Good afternoon,
I've recently been placed on the Transport for Wales talent pool, so fingers crossed I'll hear something soon.
Just a minor question I'm curious about. Does free travel apply across TOC's, or generally just your employer?
My partner and I like regular trips to London, and I'd love to have more to spend when we get there
The main facility is a staff pass giving free travel on your own TOC, available for you and your partner and dependents. Note that in TfW's case, the partner's/dependents' pass is
not valid for commuting or business travel, only for leisure travel.
Some TOCs offer free or heavily discounted travel on sister operators, but unfortunately this ceased to be the case on TfW when Arriva lost the franchise a few years ago.
There is also the Rail Staff Leisure Card (commonly known as a "Priv") entitling you and your partner/dependents to 75% off walk-up standard class tickets (
not Advances) for leisure travel on other TOCs. As the name suggests, this facility is only valid for leisure travel and cannot be used for commuting or business travel.
If you need to commute on another TOC (assuming you don't have a staff pass etc. entitling you to travel with them), you can apply to Rail Staff Travel Limited (RSTL), the industry company that administers staff travel facilities, to get a 75% discounted season ticket or Flexi Season. This is similarly also available for your partner and dependents.
The Priv discount is currently only available when buying tickets at a ticket office; if your boarding station doesn't have a ticket office then you should board the train and obtain a ticket at the first available opportunity. There will soon be an online site where you can buy Priv discounted tickets, however this won't change the above (it will just make it quicker if you don't want to have to queue at the ticket office).
The discount can also be applied to an Oyster card at any TfL Rail/Crossrail run station, to get 75% off leisure travel on National Rail (this includes TfL Rail and London Overground). However you get no discount on Tube, bus etc. travel - including journeys which involve a mixture of NR and Tube.
After a year's employment, you will also be entitled to FIP facilities (again, administered by RSTL). These give you a 50-75% discount, as well as an annual allocation of free coupons, for travel on virtually all European state railway operators, as well as a few private operators and ferry companies.
The usefulness of this facility varies significantly by country; in some countries (e.g. Switzerland) virtually all trains are covered, whereas in others, you may have to pay a supplement (e.g. most high speed trains in Italy, Spain and France) or there may be few services still ran by the national operator (e.g. parts of Germany). The discount is also only off walk-up fares, so it may be cheaper to buy a public-rate "Advance"-type ticket.
There are some restrictions on the use of staff travel facilities, both here and abroad. RSTL produce a very useful
introduction to staff travel facilities, as well as
full guides to domestic and
foreign facilities and restrictions. As you will have joined after 1996, you will be considered a 'non safeguarded' employee, meaning that the facilities you get are discretionary and could be changed or withdrawn at any time.
Beyond these official facilities, there are some staff who 'flash' their Priv to travel for free. However, this is
not allowed and if you (or your family) were to be caught misusing your facilities in this way, you could lose all facilities (temporarily or permanently) as well as potentially facing disciplinary action. It is true that many guards etc. still accept this, considering anyone who works for one of the TOCs to be part of the 'railway family' - but it only takes one person to report you, for you to lose it all.
Good afternoon,
