Increase in fare following railcard application

[gabrielhj07]

Hi all,

Looking at Anytime returns from Ewell West to Box Hill & Westhumble at the TVM.

I see that using my 16-25 railcard sends the price up by £2.30, which is counterintuitive.

Could anyone shed some light as to what is happening here?

 

[Cantab26]

Hi all,

Looking at Anytime returns from Ewell West to Box Hill & Westhumble at the TVM.

I see that using my 16-25 railcard sends the price up by £2.30, which is counterintuitive.

Could anyone shed some light as to what is happening here?

A £12 minimum fare applies for journeys starting between 04.30-09.59 Monday to Friday excluding Advance Fares. This minimum fare does not apply on public holidays or throughout July and August.

 

[matt]

What time are you using the ticket machine? Looks like it is applying he £12 minimum railcard fare.

 

[JonathanH]

It is the £12 minimum fare before 10am. Clearly you would buy the ticket without the railcard if travelling then.

 

[Watershed]

Hi all,

Looking at Anytime returns from Ewell West to Box Hill & Westhumble at the TVM.

I see that using my 16-25 railcard sends the price up by £2.30, which is counterintuitive.

Could anyone shed some light as to what is happening here?

They shouldn't be offering a £12 minimum fare in a case like this, where the base fare is £12 or less. It literally offers you no benefit at all, indeed all it does is add a restriction, namely that you (or the person you transfer the ticket to) must have and carry a 16-25 Railcard.

 

[Class800]

I've encountered this several times - it's just the minimum fare with railcard. Need to deselect railcard to get the normal fare

 

[Bletchleyite]

They shouldn't be offering a £12 minimum fare in a case like this, where the base fare is £12 or less. It literally offers you no benefit at all, indeed all it does is add a restriction, namely that you (or the person you transfer the ticket to) must have and carry a 16-25 Railcard.

The reason it is like this is because there are reasons you may want to pay the higher fare, e.g. to allow accompanied children on a Network Railcard, or as a legacy of supporting the old Virgin "no peak restrictions on Railcard tickets" thing. It would be better if it only did it in relevant cases, but this is simpler to implement and manage.

 

[Watershed]

The reason it is like this is because there are reasons you may want to pay the higher fare, e.g. to allow accompanied children on a Network Railcard, or as a legacy of supporting the old Virgin "no peak restrictions on Railcard tickets" thing. It would be better if it only did it in relevant cases, but this is simpler to implement and manage.

There's no benefit with 16-25 Railcards though, and certainly not where the base fare is below £12 anyway.

 

[gabrielhj07]

What time are you using the ticket machine? Looks like it is applying he £12 minimum railcard fare.

Thanks, using it at 0815 or thereabouts.

The minimum fare seems daft in this instance, but at least it doesn’t increase the standard fare!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Jun 2022 ==

a legacy of supporting the old Virgin "no peak restrictions on Railcard tickets" thing.

How relevant would this be, given Virgin obviously never went to Epsom?

 

[Bletchleyite]

There's no benefit with 16-25 Railcards though, and certainly not where the base fare is below £12 anyway.

Thanks, using it at 0815 or thereabouts.

The minimum fare seems daft in this instance, but at least it doesn’t increase the standard fare!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Jun 2022 ==


How relevant would this be, given Virgin obviously never went to Epsom?

Rather than continuously manage which Railcards offered this and which didn't as TOCs added and removed promotions and Railcard T&Cs shifted, it was done for all Railcards and left like that. On all TVMs I have used recently you get a popup asking if you really want to pay the higher fare, so you can't be caught out by it unless you really are not paying attention.

It is relevant to Epsom if you want to get the hefty discount for accompanied children on a Network Railcard, by the way. Though really the minimum fare policy is a bit absurd here, it should really logically be "the undiscounted fare if it is lower", not to price it up in that way.