Who To Complain To

[phil1960]

With today's announcement about another expansion of contactless PAYG in SE England, was wondering who best to contact regarding the inability to use these discounts with a National Railcard. As it's multi-TOC there's no point directing at one in my opinion. They are just being told what to do by the DfT. So London TravelWatch or Transport Focus? I'm really not needing advice on the alternatives railcard holders have i.e. reductions on more expensive paper/eTickets. My issue is the lack of progress the rail industry driven by the DfT along with TfL in coming up with an option to assign a specific credit/debit to a railcard to then apply the third off discount with PAYG.

 

[Benjwri]

The most appropriate person to try is probably your MP to be honest, they're likely to get more of a response than you will from any organisation.

more expensive paper/eTickets

Worth noting the is no price difference in the fares to stations from this change, and any others that appeared as part of Project Oval, compared between PAYG and buying a ticket, with the only exception being if you travel onto the underground, however this is no different to before the change for a railcard holder.

I will agree with you though that the railcard change should've been rolled out by now

 

[Watershed]

Any complaints you make will probably be brushed aside on the basis that paper singles to/from Project Oval stations have been reduced to be the same as contactless fares.

There are some scenarios where one will be cheaper than the other, as the validity of Off-Peak paper fares is based on scheduled departure times. Contactless fares are charged based on your actual time of touching in - regardless of the time your train leaves.

Furthermore, contactless Off-Peak fares are charged if you start your journey at the relevant Off-Peak time; connecting trains (including Out of Station Interchanges, OSIs) don't make a difference. By contrast, the Off-Peak restrictions on paper tickets apply to every train you take. This means that paper Off-Peak tickets are more heavily restricted in practice, particularly when crossing London in the evening peak.

However I think they have effectively managed to take most of the 'wind out of the sails' of any Railcard related complaints by halving paper singles.