Railcard Prices going up

[whole diary]

[TonyN]

Quote From an Email recived today from The Railcard Team.

After being frozen for over a decade, from Sunday 2 March 2025 the price of most Railcards will change to £35 for a 1-year Railcard and £80 for a 3-year Railcard. The price of the Disabled Persons Railcard will stay the same, at £20 for a 1-year card and £54 for a 3-year card.

[PhilWakely]

Quote From an Email recived today from The Railcard Team.

After being frozen for over a decade, from Sunday 2 March 2025 the price of most Railcards will change to £35 for a 1-year Railcard and £80 for a 3-year Railcard. The price of the Disabled Persons Railcard will stay the same, at £20 for a 1-year card and £54 for a 3-year card.

So, if you currently own a Railcard that expires between 2nd March 2025 and 1st April 2025; you still qualify for said railcard after that date; and you intend to renew....... make sure you apply to renew anytime between 2nd February and 1st March as you can renew up to one month before expiry without loss of any period of validity.

Whilst I am a staunch advocate of 'buy at station', if you will still qualify for said railcard in 2 years, 11 months and 30 days time, and you can afford it, purchase a 3-year card from railcard.co.uk (please avoid third party travel agents for your purchase  )

[froome]

Personally I think £35 still represents a very good deal for one year's travel. You only need to make one very long journey or about 3 journeys of say  70+ miles and return to make that pay.  I suspect most of us (especially those of us elderly senior railcard holders) will easily manage that. If not, then a reasonable number of local journeys (one or two each month) will.

[grahame]

Personally I think £35 still represents a very good deal for one year's travel. You only need to make one very long journey or about 3 journeys of say  70+ miles and return to make that pay.  I suspect most of us (especially those of us elderly senior railcard holders) will easily manage that. If not, then a reasonable number of local journeys (one or two each month) will.

Undoubtedly it remains good value and indeed one would expect it to rise in line with rail fare inflation.   Where these things need a degree of care is that other changes don't quietly get sneaked in at the same time.  Ticket types where they don't apply, new tighter time restrictions, minimum fare conditions, reduced discount levels, only apply to online ticket purchases, must not be a UK^▸ (United Kingdom) resident, must live near to a station that is within the area of validity, must buy a reservation, not valid when travelling with a bicycle, delay/repay not available, no "get you there" guarantee, etc.

[ChrisB]

That's the annual national fare rise date too, right?

[ChrisB]

It certainly is - and it's this Sunday March 2

From MoneySaving Expert

For TrainPal or Trip.com newbies
25% off digital railcards code*

Last chance to pay £22.50 for a one-year railcard instead of £30 before prices rise on 2 March
A railcard can put you on the right track for some decent savings, especially if you take the train often, as these cards get you one-third off most rail fares.

Railcards currently cost £30 for one-year or £70 for three years (prices are rising from March), but if you're new to either TrainPal* or Trip.com* third-party booking sites, you can use a code to get 25% off a digital railcard (one that's stored on your phone). That'll make it £22.50 for a one-year railcard, or £52.50 for three years. If you aren't new to either site, you can still get 10% off.

From Sunday 2 March, a one-year railcard will cost £35 (£5 increase) and a three-year one £80 (£10 increase), so now's a good time to get a railcard before the price hike comes in. There are a couple of hoops to go through, as you may also need to buy any train ticket (no minimum spend) before Sunday 2 March to activate the railcard, but we explain how it works below.

Note: The railcard can only be accessed via the TrainPal or Trip.com app (depending on which site you purchase from). You can't transfer it to the official Railcard app after purchasing.

To get 25% off a digital railcard...

Via TrainPal*, use the code MSE25 (if buying through its app you'll also need to purchase a train ticket to activate the railcard as explained below – if buying through its website you won't need to do this)

Via Trip.com*, use the code MSETRIPRC25 (you'll also need to buy any train ticket to activate the railcard as explained below)

Remember, you need to be a new customer of the site you purchase through.

How the 25% off code works

Sign up for a free account at TrainPal* or Trip.com*. If you're given the option to enter the code while signing up, you can – pick the correct code above and enter it in the 'Promo code (optional)' box.

Once signed in, select the Account/Member icon and then 'Promo Codes'. Or in the app, go to the 'Account' tab and tap 'Vouchers & Promo Code'.

If you entered the code while signing up, your 25% off voucher will appear here. If you didn't, enter it in the 'Enter promo code' box ('Enter code' in the app) to add it to this section.

Go to the TrainPal* or Trip.com* digital railcards page and choose the railcard you want. The discount should be automatically applied.

Important: If buying through the TrainPal app or Trip.com app or website, you'll need to activate your railcard by purchasing any train ticket through the site you bought your railcard from BEFORE Sunday 2 March. Railcards bought via the TrainPal website (not app) don't require this and will be automatically activated after purchase. Neither site charges a booking fee, and there's no minimum spend, so if you need to buy a ticket to activate your railcard, you could just buy the cheapest possible fare. While the ticket needs to be bought before 2 March, it can be valid for travel after this date. If you don't activate your railcard (this only applies to those purchased through the TrainPal app or via Trip.com's site or app), you'll be issued an automatic refund.

The code can only be used to buy one of the following digital railcards: 16-17 Saver, 16-25 Railcard, 26-30 Railcard, Family & Friends' Railcard, Network Railcard, Senior Railcard and Two Together Railcard. The offer excludes the Disabled Person's Railcard and Veterans' Railcard. The offer's limited to one railcard per account.

The codes are valid until 11.59pm on Wednesday 31 December, but if you purchase a railcard after Saturday 1 March, you'll pay more as prices are increasing from Sunday 2 March, as mentioned above. If you do use this deal from Sunday 2 March, you'll have 30 days to activate the railcard by purchasing a train ticket.

Maximise the discount by getting 5% off your first train ticket purchase
In addition to the railcard offer above, you can also get 5% off your first UK^▸ (United Kingdom) train ticket purchase – so you could use this discount when buying the train ticket needed to activate your railcard when bought via the TrainPal app or Trip.com site and app.

For TrainPal, you can use the same code as above, MSE25

For Trip.com, the 5% off code is MSETRIP5 and this can be stacked with the railcard code above

You don't have to purchase a railcard to use the 5% off code – it's open to anyone new to TrainPal/Trip.com making their first UK train ticket purchase until 11.59pm on Wednesday 31 December.

Existing TrainPal or Trip.com user? Get 10% off a digital railcard and 2% off your first train ticket

The below codes get a one-year railcard for £27 instead of £30, or £63 for three years instead of £70.

For TrainPal*, enter the code MSE25

For Trip.com*, enter the code MSETRIPRC10 for 10% off a digital railcard, and the code MSETRIP2 for 2% off your first train ticket purchase

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thank you for posting that link to MoneySavingExpert, ChrisB.

I read through their text, twice, and towards the end it 'did my head in' in terms of information overload.

Therefore my own simple question here is:  I currently have a Senior Railcard, valid until 2 June 2025.  I bought it on a one-year trial basis, simply because I didn't know then how much I would be using the trains, before my retirement.

Now I am retired, still eligible for my Senior Railcard, and taking into account the news about the price rises above, should I renew it now - for a three year Senior RailCard, bearing in mind that my initial one year 'experimental' one clearly proved its worth within months?

Or should I wait to renew until late May, bearing in mind that I will be using that Railcard on train journeys between late May and early June 2025?

CfN. 

[plymothian]

You can only renew a railcard 30 days before expiry.  So the earliest would be 3 May ie 1 day after the price rise.

You would need to buy a new 3 year railcard before 3 May to take any advantage of the saving.  Therefore, you would be losing £2.50 worth of railcard (£30 / 12).

If you took no advantage of any discount offers:

£70 of 36 months travel works out at £1.94 per month.
£80 of 36 months travel works out at £2.22 per month.

Buying a new railcard before 3 May is a 56p loss (£2.50 - £1.94).

If you bought at 25% off:

£52.50 of 36 months travel is £1.45 per month, meaning a £1.05 loss.

----

If you worked it out per day.

£30 / 365 = 8ppd
£70 / 1095 = 6ppd
£80 / 1095 = 7ppd

You therefore make a total loss of 60p for 30 days (£2.40 - £1.80).

[Bob_Blakey]

I thought it might be helpful to mention that Railcards can be 'purchased' - no real money changes hands - using Tesco Clubcard rewards.

[Timmer]

I thought it might be helpful to mention that Railcards can be 'purchased' - no real money changes hands - using Tesco Clubcard rewards.

We use Clubcard vouchers to ‘purchase’ our Two Together Railcard. The vouchers used to be three times the value but it’s two times now which is still good and we still earn enough points to get a ‘free’ railcard every year.