Two Together Railcard

[adam.dickinson]

Does anybody know whether the Two Together Railcard is going to get rolled out? It got suspended after its trial and there have been no announcements on whether its gone forever or will come back.

 

[Masbroughlad]

I put a thread on a few months ago as I was gutted it was being stopped.

Excellent example of something being set up to fail. Poor marketing, poor knowledge of staff when we were using it. It was a good product that encouraged two of us to travel together by rail more than we do.

 

[bb21]

To answer you original question, there is no plan to roll it out on a nationalwide basis at the moment.

 

[David Goddard]

Well gutted that this has not gone nationwide. We have a Network Card, which we get a great deal of use from, but is no use if we want to go further north than Banbury.

Would definitely buy one if it was available, and am sure we would use it a lot.

It seems that ATOC are not interested in promoting train travel to the group of people who are most likely to spend money on train travel (i.e. those aged between 27 and 60).
Yes they would be offering a discount, but I am sure the TOCs would rather sell two discounted fares than none at all when these people take the car instead.

 

[yorksrob]

Call me old fashioned, but it seems to me like a ploy to avoid instigating the national railcard/network card.

 

[cjohnson]

Mine finally expired yesterday... was actually sent a couple of questionnaires from ATOC during the time it was held, so they did at least make a token effort to do a bit more research on it.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Purchasing a ticket today at my local station with my Network Card when the lady asked for the expiry date. This isn't until mid January 2014. She told me to renew my Network Card before 2 January as it was being replaced by one for 2 people. Does anyone know more about this?

 

[island]

Welcome to the forum! That's very interesting information. As you can see from the thread where your post was merged to, there was in the past a purple railcard for two people, but sale was stopped May last year. I am very hopeful that the card might be coming back, although it would be useless to me if only valid in the Network area as I have a gold card.

 

[IanD]

It would also be useless if the Network Railcard was replaced by one requiring 2 people travelling together a la the TwoTogether railcard. Maybe what the clerk meant was they are going to drop the number of adults on the network card from 4 to 2 (also not very good!)

 

[Hadders]

Can anyone substantiate the rumour about the Network Railcard being withdrawn?

 

[AlterEgo]

To answer you original question, there is no plan to roll it out on a nationalwide basis at the moment.

Isn't there?

 

[Be3G]

I don't quite understand what this thread is or isn't saying will happen, but one thought that's often occurred to me is that the Network Railcard's ability to get discounted tickets for three or four people seems rather pointless with the advent of GroupSave (which, for four people, is better value for money anyway).

 

[gordonthemoron]

surely they can't change the 4 adults rule on a Network Railcard as this has existed since NSE, indeed the ticket is endorsed NSE

 

[Hadders]

Groupsave is fine but a Network Railcard can be used on all TOC's in the network area whereas Groupsave cannot (EMT springs to mind, not sure about Virgin or East Coast).

Any plans to remove the Network Railcard should be resisted. A far better idea would be to look at a national version of the Network Railcard.

 

[jon0844]

I'd happily pay more for a Network Railcard and have the £13 minimum scrapped in the week, which hugely reduces the usefulness of the card for me in the week.

But ultimately, I'd like a national railcard that gives me 1/3 off (with or without a minimum) everywhere, not just the rather pointless NSE area - given such an area doesn't really exist anymore.

Any talk of getting rid of the Network Railcard would be bad news, unless it's to relaunch it as a National Railcard. If that happened, I'd be very happy - and I expect it would be good for the industry as a whole.

 

[bb21]

Isn't there?

Don't you start.

I am saying nothing.

 

[Simon11]

I don't understand, what is the point of a network railcard???

Might as well reduce all fares???

 

[paul1609]

I'd happily pay more for a Network Railcard and have the £13 minimum scrapped in the week, which hugely reduces the usefulness of the card for me in the week.

But ultimately, I'd like a national railcard that gives me 1/3 off (with or without a minimum) everywhere, not just the rather pointless NSE area - given such an area doesn't really exist anymore.

Any talk of getting rid of the Network Railcard would be bad news, unless it's to relaunch it as a National Railcard. If that happened, I'd be very happy - and I expect it would be good for the industry as a whole.

The Network Railcard without the £13 minimum already exists its called a Newhaven Town to Newhaven Harbour or Pevensey Bay to Pevensey & Westham Annual Season Ticket at £156.00.
It also gives you a second network railcard for £1, first class upgrades at weekends for a £5.
Later this year it will be available on an ITSO smartcard which should confuse some of the people away from third rail land.

I believe SWT also have a version that gives you some free weekend trips

 

[jon0844]

I've thought about the Gold Card season before, but while I haven't done the maths, I am not sure I'd break even with that extra outlay at the moment.

 

[yorksrob]

But ultimately, I'd like a national railcard that gives me 1/3 off (with or without a minimum) everywhere, not just the rather pointless NSE area - given such an area doesn't really exist anymore.

Any talk of getting rid of the Network Railcard would be bad news, unless it's to relaunch it as a National Railcard. If that happened, I'd be very happy - and I expect it would be good for the industry as a whole.

Here here - couldn't agree more.

 

[Deerfold]

I don't understand, what is the point of a network railcard???

Might as well reduce all fares???

I think the idea is you've paid something so want to use it more to "get your money's worth".

In the opposite direction from those who use thier car "as I've already paid for tax and insurance so it makes sense to use it". It seems to work well in Germany.

 

[alastair]

The Network Railcard without the £13 minimum already exists its called a Newhaven Town to Newhaven Harbour or Pevensey Bay to Pevensey & Westham Annual Season Ticket at £156.00.
It also gives you a second network railcard for £1, first class upgrades at weekends for a £5.
Later this year it will be available on an ITSO smartcard which should confuse some of the people away from third rail land.

I believe SWT also have a version that gives you some free weekend trips

Or Ryde Esplanade to Ryde St Johns Road also £156. And the first class upgrades are not just at weekends you can have them any day IF you can find a booking clerk who know how to issue them,not easy in my experience. I had one of these for many years,but my travelling patterns don't justify the expense these days.

 

[34D]

I don't understand, what is the point of a network railcard???

Might as well reduce all fares???

But wherever there is a railcard to forget there is a court prosecution to consider.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Not only that, but in order to gain anything from the railcard you'd have to be spending atleast £90 normally and know ahead of time that that is going to happen. If all fares were simply reduced by a third, the passenger who spends £30 a year, might now only be spending £20 a year, or might increase there use back upto £30 with more travel, neither of which benefits the railway.

 

[jon0844]

I don't see the point in just reducing fares, as you're able to offer something that can encourage more travel (off peak) to get bigger savings. If all fares were simply cheaper, there's no feeling of wanting to get the most from the card.

It's all psychological I'm sure, but if someone invests in a Network Railcard or Family Railcard, they've got more incentive to now travel by train. That's the benefit of the railcard, and why if you had a national railcard at a higher price - you'd perhaps get more people to use the train and, gradually, see that it isn't all bad (most of the time).

I imagine the free Daily Mail family railcard given each year probably does quite well. It's quite amazing the paper does this given its anti-railway stance on most articles!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

.... That's the benefit of the railcard, and why if you had a national railcard at a higher price - you'd perhaps get more people to use the train and, gradually, see that it isn't all bad (most of the time)....

To an extent, but bear in mind that the average Railcard rail traveller would have to make 50% more journeys for the railway to break-even.

 

[Be3G]

I suspect it's actually somewhat less than 50% more journies, as the TOCs will have already gained the railcard fee, which will be nearly ‘pure’ profit as opposed to money for a service which has cost something to deliver. (I.e. a £30 railcard must surely provide more initial profit than a £30 train ticket.)

 

[hairyhandedfool]

It's a fair point, but then they always give 34% off with Railcards, rather than the slightly more complex 33.3333333333333333333333.....% that would be 1/3 off, so a £30 Railcard (which would be very good value btw) is probably little more that a slight balancing if anything, in the grand scheme of things.