Call for discounts for railcard users

[whole diary]

[PhilWakely]

My Senior Railcard was due for renewal 25/03/20, as was my wifes.  Normally we would have expected to receive an e-mail reminder with a link etc.  This year nothing. Something in the system guessed that days out by train were not going to be on our agenda.

There were major problems with the railcard website around the turn of the year, which I do not think were sorted by the time lockdown was announced, so I doubt you would have received a reminder at the time.

[PhilWakely]

No extension for railcard holders after lockdown, but safeguarded staff travel card gets three month extension

[IndustryInsider]

No extension for railcard holders after lockdown, but safeguarded staff travel card gets three month extension

I fully support those who think there should be a railcard extension, though this three month safeguarded rail extension isn't quite the same thing.

Passes are issued for use from 1st April every year, and are valid for the following 15 months until 30th June the following year.  The next passes are issued 1st April the following year, so there is a three month overlap of validity.  This change means that the usual three month overlap becomes a six month overlap next year.

[old original]

No extension for railcard holders after lockdown, but safeguarded staff travel card gets three month extension

I fully support those who think there should be a railcard extension, though this three month safeguarded rail extension isn't quite the same thing.

Passes are issued for use from 1st April every year, and are valid for the following 15 months until 30th June the following year.  The next passes are issued 1st April the following year, so there is a three month overlap of validity.  This change means that the usual three month overlap becomes a six month overlap next year.

...also, although rail travel was for "essential travel only" railcards could still be used whereas the use of the leisure staff passes were suspended.

[IndustryInsider]

...and...

The 2019/20 entitlement had no extension, so ran out on 30th June this year during the period usage was barred.

[grahame]

From Christian Wolmar

Railcard scam is nothing short of theft by the state

Last week, buying a ticket for my first rail journey in six months, I said to the kindly ticket clerk, ‘I presume that my Senior Railcard will have been extended since I have been barred from using the railway since December?’  The poor woman almost blushed: ‘I’m afraid not. You will have to buy a new one. You are not the first — and you should complain.’

Indeed. There is both a powerful moral and a practical marketing issue here. I discovered that ministers had decided back in September, after the first lockdown, that five million railcard holders would lose their money since they had not been unable to make use of them. The rail companies and Passenger Focus, the statutory body which represents passengers, were furious.

Rightly so. This is actually theft and that is why it is a moral issue. There is no other word for it. If the government bans me from an activity for which I have paid, then it is the government’s responsibility to compensate me. [continues]

[CyclingSid]

moral issue

I think you have the wrong government to think that applies.

[grahame]

From the Mirror

Pensioner who couldn't travel due to Covid rules is denied £70 railcard refund

Pensioner Susan Shaw bought a three-year card before the pandemic that government rules meant she couldn't use - now she is unable to get any cash back or an extension

I ... still ... feel that the denial of an either an extension or a refund of some sort sends out the signals "mean" and "immoral" and fails to take up what could have been a marketing opportunity.

[infoman]

This is another occasion that those in charge should have refunded the amount and then kept quiet.

Now its been in the papers,

stand by for an "error of judgement"

Then their will be refunds for all of those that request their monies back,and sales of senior railcards COULD suffer.

Considering that "mature persons" get off peak bus travel

[PhilWakely]

It is a difficult one to get right. Morally, I believe there should have been some sort of compensation. However, to give you an example......

I renewed my Good Lady Wife's [one year] railcard just before the first lockdown and it was not used during the subsequent twelve months as she had no need to use the railway and had no wish to use it out of lockdown because of severe overcrowding on the services she would have used. However, both of us recently celebrated our ruby wedding anniversary by treating ourselves to First Class travel from Exeter to Edinburgh, via London. Our railcards earned us each a saving of significantly more than the cost of a 3-year (let alone a 1-year) railcard on our return journey. So, we have more than made up for lack of use last year.

However, there will be others less fortunate, who bought their railcards just to cover their weekly visit to relatives twenty miles away and would not have been able to do so. They certainly deserve some sort of compensation.

[TaplowGreen]

It is a difficult one to get right. Morally, I believe there should have been some sort of compensation. However, to give you an example......

I renewed my Good Lady Wife's [one year] railcard just before the first lockdown and it was not used during the subsequent twelve months as she had no need to use the railway and had no wish to use it out of lockdown because of severe overcrowding on the services she would have used. However, both of us recently celebrated our ruby wedding anniversary by treating ourselves to First Class travel from Exeter to Edinburgh, via London. Our railcards earned us each a saving of significantly more than the cost of a 3-year (let alone a 1-year) railcard on our return journey. So, we have more than made up for lack of use last year.

However, there will be others less fortunate, who bought their railcards just to cover their weekly visit to relatives twenty miles away and would not have been able to do so. They certainly deserve some sort of compensation.

That's the difficulty isn't it?

You couldn't really embark on an exercise to ascertain every individuals circumstances and level of use, it's really got to be all or nothing?

[grahame]

I am going to disagree with the need to work out how much people would have lost.

In the normal (let's call it positive) direction, it's £30 for one year or £70 for three, irrespective if the holder saved £10 or £1000 - no benefit testing in the fee.   So why are we talking about some sort of benefit testing when we look at the reverse (negative) direction?     The difference in benefit relates not to the standing charge, but to the incremental (34% of fare) element - paid close to the time of travel and not the same issue on refunds.