Digital Railcard expiring early

[Stargull]

I have a digital Network Railcard which I bought on 12/8/21. It shows in the app as 'Valid until 11/8/22', but logging in this morning I see it has now marked itself as expired, a day early. As it happens, the tickets I have today don't use the Railcard, but I could easily have been caught out.

I'm pretty sure Railcards used to be valid on the day of expiry, so this is mildly annoying. Posting here mostly so others don't get stuck.

 

[BluePenguin]

Mine also apparently expires a day under a year. Probably used my last few a day after expiry without noticing lol

 

[Bletchleyite]

Yep, it's a known issue. Another reason not to use digital Railcards, though obviously 26-30 users are stuck.

 

[Stargull]

Hm. Am I also right in thinking that if I, next week, click 'Renew railcard', it will start the validity from the expiry date, rather than from the day of purchase?

 

[sor]

that seems to be the way with my last renewal. Even though I hadn't bought one during the pandemic and was "renewing" a card that expired almost 2 years prior, the new one had the expiry date of the old, so I actually got a year plus a few days. 26-30, so of course it is always a digital one

 

[Joe Paxton]

Yep, it's a known issue. Another reason not to use digital Railcards, though obviously 26-30 users are stuck.

I got a digital Railcard recently solely because of the Trainline's special offer of a third off the purchase price (see this post in the Special Offers sticky thread) - said offer is still running unless all the codes have been claimed already.

I'll look out for when it expires next summer - I've set a calendar reminder to check on what should be the last day of validity!

Normally I'd get a plastic Railcard, as they are fairly indestructable and so can be easily kept in a wallet. (Though yes once expired they're yet another bit of plastic waste - maybe they should change to the type of 'durable and strong' paper based card that the National Trust now issues.)

One thing I foresee being a bit of a faff is presenting both an e-ticket and a digital Railcard on the same mobile phone. However I assume others are dab hands at doing this by now... that, or the guard doesn't ask to see said Railcard (perhaps because it's too much of a faff to wait around for)...

 

[_toommm_]

I got a digital Railcard recently solely because of the Trainline's special offer of a third off the purchase price (see this post in the Special Offers sticky thread) - said offer is still running unless all the codes have been claimed already.

I'll look out for when it expires next summer - I've set a calendar reminder to check on what should be the last day of validity!

Normally I'd get a plastic Railcard, as they are fairly indestructable and so can be easily kept in a wallet. (Though yes once expired they're yet another bit of plastic waste - maybe they should change to the type of 'durable and strong' paper based card that the National Trust now issues.)

One thing I foresee being a bit of a faff is presenting both an e-ticket and a digital Railcard on the same mobile phone. However I assume others are dab hands at doing this by now... that, or the guard doesn't ask to see said Railcard (perhaps because it's too much of a faff to wait around for)...

If you’ve got an iPhone X or newer, load up the railcard app and then your e-ticket. Show your e-ticket, then swipe across the home bar on the bottom from left to right and it transitions to the last used apps in chronological order. I’m sure you can do that on Android too with a setting tweak or too.

 

[Adsy125]

If you’ve got an iPhone X or newer, load up the railcard app and then your e-ticket. Show your e-ticket, then swipe across the home bar on the bottom from left to right and it transitions to the last used apps in chronological order. I’m sure you can do that on Android too with a setting tweak or too.

If you've got an older iPhone just double tap the home button, I'm always surprised by how few people seem to know how to use multitasking on their phones!

On Android it's easy too, but depends on who made your phone. If you've got onscreen buttons it's the one which isn't the home or back button.

 

[TUC]

Yes the issue matters, but this Forum does seem to suffer from a special kind of pedantry where the significance of one day's loss is exaggerated well beyond its actual value.

 

[Joe Paxton]

[...] I'm always surprised by how few people seem to know how to use multitasking on their phones!
[...]

Oh I can do multi-tasking (Android user) no worries. I guess that as I haven't had reason to do so yet I just vaguely envisaged it maybe being a bit awkward, but having read your posts (_toommm_ and Adsy125) and thought about it, I can see it's no big deal.

One slightly different thing re digital Railcard's bought from the Trainline is that they live within the Trainline app, not the Railcard app - (in the Android app at least) you need to select the 'Account' tab on the bottom right, then under the 'Booking preferences' heading there are two options - 'Payment methods' and 'Railcards' - clicking on the latter brings up a page where you can display your digital Railcard.

Meanwhile digital Railcards bought from TOC-affiliate sites (e.g. LNER, Avanti West Coast, EMR etc) are loaded for display in the Railcard app, rather than the TOC app.

 

[Deafdoggie]

Some phones allow two apps open at the same time!

Yes the issue matters, but this Forum does seem to suffer from a special kind of pedantry where the significance of one day's loss is exaggerated well beyond its actual value.

Yes. It'll be the same people whose phone can't manage a journey from Stourbridge Junction to Stourbridge Town without using 100% of battery.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Some phones allow two apps open at the same time!

Almost all smartphones should be able to do this - though old and underpowered ones can struggle.

 

[Deafdoggie]

Almost all smartphones should be able to do this - though old and underpowered ones can struggle.

OK, I should have said "I've just discovered my phone can display two apps at once"

 

[Joe Paxton]

OK, I should have said "I've just discovered my phone can display two apps at once"

That's totally fair enough! No-one is born with this know-how, and mobile devices that are increasingly complex rarely come with more than the most basic instructions regarding the user interface nowadays.

Edit: Just realised you meant a split-screen display, i.e. two apps side-by-side at the same time. I guess my comments above are still relevant though! (TBH I haven't found any particularly compelling use cases for it thus far, but maybe I'm unimaginative.)

 

[_toommm_]

OK, I should have said "I've just discovered my phone can display two apps at once"

Seemingly apart from iPhones. The screen on the iPhone 13 Pro Max is 6.7in, yet I can’t do more than one app on the screen at once (beside picture-in-picture).

 

[Watershed]

Yes the issue matters, but this Forum does seem to suffer from a special kind of pedantry where the significance of one day's loss is exaggerated well beyond its actual value.

I'm sure that will be of great solace when someone faces a Penalty Fare or prosecution for travelling on an "expired" Railcard...

 

[Stargull]

I'm sure that will be of great solace when someone faces a Penalty Fare or prosecution for travelling on an "expired" Railcard...

I did say it was only 'mildly' annoying!

But yes - I was thinking more that I might have travelled assuming the railcard was ok, than caring about the few pence difference it makes.