New Railcard 'Two Together' trialling soon.

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

Yep. The 'singletons' always seem to be given short shrift. Such is the way of the world....

Now.... who's up for being my 'significant other'? Ideally you'd be living in the West Midlands and be happy to tag along with me when I go 'line bashing' hither and thither.

Oh, hang on. I've already got a DSB Railcard which allows two to travel together. So scratch that idea.....

[JayMac]

Reminds me of a pub in Plymouth ...



What I would like is a nice simple "anyone can buy" loyalty card - pay x per year and get y% off rail tickets.  It would certainly persuade me to use the train rather than driving in a number of cases where the decision is finely balanced.

I'll go for the 2x 8oz Gammon Steak. No price advertised. So, free then? 

[Mookiemoo]

Whilst don't have to prove to ticket office - the address you put down needs to be in the area. Ticket office just doesn't need to have proof that it is your address.

What happens if you used to have a dy post code but in the last week or so house was bought out and you still have proof of dy".........

[Ollie]

Officially meant to be a resident - the ticket office doesn't have to ask for proof though.

[Super Guard]

I understand the solo complaints - however, before I joined the railway, I always looked at how much a trip to Birmingham to see family would be, and compared to driving the railway was an equivalent price if it was just me driving, but as soon as the wife came along it made the car the easy option.

[ChrisB]

So, it's already the easy option for couples, then why the need for the rauilcard?

Surely it's the singles who might take the car that some other offer ought to be made to temp them onto the train.....like a solo railcard!

[Tim]

now the only 'combination' duscriminated against is the solo traveller!

Absolutely. What about a solo traveller railcard for those of us who do often travel solo?

Sorry but not required.  The current fares are (or ought to be) competative with alternatives modes (driving) for a single traveller.  Group discounts are all about maintaining that competiveness.

A group or couple rail card is no more discriminatory against single travellers than the fact that my car refuses to burn half the amount of petrol when when the passenger seat is unoccupied.

[ChrisB]

Eh?

I repeat....

So, it's already the easy option for couples, then why the need for the rauilcard?

Surely it's the singles who might take the car that some other offer ought to be made to temp them onto the train.....like a solo railcard!

[Phil]

Couldn't we set up a Coffee Shop Partnering Scheme for members who often travel alone? Use the forum to arrange to meet and get photographed together and apply for the pass, and then off you go!

Just a thought....

I'll get me coat.

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

i was going to say if you see someone on the platform/train quite often (how often this happens after 930 i do not know), i keep forgetting to ask about this one as its a trial i dont expect to see many if any of them however i did find it on the system i will ask as i have a habit of jynxing things like this ! 

[Super Guard]

So, it's already the easy option for couples, then why the need for the rauilcard?

Surely it's the singles who might take the car that some other offer ought to be made to temp them onto the train.....like a solo railcard!

I didn't make that point at all.  I was saying it isn't an easy option for couples as double the fare, makes the car a cheaper option.

This railcard redresses the balance and makes rail a more comparable option for 2 rather than the cost of the car - so a good thing.

[Tim]

If we are concerned about making the railway attractive and competative for solo traveller versus the car, then the answer is to price the tickets fairly, not to complicate matters with rail cards

[Brucey]

I still don't think this railcard will attract many new customers.

My recent journey from Havant-ish to a village in Bedfordshire cost about ^35 in diesel for three people in a Peugeot 307.  It took about 2 hours and we ended up directly in the village.

By train, a GroupSave CDR^▸ (Off Peak Day Return [ticket type] (formerly 'Cheap Day')) would cost ^102.60 (via. London) to MK^▸ (Milton Keynes) Central and takes 2.5 to 3 hours.  In addition to the inconvenience of transferring across London, we would have to drive to Havant and then travel by bus to the final destination (which takes about 40 minutes).

Even if there were just two people, with one of these railcards, it would still cost ^68.40, which is considerably more than the fuel cost in the car.  In addition, we had full use of a car at the destination.

At the current pricing levels, the train still fails to remain competitive on routes where advance fares are not available.

[JayMac]

The Two Together Railcard trial in the West Midlands is ending on May 19th and no new Two Together Railcards will be issued after this date.

ATOC^» (Association of Train Operating Companies See - here) are still undertaking research and a decision whether to roll out the railcard nationally will be taken later this year.

From 'The Manual':

Two Together Railcard update

The trial Two Together Railcard will no longer be available to purchase after Saturday 19th May 2012. The Railcards in circulation are valid for 1 year from purchase and therefore existing cardholders will continue to be able to buy discounted tickets nationally for travel throughout Great Britain until their Railcard expires. Railcards sold online have additional days added to allow for the post, but all Two Together Railcards will expire by 30th May 2013 at the latest.

We are still undertaking research into the trial Railcard and a decision on whether or not to roll the Railcard out nationally will be made towards the end of this year. There are no plans at present to allow Two Together Railcard customers to renew their Railcards when they expire but we will be contacting those customers, whose contact details we have, to keep them updated.

Thanks to all the stations in the trial area for your assistance in running this trial ^ we will keep you updated on the outcome of the research and any decisions made on the future of the Railcard.

[TonyK]

Reminds me of a pub in Plymouth ...



What I would like is a nice simple "anyone can buy" loyalty card - pay x per year and get y% off rail tickets.  It would certainly persuade me to use the train rather than driving in a number of cases where the decision is finely balanced.

I'll go for the 2x Haddock, chips, and peas. Dunno what my wife wants.