National Railcard discounts - ongoing discussion, no longer date specific

[whole diary]

[Tim]

The national roll out of a 16-30 Railcard is due to be announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Phillip Hammond, in the Budget this week.

Quite what it has to do with the Budget though I'm struggling to understand. The DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) may well be forcing it on the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) but I think it highly unlikely that Govt. are offering any funding. Instead it seems to be nothing other than a craven attempt at currying favour with a certain electoral demographic by pretending to be benevolent. The reality being, I suspect, zero pounds from Govt. with costs absorbed by TOCs.

Hopefully Mr Hammond will prove me wrong and is offering funding. But then, why not be really bold and fund a National Railcard?
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42052750

quite agree.  Whilst I support anything that lowers train fares for people, a third off train fares hardly compensates millennials for not being able to buy a house and it is high level issues like that that the Treasury should be focusing on  I expect that the ToCs have been asked to come up with something and figured that this initiative would be largely cost neutral and so pitched it to the Government who then pinched it. 

There is a lovely irony here.  Did the Conservatives not privatise the railway in order to free it from political interference? 

[TonyK]

The national roll out of a 16-30 Railcard is due to be announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Phillip Hammond, in the Budget this week.

And so it was!

Quite what it has to do with the Budget though I'm struggling to understand.

Having watched him announce it, I struggle too. If the Government had anything to do with it, surely DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) are the ones to do it? As BNM said earlier, it doesn't cost the Chancellor anything directly, and he made no announcement of funding. So it looks like nothing more than a bit of a good news story.

[JayMac]

Just to clarify. It will be a separate 26-30 Railcard, due to slightly different Terms & Conditions (T&Cs).

National rollout due sometime in Spring 2018.

Edit:VickiS - Clarifying acronyms

[TonyK]

This could pave the way for a cut in benefit rates for the under-30s in the next budget.

[JayMac]

This could pave the way for a cut in benefit rates for the under-30s in the next budget.

A cut in benefits because of this Railcard?

Jobseekers, and European Space Agency (ESA) claimants in the Work Focused Activity group can already get a free Railcard which gives them 50% off Standard Class fares.

Edit:VickiS - Clarifying Acronym

[TonyK]

Jobseekers, and ESA claimants in the Work Focused Activity group can already get a free Railcard which gives them 50% off Standard Class fares.

I retired too early...

[bobm]

Perhaps that’s why, I understand, they struggle to find the paperwork for those who wish to get the railcard they are entitled to.

[TonyK]

Perhaps that’s why, I understand, they struggle to find the paperwork for those who wish to get the railcard they are entitled to.

As with all things, some are good, others less so. I was always good with expense payments when appropriate, both for claimants and for me.

It can get worse.

I was once at a meeting of Jobcentre managers, feeling rather like it was all nothing to do with me, and that I was getting bored purely as a courtesy. Then one mentioned a training course that would help a lot of her customers, if only it wasn't somewhere they could never get to by public transport from Easton. I woke up, and asked where it was - it was next to Bristol Parkway. So why don't they get the train, I asked, to be laughed at by all of them, for thinking that their customers would want to walk to Temple Meads. I persisted - what's wrong with getting a train from Stapleton Road? That had them laughing even more, before asking where the nearest station was. Well, I said patiently, you know that sort of bridgey-type thing right outside Easton Jobcentre - you know, the one with a sign saying "Stapleton Road station"? There was sudden silence while they all, especially the now former manager, considered what the regional manager, chairing the meeting, would think of this lack of local knowledge...

[JayMac]

Perhaps that’s why, I understand, they struggle to find the paperwork for those who wish to get the railcard they are entitled to.

You remember my tale of woe don't you? 

I found the DWP Jobseekers Railcard (official snappy name: Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card) issuing guidance for staff online. Then walked my Personal Advisor through the process to issue me one. Explaining to him that I met the eligibility criteria. No one in my allocated Jobcentre had a clue how to issue one. This despite them having the necessary Railcard stock and issuing forms.

[IndustryInsider]

Just to clarify. It will be a separate 26-30 Railcard, due to slightly different T&Cs.

Of course it would be too difficult to have the same Terms & Conditions (T&Cs), wouldn't it!  Barry Doe, in one of his rare deviations from just rotating through his favourite list of bugbears, talks about the confusing differences for existing railcards in the latest RAIL magazine.

Edit:VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms

[TaplowGreen]

I guess it is one small  recognition of how unaffordable rail travel has become for large swathes of people, however why that has to be limited to under 30s I really don't know.

[chrisr_75]

I guess it is one small  recognition of how unaffordable rail travel has become for large swathes of people, however why that has to be limited to under 30s I really don't know.

We're not the only place though. In Switzerland virtually no one, bar the occasional tourist, pays full prices for public transport as I believe there is a national travel discount card scheme (for purchase, but the savings far outweigh the outlay) available to all.

[grahame]

We're not the only place though. In Switzerland virtually no one, bar the occasional tourist, pays full prices for public transport as I believe there is a national travel discount card scheme (for purchase, but the savings far outweigh the outlay) available to all.

Of course, in Britain tourist can get special Britrail prices so that pay fares that are often so low they would make you weep!

[Timmer]

Of course, in Britain tourist can get special Britrail prices so that pay fares that are often so low they would make you weep!

Don't get me started on that one when you compare it to the cost of All Line Rovers! 

[Tim]

This could pave the way for a cut in benefit rates for the under-30s in the next budget.

I don't think that the railcard is aimed at under 30s on benefits.  It is supposed to be to help the much larger number of under 30s who are in work but still struggling (although presumably the peak restrictions will make it difficult to use for commuting)