Great Western Coffee Shop

THese Railcards all went up to ^30 yesterday when bought from ticket offices & agents -

Senior Railcard
Friends & Family Railcard
Young Persons Railcard
Network Railcard

The Disabled card remains at ^20.

You can get ^3 off by buying inline at www.railcard.co.uk - except the Network Card which can only be bought at stations within the old NSE area. The Disabled Railcard can only be got at stations & by post I believe.

You can also buy the three year version online for ^70. I'm glad I bought a three-year version last year for ^65. I'd already have spent ^58 for two years otherwise, and more than likely a third year would have cost ^32, so an overall cost of ^90. Even at current prices you save ^20 over the cost of three separate yearly cards.

Three year version of which card?

You can buy three year 16-25, Disabled, Family & Friends and Senior railcards. The disabled one is ^54 rather than ^70.

Have they introduced a general card for those not young enough to be a young person, and not old enough to be an old person yet, or are they still discriminating based on age?

As itr's an offer, they're fully entitled to offer cards for whatever ages they choose.

Certainly that is something the ATOC need to seriously look at introducing. It would certainly help increase passenger numbers off peak, I am sure you can imagine a large group of people at Melksham station boarding a service to Swindon or Salisbury (of course if there is a good off peak service)

If you're going tomake discounts generally available, why not just reduce the fares that one would get a discount on?

Anthony you mean something like this:

BahnCard 25

The choice for occasional travelers and families: BahnCard 25 already pays off with one annual journey of more than EUR 200.00 in second class. BahnCard 25 costs just EUR 61.00 for second class and EUR 123.00 for first class and grants 25% reduction on the full fare for a whole year.

Or an even better one for over 60s

BahnCard 50

Travel flexibly and save at the same time: BahnCard 50 costs just EUR 249.00 for second class and EUR 498.00 for first class and is not valid in connection with Saver fares. Children, students under 27 and senior citizens over 60 pay only half the price for their BahnCard 50.

Or the real deluxe!

BahnCard 100

Just hop on the next train: BahnCard 100 offers 12 months travel on all DB services. It only costs EUR 4,090.00 for second class and EUR 6,890.00 for first class. The order form for the Mobility BahnCard 100 is only available in German currently.

Didn't they used to be ^22 or something?

Yet another reason why I rarely travel by rail...

^15.....

I suppose it depends when you baseline the price. 

Network Cards were ^20 for absolutely ages from around 97 or 98, for ten years or more? I guess if they had followed the same sort of indexing formulae as normal regulated fares over the years the recent sharp hikes wouldn't have been so noticeable. 

Simple RPI indexing suggests ^30 is actually about right - if it had been RPI + X it would presumably be a bit higher?

Paul

Unfortunately for our pockets, I agree with you.

I wonder at the ongoing viability of the Network Card though....one way of getting rid of it, I suppose. Raise the price until people stop buying it because they don't make enough savings to recoup the price.

Is it still possible for a 24 year old to purchase a 3 year card, which will last until they are 27?  I may have to plan my railcard purchasing carefully in the next few years if this is still the case.

My understanding is that that is indeed the case, Brucey: it is the age at the time of purchase that is critical.

Lucky young people.  I couldn't purchase my Senior Card one hour before my 60th birthday, so I had to wait a few days before I could use it.  >:(

You can only purchase a 3 year card until the day before your 24th birthday, so that it will run out before you turn 27, in line with the latest date you could buy a 1 year card, the day before your 26th birthday.

I assume the trial of the Two Together card in the West Midlands was never extended into something more widely available.

No, the cards issued are being honoured until they expire & that's it, I think I heard.

Really?

Not that I disbelieve you. But when I first applied for my Disabled Railcard at 17 (So back to 2007 I guess...) I went to purchase the railcard at the station and was given a form to fill out and post off to DPRO (Disabled Persons Railcard Office).

With that railcard in particular, you need to send off 1 or various documents for proof of entitlement and this was the reason I was given for NOT being able to purchase at the station there and then. So have things now changed?

When I renewed it, I can't quite remember what I did, IIRC I phoned up and made a payment on MasterCard. I asked about sending in the documents again and the person on the phone said they were not needed as they already had proof of entitlement on file.

No.
It's not available at the station. Like you said, station will give a form and you send it away :)

To confirm. A first time application for a Disabled Persons Railcard can only be made by post as you have to supply proof of eligibility along with the application. Ticket office staff are not trained to make eligibility decisions. That's why there is a separate office that deals specifically with Disabled Persons Railcard applications. There is a form available online that can be printed off and filled in.

http://www.disabledpersons-railcard.co.uk/buy-a-railcard

Renewals of Disabled Persons Railcards can be made online or over the phone, subject to continuing to fulfill the eligibility criteria. However, the Disabled Persons Railcard office reserve the right to request more documentation to prove continued eligibility when you make a renewal application.

Eligibility criteria: http://www.disabledpersons-railcard.co.uk/what-is-a-disabled-persons-railcard/am-i-eligible