Yes, it would be a trivial additional sum.
I did have my annual season ticket but in the end the savings over the Network Railcard weren't working out enough as I didn't travel between 9:30 am and 10 am enough or travel to arara covered by a Gold Card but not a Network Railcard. There was so the £2 bus fares, which meant some of my journeys now switched to being by bus.
RDG has no direct authority in the decision making role in Railcard pricing, it administers the scheme under which they are managed. In terms of the legal construction of the scheme, decisions are the collective responsibility of the participating TOCs based on votes and subject to a benchmarking regime against inflation. It is the TOCs' opinions on things like potential dilution that matter - indeed anyone that has worked inside ATOC/RDG would not get far by trying to tell the TOCs what they should do. In practical terms the Government holds all revenue risk, so it ultimately it's a DfT/Treasury decision to approve, and these days they are the ones that have to be satisfied with the numbers. As noted elsewhere Railcards haven't gone up for more than 10 years so the current price is well below the theoretical permitted maximum.
Of course full duty hasn't gone up in more than 10 years either. I won'er what the theoretical permitted maximum of fuel duty would be?
Well Norrhern were prosecuting people for not paying an additional £2....
I got my Network Railcard in July this year so early renewal would need to be worthwhile.
My point being, these are political decisions, not RDG ones
Somewhat different as they would not be able to instigate criminal proceedings to recover a railcard debt.
Thata true enough but TOCs must have some representation in these matters even if the RDG doesn't.
www.railcard.co.uk
It would be undesirable to do everything in one go.
Minimum fares on Network railcards only applies Monday->Friday (Bank holidays + weekends excepted).
It's been around a good while. There's also a ScotRail version
There already is for 16-25 and 26-30! It's less onerous than the network railcard one at least, only applying before 10am
So without derailing the thread too much why are certain railcards valid for travel before 10:00 and others aren't?
The 16-25 and 26-30 restrictions are essentially to prevent the railcards being used for short journeys in the peak, and therefore cannibalising revenue, while still allowing use for longer journeys, more likely to be discretionary.
I think just historic reasons and terms agreed at individual times.
There isn't even that consistency - for Senior and Family Railcards the validity starts when Off Peak tickets become available, so that can depend on which destination you have selected and which direction you're going!
Yes of course, I was thinking of two together. Not sure how I could forget that it's that insane rule! Good fun for anything selling tickets to implement too
That's only in the London and South East areas, yes?
Yes, apparently discounted commuting is acceptable across the rest of the network.
Actually there is.
Or indeed in the L&SE area as long as your journey also extends beyond that area. From a rational perspective there's no good explanation as to why a Peterborough to London commuter should benefit from discounted fares whilst a Huntingdon to London one shouldn't.
Before I was eligible for a Senior Railcard most of my longer distance rail journeys were booked well in advance using cheaper advance tickets. I would do plenty of research to find the cheapest tickets sometimes resulting in taking slower trains or less direct routes. Getting a railcard has for me brought flexible walk up off peak tickets down to a more acceptable level and I now very rarely use advance tickets. I much prefer paying on the day and having flexibility during my journey regarding which train I can travel on. The railway is actually getting far more income from me since I‘ve had a railcard than it did previously.
Historical reasons that the industry has never sought to review is the short answer.