py_megapixel
Established Member
I find the current Railcard system to be a bit stupid - despite a large array of Railcards being available, someone who frequently travels on their own but who is not disabled, senior, a veteran or a young person cannot make use of one. Apart from in the South East of England, that is, where it has been arbitrarily decided that a relic from the NSE days should remain and any adult should be able to buy a Railcard, as long as they abide by some rather bizarre restrictions when using it.
It looks like it has begun as an effort to get discounts on tickets to certain people who may need them, but has gradually expanded to become broader and broader.
So in my opinion, Railcard needs to decide what it actually is. Either:
It looks like it has begun as an effort to get discounts on tickets to certain people who may need them, but has gradually expanded to become broader and broader.
So in my opinion, Railcard needs to decide what it actually is. Either:
- It's a scheme allowing certain groups of people to access discounted rail fares, in which case:
- the Two Together and Family railcards should be scrapped and replaced with a comprehensive offering of group tickets
- the Network Railcard should be scrapped altogether
- the 16-25 and 26-30 railcards should be merged together as one Young Person's Railcard
- It's a general discount scheme for frequent travellers, in which case, the entire offering of railcards should be replaced with an individual one (priced at a fixed rate, possibly with reduced rates for disabled/veteran/senior people) and a group one (priced based on the number of people in the group) and give up on eligibility checking at all