Which railcard are you trying to use? The 16-25 Railcard has minimum fare restrictions before 10am on weekdays meaning that a ticket before then can’t be discounted to less than £12, meaning that the Off-Peak Day Return is cheaper undiscounted…
…and that the railcard-discounted Anytime Return is £12 owing to the minimum fare.
No, minimum fare is £12 when travelling between 4.30 a.m. and 10 a.m. (Mon-Fri) using a 16-25 Railcard.
Probably was a historic decision not to give certain railcard holders any discount on inexpensive / shorter distance journeys during the traditional morning peak.
No it doesn't. The 10am minimum fare restriction for 16-25 railcards with disapplication during July and August is one of the most appropriate restrictions in place.
I think because it was always seen as a product to encourage leisure travel, such as students travelling home at weekends, rather than for daily commuting. But as you note, it certainly isn’t a new thing at all.
Correct. The minimum fare was there from the beginning (though not £12 in 1974!).
No, it has never been intended for that purpose - ever since the Railcard's inception nearly 50 years ago. There are student discounts on season tickets in some areas but generally, if the fare is under £12, there is simply no discount.So 16-25 railcard is not intended to include daily / regular travel to college, university, work placement and first full time job .......... to quote Victor Meldrew ' I don't believe it ' ......
Correct. It was and is a commercial product to encourage said people to travel more, not a subsidy for work-related travel.( Directly OT )
So 16-25 railcard is not intended to include daily / regular travel to college, university, work placement and first full time job .......... to quote Victor Meldrew ' I don't believe it ' ......
Yes, although originally BR entered into a contract with the NUS didn't they? I imagine said agreement is no longer in force, but I don't know. Therefore while it was a commercial agreement at inception it later became bound by rules which have since stuck, whether those rules are still binding or not.
No idea whether there was an agreement with NUS at the start but it became a BR-owned product fairly soon.
I am fairly sure that both these - and the extension to cover all 16-25s - were BR decisions, there being little need to ban commuting to uni in the long vacation.
I expect having to bring a child on the commute would rule out use of F&F for a majority of holders anyway.
Friends and Family (and the Senior Railcard) has been restricted for journeys wholly within the Network South East area since 1993.
You clearly don't really understand the premise of a Railcard.
In fairness, the Railcard system has in some ways grown to include aspects of a concession system. I can forgive people thinking that that was always the intent.
I stand corrected - having lived Up North since 1987 that had escaped me
True of the Disabled Railcard certainly- which others?
It actually is. Consider a young person at the start of their career commuting from somewhere like Stevenage to London. Anytime Day Return is £24.80, 7 day season £105.60, Monthly £405.60, Annual £4224. This is too much for someone to pay who is potentially on low wages.( Directly OT )
So 16-25 railcard is not intended to include daily / regular travel to college, university, work placement and first full time job .......... to quote Victor Meldrew ' I don't believe it ' ......
Some areas have things like that, it’s usually a local authority/TOC agreement.
The Veteran's Railcard. It effectively fills the gap between those who are no longer eligible for the HM Forces Railcard, and those who have yet to reach their 60th Birthday and thus aren't yet eligible for the Senior Railcard. The number of people who are eligible for neither of those but are eligible for the newer Veteran's Railcard is tiny as a proportion of the population, but it was felt important politically to permit this group access to the similar discount.
16-17 saver?
Is it though? Surely it would make more sense to apply it to Anytime fares, or at lease line it up with the Off Peak times, rather than the current situation where you can get caught travelling on what you believe to be a valid ticket, but isn't because you bought it for a service after 10 but decided to travel earlier.
That only happens if you don't read the terms and conditions. When you buy the railcard you have to acknowledge that you accept and understand the terms and conditions. They aren't just there to catch people out.
An argument could be made to align the minimum fare to the time at which off-peak tickets first become valid but a 10am restriction (which let's not forget is about a minimum fare, not a blanket restriction on use) is simpler and probably meets the objective of the restriction better in any case.
In my opinion it is still not obvious enough. We live in a world where there are literally hundreds of T&Cs you have to read to just function in society, and people just don't do that. Yes it says there is a 10am restriction on the main page, but then links to a page that doesn't mention it.
The T&Cs haven't changed for many, many years. Websites and ticket machines will not sell tickets for invalid itineraries, before tickets were available online I suspect there might have been more change of inadvertently using a discounted ticket at an invalid time, especially of purchased at a ticket machine.
My point is more that someone could buy an Off Peak ticket, which is advertised as a flexible ticket, and then decide they want to get an earlier train, at say 9:45, which NRE will tell them is an Off Peak train, but their ticket is actually invalid for.
I’m unsure how my proposal of either changing the minimum fare time to 9:30, or removing the minimum fare from Off Peak and Super Off Peak tickets would make anyone’s journey more expensive?
