NRE Incorrectly advertised discount.

[whole diary]

[LiskeardRich]

Today I did a Ride Cornwall ticket. National Rail Enquiries advertise that I was entitled to 1/3 discount with my Devon and Cornwall Railcard, however when buying I was charged ^8.30, which equates to approx. 1/6 discount.
FGW^▸ (First Great Western) say this is a NRE^‡(resolve) error on twitter, does anyone know whether FGW or NRE are correct.

Screen Print attached from NRE

[Alan Pettitt]

As far as I can see all Ride Cornwall + Railcard are ^8.30.

[LiskeardRich]

As far as I can see all Ride Cornwall + Railcard are ^8.30.

That's what I was charged- FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s publicity just says a discount applies with no mention of how much discount, so the only figure I had to go by was NRE^‡(resolve).

[JayMac]

That is the correct discount and it has always been thus. NRE^‡(resolve) is wrong.

The reason you don't get the full 1/3 off is because the ticket is also valid on buses, on which Railcard discounts do not apply.

I don't know what the revenue split is between the rail and bus companies but the Railcard discount is only applied to the portion of the price which goes to the rail companies. At a guess and with some fag packet maths I'd say it's 50/50, ^5 to rail companies and ^5 to bus companies. With approx. 1/3 (^1.70) being taken off the rail companies' ^5.

The NRE entry for the Ride Cornwall Day Ranger shows the correct Railcard prices (although it does fail to mention that the D&C is valid):
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/pra3e4df0a040002005aaf3aa9d4ac43.aspx

[bobm]

One shouldn't have to resort to unofficial websites but I've always found the GB^▸ (Great Britain) Rovers site very useful.

http://www.railrover.org/pages/ride-cornwall-ranger.html

[thetrout]

Could this be classed as misleading advertising on NRE^‡(resolve)' Part?

[LiskeardRich]

Could this be classed as misleading advertising on NRE^‡(resolve)' Part?

I would think so.


As a side thought if I had purchased on a bus, would I have been able to claim the railcard discount?

[SDS]

chuck in a complaint to the ASA. I hear they are itching to do ATOC^» (Association of Train Operating Companies See - here) for something.

[LiskeardRich]

chuck in a complaint to the ASA. I hear they are itching to do ATOC^» (Association of Train Operating Companies See - here) for something.

I had done so already, however NRE^‡(resolve) has now corrected their website off the back of twitter conversation I had yesterday.

[JayMac]

That's good to hear. NRE^‡(resolve), in the past, have been positively glacial in correcting errors that have been pointed out to them.

[GBM]

As a side thought if I had purchased on a bus, would I have been able to claim the railcard discount?

Nope.  No discount on bus purchases.  Full ^10.
As an aside, I hear passengers can purchase a Plus Bus ticket at any railway station for ^2, then travel the local bus are for same amount - without having to purchase a rail ticket first.
Far cheaper than the local First ^10 day ticket.

[LiskeardRich]

As a side thought if I had purchased on a bus, would I have been able to claim the railcard discount?

Nope.  No discount on bus purchases.  Full ^10.
As an aside, I hear passengers can purchase a Plus Bus ticket at any railway station for ^2, then travel the local bus are for same amount - without having to purchase a rail ticket first.
Far cheaper than the local First ^10 day ticket.

The plus bus areas are very limited for each station so covers nowhere near the area the ^10 ticket covers.

[GBM]

As a side thought if I had purchased on a bus, would I have been able to claim the railcard discount?

Nope.  No discount on bus purchases.  Full ^10.
As an aside, I hear passengers can purchase a Plus Bus ticket at any railway station for ^2, then travel the local bus are for same amount - without having to purchase a rail ticket first.
Far cheaper than the local First ^10 day ticket.

The plus bus areas are very limited for each station so covers nowhere near the area the ^10 ticket covers.

Agreed, but.  The station issuing them does not point out the route limitations, so passengers assume they can be used in full - i.e. Pz - Landsend/ St Ives/Falmouth, etc.  Passengers very confused and angry when some drivers ask for the single 'return' fare.
Many drivers accept the Plus Bus without asking to where the passenger is travelling, hence much confusion.

[Ollie]

chuck in a complaint to the ASA. I hear they are itching to do ATOC^» (Association of Train Operating Companies See - here) for something.

I had done so already, however NRE^‡(resolve) has now corrected their website off the back of twitter conversation I had yesterday.

That's good going on their part, I only spoke to them (over the phone) at midnight on Friday. Although did copy them in on tweet, so it's possible that caused a reaction from them too