• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

RDG trial/Budget announcement: 26-30 Railcard from Spring 2018

Status
Not open for further replies.

WelshBluebird

Established Member
Joined
14 Jan 2010
Messages
4,923
Well based on the fact the government wants to implement ID checks to be able to vote, there is talk about what the ID situation will be for people without a driving licence or passport there too. As much as a government database of everyone is quite scary to some people, I am not sure how else you do that? So whatever solution is used for that, could we not also use for things like this?
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

island

Veteran Member
Joined
30 Dec 2010
Messages
15,979
Location
0036
Ireland and the USA issue passport cards to their citizens which have limited travel privileges but are wallet sized and independent of driving privileges.
 

gsnedders

Established Member
Joined
6 Sep 2015
Messages
1,472
So, I turn 26 in a month, and my current railcard expires in November… Do I get a new 16–25 railcard in the next month, or do I assume the 26–30 will be available by/in November?
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
97,531
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
So, I turn 26 in a month, and my current railcard expires in November… Do I get a new 16–25 railcard in the next month, or do I assume the 26–30 will be available by/in November?

Get a new 16-25. It's a better Card anyway, the minimum fare does not apply in July and August, unlike the 26-30.
 

bb21

Emeritus Moderator
Joined
4 Feb 2010
Messages
24,151
He won't have a chance to use that concession seeing that his current one lasts until November and the new one will expire long before next summer comes round. :lol:
 

SilentGrade

Member
Joined
17 Dec 2017
Messages
135
https://inews.co.uk/news/26-to-30-railcard-philip-hammond-funding-treasury-row/

Tories secretly halt roll out of 26-30 railcards in row over funding

The roll-out of the “millennial railcard” has been kicked into the long grass following wrangling within government over who will pick up the bill for subsidised travel. Plans to offer railcards to travellers aged 26 to 30, giving them a third off most ticket prices in England, Wales and Scotland, were announced in the Budget by Chancellor Philip Hammond. The scheme received a mixed response from its target audience when it emerged that only 10,000 railcards were initially being produced on a pilot basis despite four million people falling into the eligible age bracket. The promised wider launch has been delayed because ministers have become embroiled in a row over how the scheme will be funded, i has learnt. A Treasury source said: “No-one wants to pay for it.”

Reports today that the wider roll-out of the railcard has been halted after funding rows
 

ainsworth74

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Global Moderator
Joined
16 Nov 2009
Messages
27,536
Location
Redcar
Reports today that the wider roll-out of the railcard has been halted after funding rows

A throw away comment by Chris Grayling but during the VTEC announcement in Parliament he said "don't believe everything you read in the papers" about this. Make of that what you will!
 

BigCj34

Member
Joined
5 Apr 2016
Messages
761
Reports today that the wider roll-out of the railcard has been halted after funding rows

Well that's just great new...as I was probably one of the first to buy it when it was rolled out for Greater Anglia residents I've got until November to enjoy it if I can't renew it.
 

Starmill

Veteran Member
Fares Advisor
Joined
18 May 2012
Messages
23,224
Location
Bolton
Funding? This has government funding? Really? How interesting if true.
 

IanXC

Emeritus Moderator
Joined
18 Dec 2009
Messages
6,331
Funding? This has government funding? Really? How interesting if true.

I had the impression it had a government indemnity. On the basis that it was expected to create extra income for the industry, however if in the (seemingly unlikely) instance that there was a loss, the government would put the industry back in the situation it would otherwise have been in.
 

Coolzac

Member
Joined
8 Nov 2014
Messages
307
Good question- does anyone know if there has been any progress? I am absolutely in favour as it will get more people using public transport.

However, I am also in favour of simply bringing out a national railcard and ending the long list of different railcards. This railcard could be of different costs to different people- i.e free if you are disabled, £30 if you are aged 16-30, £50 if you are an adult aged 31-60?

Just an idea.
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
97,531
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
Good question- does anyone know if there has been any progress? I am absolutely in favour as it will get more people using public transport.

However, I am also in favour of simply bringing out a national railcard and ending the long list of different railcards. This railcard could be of different costs to different people- i.e free if you are disabled, £30 if you are aged 16-30, £50 if you are an adult aged 31-60?

Just an idea.

I think it'd need to be more than £50 for 31-60s, but I'd happily pay £100, which I think is roughly in line with what DB charges. I'd possibly even go a bit higher than that if it was by monthly DD. But in principle I agree - one set of T&C, multiple price levels.
 

ainsworth74

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Global Moderator
Joined
16 Nov 2009
Messages
27,536
Location
Redcar
Seems like this won't be rolled out further anytime soon?

They're still sending the surveys and I'm still making it clear that I'm doing more journeys than I would otherwise do in my responses!

One interesting thing that cropped up in, I think, the first survey was a question around the price I'd be willing to pay for the railcard in the future. Presumably they're thinking about making it more expensive.
 

PeterC

Established Member
Joined
29 Sep 2014
Messages
4,066
Good question- does anyone know if there has been any progress? I am absolutely in favour as it will get more people using public transport.

However, I am also in favour of simply bringing out a national railcard and ending the long list of different railcards. This railcard could be of different costs to different people- i.e free if you are disabled, £30 if you are aged 16-30, £50 if you are an adult aged 31-60?

Just an idea.
That would be far too sensible
 

island

Veteran Member
Joined
30 Dec 2010
Messages
15,979
Location
0036
To be fair the Two Together Railcard came off sale and all the cards in issue had expired (and then some) before they relaunched it as a permanent thing.
 

ainsworth74

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Global Moderator
Joined
16 Nov 2009
Messages
27,536
Location
Redcar
The next budget will be on 29 October, do we think a full roll-out will be announced then?

What like the last time? If it features at all it'll be the same platitudes and then followed by precisely zero action. Best case they may release another 10,000. As far as I can tell, at this point, it's a cynical ploy by politicians to try and persuade the target demographic that they actually care about them without any intention of actually doing anything.
 

Gareth Marston

Established Member
Joined
26 Jun 2010
Messages
6,231
Location
Newtown Montgomeryshire
The next budget will be on 29 October, do we think a full roll-out will be announced then?

Whitehall will want to kick into the long grass of the Rail Review, elements of the Tory party will want some sort of good news story about their management of the rail network. Most Torys have a shopping list of bypasses, link roads, dual carriageways they want building as transport priorities however the money is not there whereas it probably is for the railcard.
 

BigCj34

Member
Joined
5 Apr 2016
Messages
761
Whitehall will want to kick into the long grass of the Rail Review, elements of the Tory party will want some sort of good news story about their management of the rail network. Most Torys have a shopping list of bypasses, link roads, dual carriageways they want building as transport priorities however the money is not there whereas it probably is for the railcard.

So does that mean you think it will or won't be rolled out? Anyway I am not getting on being able to replace mine in December. Clearly it is better for 10 people to pay 75 for a ticket then for 15 people to pay £50. 5 more people on the roads!
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
97,531
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
So does that mean you think it will or won't be rolled out? Anyway I am not getting on being able to replace mine in December. Clearly it is better for 10 people to pay 75 for a ticket then for 15 people to pay £50. 5 more people on the roads!

Given that at least some of the journeys will be applicable to a Friends and Family or Two Together, I doubt things are quite that bad. I suspect its main effect would be to have more people choose walk-ups and just get more flexibility rather than pay less.

People who will make more totally discretionary journeys (i.e. where the journey is the object) are mostly confined to the likes of this forum. It's no bad thing (it's all income for the railway) but it is quite niche.
 

Gareth Marston

Established Member
Joined
26 Jun 2010
Messages
6,231
Location
Newtown Montgomeryshire
So does that mean you think it will or won't be rolled out? Anyway I am not getting on being able to replace mine in December. Clearly it is better for 10 people to pay 75 for a ticket then for 15 people to pay £50. 5 more people on the roads!

The Conservative party and common sense with transport policy seem to be mutually exclusive things!
 

Kite159

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
19,153
Location
West of Andover
A scary prediction (based on nothing but feeling):

"Good news everybody, the 26-30 railcard is now available to all 26-30 years old, giving a 25% discount on the cost of tickets." *A few more good news stories* "In other unrelated news the discount rate for 16-25 railcards purchased from today will be cut to 25%" *another bigger news story to divert the media's attention from big bombshell*
 

yorksrob

Veteran Member
Joined
6 Aug 2009
Messages
38,818
Location
Yorks
Given that at least some of the journeys will be applicable to a Friends and Family or Two Together, I doubt things are quite that bad. I suspect its main effect would be to have more people choose walk-ups and just get more flexibility rather than pay less.

People who will make more totally discretionary journeys (i.e. where the journey is the object) are mostly confined to the likes of this forum. It's no bad thing (it's all income for the railway) but it is quite niche.

I would have thought that the age group in question was less likely to have a family or two together railcard than older (middle age).

Also, discretionary travel isn't just catching the train for the sake of it. It can also be visiting places and people.
 

jon0844

Veteran Member
Joined
1 Feb 2009
Messages
28,013
Location
UK
I expect the January fares increase will be frozen or at worst reduced so the DfT can get some positive PR despite it being the Government that sets the increase formula. Mentioning a railcard for the second year seems like a double win!
 

WelshBluebird

Established Member
Joined
14 Jan 2010
Messages
4,923
Given that at least some of the journeys will be applicable to a Friends and Family or Two Together, I doubt things are quite that bad. I suspect its main effect would be to have more people choose walk-ups and just get more flexibility rather than pay less.

People who will make more totally discretionary journeys (i.e. where the journey is the object) are mostly confined to the likes of this forum. It's no bad thing (it's all income for the railway) but it is quite niche.

At least for me, having the railcard has had the effect of me travelling by rail more, as before I got one (in the years gap between having a 16-25 railcard and this one) I was using the coach and buses more instead of the train! And we are not talking about journeys where the journey is the point here. We are talking about travelling between Bristol and Bath or longer journeys to London etc.
 

BigCj34

Member
Joined
5 Apr 2016
Messages
761
If I did not have my 26-30 railcard I would be driving a fair bit more, flying (both bad for environment) or using the bus (not so bad for environment but takes longer). Considering I would need to book 12 weeks in advance to get a decent advance fare (certainly for the WCML) I would probably only travel by train for an occasion I know I am travelling for (I know I will be going up north for Christmas for instance). I can afford to pay a little extra for flexibility with a railcard.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top