One of my correspondents, Susan, wants to know why there is no railcard for her, being 40 years old and not travelling with children. It’s a worthwhile question, but to understand the answer you need to understand why railcards are issued in the first place.
Before the rail network was privatised, British Rail introduced several discount cards that were available to certain groups of people. The reasons for doing so generally related to three factors:
• To encourage off-peak and leisure travel
• To provide greater access to rail services for low-income groups, creating a social benefit
• To generate new sources of income: certain groups of people may be encouraged to perform a modal switch to rail transport if given the benefit of cheaper fares
Despite threats of abolition in the early 90s, all of the schemes were retained after privatisation, and indeed more types have been added. By generating extra income at off-peak times when trains are generally less crowded, they offer a potential commercial benefit for the TOC. Therein lies an important balance. If the railcards simply give a discount to those who were going to travel anyway at the undiscounted fare, then the scheme is a commercial failure. But if it generates additional traffic, by attracting people who might otherwise go by car (driving themselves or being given a lift), go by coach or bus, or indeed not go at all, then total revenue can rise significantly, and the scheme is a commercial success.
What railcards are currently out there?
There are several types of railcard in the mix now, actually more than since privatisation. There are two groups, defined by market stratification and the second group by geographical location:
The 16-25 railcard: first offered in 1974 as the Student railcard, until it was realised that all young people could benefit from the discounts. Known as the Young Persons Railcard until 2008 when it was relaunched under the 16-25 banner;
The Senior Railcard, first introduced as the Senior Citizens Railcard in 1975
The Family and Friends Railcard introduced as the Family Railcard in 1979, but expanded to include non-related people in 2008
The Network Card appeared in 1986 under Chris Green’s relaunched of the London and South East rail network,
The Disabled Person’s Railcard, for disabled people and their carers. Launched in 2006, and not sold through stations as documentation has to be verified. Station staff are not, of course, medically qualified.
The Two Together Railcard for specific named people travelling together, first sold 2014
HM Forces Railcard, sold by Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force admin units, paid for through forces payroll
The 26-30 Railcard available on line only from 2019 as a political move to attract millennials to the railway
From November 2020 the most recent product is the Veteran’s Railcard which is available for people who have previously served in the military. Not sold through stations as documentation has to be checked. Like the 26-30, it was introduced as a tenet of public policy to benefit the veterans of the UK.
The local railcards serve the following areas offering local discounts only, hence usually cost £5 or £10.
Cambrian Coast Line
Cotswold Line
Dales (Leeds/Bradford to Morecambe via Bentham Line, Settle and Carlisle, and Brampton
Devon and Cornwall
Esk Valley (the Whitby Line)
Heart of Wales
Highland Lines in northern Scotland
Pembrokeshire
(Welsh) Valley Lines
So, if you wish to travel nationally aged between 30-60, you need to be travelling with a child (who can be borrowed, but you must bear in mind that children must be fed, which adds to time and cost), the best bet is the Two Together railcard. You can have more than one of these: some people have one with a spouse as the second person, one with a work colleague, and one with a friend. This is all perfectly legal, as long as you remember to travel with the correct railcard and the correct person. For a senior citizen couple who always travel together, never alone, the Two Together is a better option than two Senior Railcards. It’s half the price at £30 for one instead of £60 for two railcards. For long journeys, a Two Together railcard can pay for itself in one trip. Indeed for a £30 railcard any expenditure above £90 and the railcard is without doubt the best buy, given the 34% discount. A £90 fare reduces to £60 which is the cost of the railcard.
Why is there not a National Rail railcard for everyone giving the discount?
So with all these railcards about, why is there not a National Rail railcard for everyone giving the discount? Railfuture, the rail campaigning group has long advocated this. The trouble is the last remaining groups not yet enfranchised by one of the existing products include the best payers on the railway. People at the peak of their careers travel the most on business and pay the higher fares. All the reasons for giving discounts to the less well off work in reverse in terms of the middle-aged. The Two Together railcard was introduced to help those people travel for leisure purposes, but not for business.
The other thing to remember is that railcards are never refundable. If you don’t use it, you won’t get your money back. Through the pandemic many thousands of people applied for an extension to their railcards for the time they could not use them. There was something of a case for this, but no extensions were granted at the insistence of the Department for Transport. So if no extensions were granted when there might have been a case to do so, there certainly won’t be any refunds when a railcard might have been used just once to save the purchase price!
