Life after a Railcard ?

[Arglwydd Golau]

It is.
Unless you happen to live in Scotland, TPE or ATW-land, when hopefully you can buy a Club 55 ticket for out of season travel.

Personally, I lived through an age when there was neither student nor family railcard, and not having worked in the industry either, have been paying full whack for my travelling since the age of 16, including my three years as a student going to and from university.

So for me, the Senior Railcard is about the only thing I can find that sugars the pill of growing old.

...sadly ATW aren't offering a Club55 this Autumn (unlike previous years). I was banking on that for a few trips...still have a couple of years before the Senior Railcard.

 

[Zoe]

I've switched to the Coach for most journeys now £12 to London with NatEx vs £40 Advance on the train is a fair saving

I find that on some routes you can get a cheap coach fare even on the day whearas you'd have to book a few weeks in advance on the train. There may well be routes where the reverse of this is the case though.

 

[JGR]

I expect that when the time comes, if I haven't already I'll get a car, and use that for a lot of my journeys instead.
By the time that I'm 26, insurance will (hopefully) have fallen to something that I can pay without feeling like I'm being ripped off.

 

[Deerfold]

I expect that when the time comes, if I haven't already I'll get a car, and use that for a lot of my journeys instead.
By the time that I'm 26, insurance will (hopefully) have fallen to something that I can pay without feeling like I'm being ripped off.

Insurance falling? Lol.

I find that on some routes you can get a cheap coach fare even on the day whereas you'd have to a few weeks in advance on the train. There may well be routes where the reverse of this is the case though.

That's often true.

Though at the moment I'm thinking of not choosing one where the fare for a specific service is £5 plus £1 booking fee and it's £8 on the day on whichever one i turn up in time for (It's a frequent airport service).

My most common coach journey is overnight Leeds - London (where I have a discounted season ticket but sometimes need to leave Leeds after 2045 but arrive in London before the 0859 I can make on the train or 0730 if I spend the night at Leeds station). Megabus often have some quite reasonable fares here even a few hours before.

 

[WillPS]

It is.
Unless you happen to live in Scotland, TPE or ATW-land, when hopefully you can buy a Club 55 ticket for out of season travel.

Personally, I lived through an age when there was neither student nor family railcard, and not having worked in the industry either, have been paying full whack for my travelling since the age of 16, including my three years as a student going to and from university.

So for me, the Senior Railcard is about the only thing I can find that sugars the pill of growing old.

You might get a state pension though, those old enough to have enjoyed railcards probably wont.

 

[JGR]

Insurance falling? Lol.

Falling because I'd no longer be banded with that proverbial "high-risk boy-racer yoofs" or some such nonsense, not because it's getting inherently cheaper...

 

[Essexman]

I was thinking about this today (when I tried to use my Network Railcard from Ipswich and realised it isn't valid, yet I used it from London to Worcester last week).

The Network Railcard is a relic from Newtork South east (hence apparently odd area it covers) but why should there be a railcard in the 'South East' but not the rest of Britain?

What we need is a national rail card, valid off peak anywhere. I reckon it would save me about £1000 a year. Illustrates why they don't bring one in I suppose.

 

[Roverman]

Time to ditch the entire scheme and rewrite it for 21st century Britain.

A card for those genuinely in need of the discount in order to look for/ commute to work.
A card for those who live in the middle of nowhere and use the train to visit friends, relatives etc.
A card for those who can't drive for a medical reason
A regular user card for those who travel at least twice a month.

 

[starrymarkb]

There are a few local ones, I have a Devon and Cornwall Railcard (£10 per year, must be resident in Devon or Cornwall) for local trips. I think there are a few others

 

[34D]

There's some strange comments in this thread buying a car! Travelling by coach!

Just enjoy travelling. The rest of us buy adult tickets (sometimes with obscure routeings). You'll be fine, honestly

 

[lemonic]

The Network Railcard is a relic from Newtork South east (hence apparently odd area it covers) but why should there be a railcard in the 'South East' but not the rest of Britain?

"Appreciate what you have, before it becomes what you had"

 

[yorksrob]

And I suspect the necessary level of fare rises across the board to subsidise those buying a railcard to cover such a large period of their lives would negate the advantage of buying the card in the first place.

I doubt very much that that that would be the case.

The whole point of any railcard is to make passengers pay a sunk cost, which will encourage them to spend more in making back that sunk cost.

The fact that there is so much talk on this thread about coach and car travel, illustrates how important that mental boost to rail travel is for all ages.

I actually had a discussion with some fellow travellers on this forum recently and we decided that there should be one railcard with the same restrictions for travel across the country. However, we thought that the sensible thing would be to have different costs for the railcard for different parts of the population:

• concessions, i.e., the elderly, young people, disabled etc, would get the card at a cheap price, i.e. £25, to reflect the fact that they are less likely to be in a position to pay a large upfront cost.

• Season ticket holders/metrocard holders would get it at a slightly higher price of £50, but still relatively cheap compared to the potential savings, given that they've already stumped up a large contribution to the railway.

• Every other Tom, Dick and Harry could buy themselves a discount as regular travellers - but the cost would be £100. So they'd really have to make a decision to use the railway a lot to justify it. The sunk cost would be large.

 

[edwin_m]

I actually had a discussion with some fellow travellers on this forum recently and we decided that there should be one railcard with the same restrictions for travel across the country. However, we thought that the sensible thing would be to have different costs for the railcard for different parts of the population:

• concessions, i.e., the elderly, young people, disabled etc, would get the card at a cheap price, i.e. £25, to reflect the fact that they are less likely to be in a position to pay a large upfront cost.

• Season ticket holders/metrocard holders would get it at a slightly higher price of £50, but still relatively cheap compared to the potential savings, given that they've already stumped up a large contribution to the railway.

• Every other Tom, Dick and Harry could buy themselves a discount as regular travellers - but the cost would be £100. So they'd really have to make a decision to use the railway a lot to justify it. The sunk cost would be large.

That's an interesting thought, but I would perhaps disagree with one element. Season ticket holders are already paying a lot less per journey than occasional travellers on the same route, and are costing the railway a lot since by and large they travel at peak times and the peak demand drives the amount of trains and infrastructure needed.

Personally I'd introduce a railcard for anyone, possibly at a higher price than the existing ones, but make it valid for purchase of advance, off-peak and super-off-peak tickets only since (in theory at least) the railway can carry these passengers at marginal cost. I think I would also question the railcard discount that is given on peak tickets, since there are plenty of wealthy over-60 business people who can make back the cost of a senior railcard many times over on peak journeys into London.

 

[trainophile]

...sadly ATW aren't offering a Club55 this Autumn (unlike previous years). I was banking on that for a few trips...still have a couple of years before the Senior Railcard.

Is that definite? How do you know? Wonder what the reason is.

 

[yorksrob]

That's an interesting thought, but I would perhaps disagree with one element. Season ticket holders are already paying a lot less per journey than occasional travellers on the same route, and are costing the railway a lot since by and large they travel at peak times and the peak demand drives the amount of trains and infrastructure needed.

Personally I'd introduce a railcard for anyone, possibly at a higher price than the existing ones, but make it valid for purchase of advance, off-peak and super-off-peak tickets only since (in theory at least) the railway can carry these passengers at marginal cost. I think I would also question the railcard discount that is given on peak tickets, since there are plenty of wealthy over-60 business people who can make back the cost of a senior railcard many times over on peak journeys into London.

I'm not decided on peak time discounts. I understand that the current structure has this for some, but not for others. If I were starting from scratch, I would probably say no to peak discounts, but there might be difficulties changing things now.

With regard to the point about season ticket holders, I would say, yes, their commute is cheaper than normal - but they have paid up front. From the railway's point of view that is guaranteed income, and from the season holders point of view, they have already paid the sunk cost, so it is just an add on to extend their benefit across the network.

 

[radamfi]

I tend to restrict myself to Advances only for longer distance trips, and coach when the Advances are too high. I use my Network Railcard now and again for trips within the SE.

If you want cheap train fares, best to leave the UK. I do most of my serious travelling on the mainland these days. As I pointed out on another thread today, you can do 10 trips in a year within Belgium for €7.60 per trip, any time of day. In the Netherlands, you most you will pay off-peak is €14.80 single if you have the main railcard. The undiscounted peak fare is only €22.40. For €99 a month, you can get unlimited off-peak travel in the whole of the Netherlands.

 

[Deerfold]

There's some strange comments in this thread buying a car! Travelling by coach!

Just enjoy travelling. The rest of us buy adult tickets (sometimes with obscure routeings). You'll be fine, honestly

Give me a later train out of Leeds than 2045 towards London (so 2000 from Keighley) or trains into Leeds that would let me get to London before 0851 then I'd catch them.

I'm sure people can explain why these don't exist but the coach works for me on occasion.

 

[starrymarkb]

There's some strange comments in this thread buying a car! Travelling by coach!

Just enjoy travelling. The rest of us buy adult tickets (sometimes with obscure routeings). You'll be fine, honestly

I guess it depends. When you have XC wanting £300+ for 5 hours on a Voyager because it departs just before 0930 in order to make the last bus to your destination it does make you choke! I drove in the end and yes I could have split (which may have meant having to change seats/coaches mid journey) or faffed about with the tube going via London

Earlier this year I used the savings by going by NatEx to get a nicer hotel at my destination...

 

[yorksrob]

Hmmm. Our beloved railway doesn't make it easy sometimes.

That said, I've only had to resort to the Coach a couple of times so far - once due to missing a train to London, and other times going in the rugby coach to watch the match. Not often (so far, touch wood) though.

 

[Techniquest]

My last railcard expired in November 2011, the last ticket bought using it was a Ledbury to Hereford single. I surprisingly got used to full fares quickly, it helped having spent weeks getting used to the idea. I did expect to drastically increase my bus/coach useage, but to be honest that's not happened. I don't like the idea of using coaches for long distances journeys, it takes far too long and there's very little freedom to move about on a coach. Plus I've endured London to Dundee via Birmingham, Manchester, Preston and Glasgow with Dundee in 2008, that was a horrid overnight trip!

Booking Advances and so on helps a lot, although I do still buy full price Off Peak Returns for long distance journeys. Hereford to Bradford Off Peak Return for £75.70 being one of the most expensive tickets I've bought (not including ALRs obviously), as sometimes Advance tickets just don't work out. Certainly didn't on my trip to/from Stansted Airport some months ago, since Advances weren't available on the 2020 Hereford to London Paddington. Worked out nicely as I had some freedom on the way back to allow for delays and could come back via Euston and Birmingham with Virgin

You'll adjust is the summary of what I'm trying to say.

 

[johnnychips]

I'm a bit older than most of you here, so when my mates' and my railcards expired in 1986 (and it was half off then, not a third), there were a lot less lads' days out to London. Then by the time our wages had risen we were too old and responsible to enjoy them! Of course this was in the days before advanced tickets.

 

[MK Tom]

Give me a later train out of Leeds than 2045 towards London (so 2000 from Keighley) or trains into Leeds that would let me get to London before 0851 then I'd catch them.

I'm sure people can explain why these don't exist but the coach works for me on occasion.

I'm increasingly interested in coach travel. Megabus have successfully and effortlessly taken me to France and Belgium three times now. I'm looking to use them for any trips to Leeds, Glasgow and the like that I may do in the future. Even with a railcard, I just can't justify spending serious money when Megabus will get me up there for so much less.

I find National Express aren't always mega cheap though. It usually costs me more to go to Luton Airport with them than it does with Stagecoach, so it's always annoying if a flight is leaving outside of the 99's timetable. The train is actually often cheaper too, but going via Bedford is 'long' as the youth of today would say.

I'm sure someone will tell me how amazing advanced tickets are with NatEx and on the trains. I once went to Edinburgh for one night to see family. The cheapest way to do the whole trip was to go up on the train first class, and come back with EasyJet. Strange world we live in.

 

[bicbasher]

If you're unemployed for between 6-12 months or on Employment & Support Allowance and actively seeking work (different criteria in Scotland), there is discounted travel with the Jobcentreplus discount card, which replaced the New Deal Railcard.

It also gives discounted travel on TfL services including the Tube, DLR and buses in and around London if added to Oyster.

 

[Butts]

Thanks for all your thoughts on the matter

I guess my Rail Rover days are over until I qualify for a Senior Railcard !!!

Over the last few years I have been hooked on East Coast / Virgin Advanced 1st Tickets , visiting some great Cities and Towns in some style and at minimal cost.

The added bonus has been dining both ways and enjoying generally good service and great value for money.

£12.55 for a 1st Class Ticket from Falkirk to Darlington with a breakfast, newspaper and free wifi thrown in is one of the great secret bargains of travel in the 21st Century

 

[RichmondCommu]

Give me a later train out of Leeds than 2045 towards London (so 2000 from Keighley) or trains into Leeds that would let me get to London before 0851 then I'd catch them.

I'm sure people can explain why these don't exist but the coach works for me on occasion.

Given that you are spending a fair amount of time in London I'm surprised that you have considered moving down here. It would surely make commuting to work a lot easier? Just saying
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

My Railcard has just expired and I am not eligible for a replacement.

For the last few years I have enjoyed many trips on East Coast Advanced First Tickets and those of other operators, which has enabled me to visit many parts of the UK in some style.

How have other members coped with the loss of discounted travel ? If I bought a ticket at the normal price without R/C reduction I would be thinking all the time this used to be a third cheaper.

Is this problem easy to overcome from a psychological point of view ?

Assuming that you are able to drive, have you considered buying a car? I've bought my children a 1.3 Corsa Diesel to be used as a 'pool' car. It only costs £30 to tax it for a year and the fuel economy is fantastic.

Other than that Standard Class travel isn't so bad, even more so if you manage to get a seat in the 'quiet coach'. Other than that it's just a case of cutting your cloth to suit your means. In the grand scheme of things it's hardly a major disaster!

 

[noddy1878]

There are a few local ones, I have a Devon and Cornwall Railcard (£10 per year, must be resident in Devon or Cornwall) for local trips. I think there are a few others

Me too and its fantastic value for money!

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

Is that definite? How do you know? Wonder what the reason is.

I asked them as I had not seen any promotional material and they responded by email, they are reviewing the 'product' and decision regarding availability will be made 'soon'. Perhaps I jumped the gun a little, but the response wasn't positive - and in previous years it has been available from September.

 

[IanD]

it's my intention to get a Network Railcard so I can still get half decent fares south of that mystical line that passes through Northampton and Bedford.

Even more mystical is that the line actually passes through Long Buckby but swerves round Peterborough on its way to Kings Lynn before diving South to miss out the rest of Norfolk. Yet further along it's route it mystically manages to reach Exeter and Worcester!

visiting some great Cities and Towns in some style and at minimal cost.

Then you give this example:

£12.55 for a 1st Class Ticket from Falkirk to Darlington with a breakfast, newspaper and free wifi thrown in is one of the great secret bargains of travel in the 21st Century

The downside being you have to start in Falkirk and end up in Darlington

 

[island]

BTW, I know if you're a full-time student you can still get one; does that extend to PhD students? As I may well be one at that point.

Yes (if you are doing it full time)

Although I think you now have to be attending a university on ATOC's approved list.

A 3 year discount, more like!

No, you can only have a Y-P discount until two days before your 27th birthday at the latest, so you can only get a 3-year card until the day before your 24th birthday.

 

[Zoe]

I guess it depends. When you have XC wanting £300+ for 5 hours on a Voyager because it departs just before 0930 in order to make the last bus to your destination it does make you choke!

You can often get a fare cheaper than £300 on XC even for a long distance journey if you book well in advance.