

www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk

Feeling festive? Why not hop on your local train for an evening of seasonal shopping, Christmas markets, or a holiday meal with our new Festive Fiver ticket.

Price	️£5	Same-day return fare between Zones 1-5.
Offer ends	23 December 2025	Tickets available 6 November - 23 December 2025
Outward journey	Valid after 4pm	Not valid on trains timed to depart 3:59 pm or earlier.
Return journey	⚠️Same day only	Must be completed the same evening. Return is NOT valid the next day.
Railcard discount	❌Not valid	This is a promotional fare; Railcard discounts do not apply.
Children's discount	✅50% off	Children (5-15) and 16-17 saver holders receive 50% discount.

 

[Watershed]

It's still the same Evening Day Return as before 'under the hood' - it's just been rebadged as the Festive Fiver in their marketing.

It's even worse than it sounds because there are no Railcard discounts - ostensibly on the grounds that it's a "promotional" fare. I don't see anything in the Railcard terms & conditions that says that particular tickets (and especially existing ones) can be arbitrarily exempted from Railcards like this.

The only positive is that the ticket is now valid from 16:00 (restriction code EQ), whereas the Evening Day Return was previously only valid from 18:30 (code EF).

 

[Adam Williams]

Did anyone get a PAF about this change..?

 

[yorkie]

Erroneously claiming that Railcard discounts do not apply to "promotional" fares (most do) and that a 16-17 Saver is "not a Railcard" suggests that whoever is behind this product is either not entirely honest or very naive and unknowledgeable.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Did anyone get a PAF about this change..?

Is one actually required, given the "Festive Fiver" name appears to only be marketing fluff? They still show as Evening tickets on a TIS (including the LNR/WMR-branded Trainline sites.)

Essentially it appears to just be a price and restriction change for an existing product. Most Railcard discounts (other than 16-17 Saver) aren't allowed for the Evening tickets normally either, as far as I can tell from BRFares.

 

[Adam Williams]

Is one actually required, given the "Festive Fiver" name appears to only be marketing fluff? They still show as Evening tickets on a TIS (including the LNR/WMR-branded Trainline sites.)

Essentially it appears to just be a price and restriction change for an existing product. Most Railcard discounts (other than 16-17 Saver) aren't allowed for the Evening tickets normally either, as far as I can tell from BRFares.

I would argue it is good practice given the restriction is now different, albeit for a short period.

I can foresee "why have you mis-sold this ticket for the 16:06 train when it's only for use in the evening?" style queries.. Knowing what's actually going on and keeping abreast of changes is difficult enough for all the TOCs when at attempt is made to communicate these things.

 

[canary fan]

I would argue it is good practice given the restriction is now different, albeit for a short period.

I can foresee "why have you mis-sold this ticket for the 16:06 train when it's only for use in the evening?" style queries.. Knowing what's actually going on and keeping abreast of changes is difficult enough for all the TOCs when at attempt is made to communicate these things.

Not sure. On SWR evening return tickets are valid from 12 noon!

 

[Dirty_Mac]

Not sure. On SWR evening return tickets are valid from 12 noon!

But that's really just a rebranded super off-peak day return. It's not a fixed fare for a return to anywhere within a region.

 

[MrJeeves]

Hopefully this will be reverted to when the Fiver offer ends at Christmas - although my test bookings suggest not - otherwise they will have sneaked in a 43% increase in evening out prices.

Maybe this is just a good way to silently remove the evening tickets entirely after the Christmas offer ends?

 

[CyrusWuff]

Maybe this is just a good way to silently remove the evening tickets entirely after the Christmas offer ends?

They will possibly have to be removed anyway, as part of the preparation for the TfWM Pay As You Go trial.

 

[MrJeeves]

They will possibly have to be removed anyway, as part of the preparation for the TfWM Pay As You Go trial.

Ah, the Oval approach! Remove the good value fares, because the tendered system doesn't support it!

 

[Adam Williams]

Yeah - why is it not possible to maintain them? Surely it's trivial to determine if the taps happened at a time that would've fit into the Evening Day Return validity period?

 

[CyrusWuff]

Yeah - why is it not possible to maintain them? Surely it's trivial to determine if the taps happened at a time that would've fit into the Evening Day Return validity period?

Given it's not using the TfL back-office, there's no obvious reason not to keep them. Wouldn't surprise me if they were killed off though.