Railcards UP in Price from May 19

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

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^▸ (Network South East) area. The Disabled Railcard can only be got at stations & by post I believe.

[Southern Stag]

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.

[ChrisB]

Three year version of which card?

[Southern Stag]

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

[grahame]

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?

[ChrisB]

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

[anthony215]

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?

Certainly that is something the ATOC^» (Association of Train Operating Companies see - here) 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)

[ChrisB]

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

[eightf48544]

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^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) 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.

[devon_metro]

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^▸ (Network South East) area. The Disabled Railcard can only be got at stations & by post I believe.

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

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

[ChrisB]

^15.....

[paul7575]

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^▸ (Revenue Protection Inspector, or Retail Price Index, depending on context) indexing suggests ^30 is actually about right - if it had been RPI + X it would presumably be a bit higher?

Paul

[ChrisB]

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.

[Brucey]

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.

[Chris from Nailsea]

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