100% off national railcard

[Samuel88]

The German and Austrian railways have a railcard where if you pay a few thousand euros you can obtain a railcard that gives free unlimited travel. Should we have a railcard like the Bahn card?

Yes in the UK the price would be in the order of tens of thousands of £, but I'm sure there would be takers!

 

[gazthomas]

You could just spend £20k on a year’s worth of all line rovers! So long as you don’t plan to be near London in the peak!

 

[TrainloadCoal]

pay a few thousand euros

free unlimited travel.

One of these things is not like the other.

 

[Bletchleyite]

A BahnCard 100 would be a good thing, yes, but it would be pricey - maybe £10K per year? So would only suit a few people.

A National Railcard offering 1/3 off off peak travel would be of much more value.

 

[sheff1]

The German Bahncard 100 costs €4270 (2nd class) and €7225 (1st class) and as well as covering rail travel also includes bus/tram/underground travel in the central area of 124 cities/towns.

I am sure many commuters (and others) would snap up a UK version at a price of ~ £3900 / £6600 (at current exchange rates) but, of course, such things will not appear here even at much higher prices.

 

[lyndhurst25]

A BahnCard 100 would be a good thing, yes, but it would be pricey - maybe £10K per year? So would only suit a few people.

A National Railcard offering 1/3 off off peak travel would be of much more value.

Don't forget, when Railcards were first introduced the discount on tickets was 50%. Only later was it reduced to 1/3 off. I think that if the 50% discount was brought back and/or a National Railcard introduced, then railcard sales would increase massively.

 

[paddington]

You could just spend £20k on a year’s worth of all line rovers! So long as you don’t plan to be near London in the peak!

So you can't then... the BahnCard 100 and Swiss GA are used mainly by frequent commuters, right?

And the worst thing about those is the silly "subscription model", which seems to apply even if you pay in cash at a station.

 

[Bletchleyite]

What’s silly about it?

 

[30907]

Don't forget, when Railcards were first introduced the discount on tickets was 50%. Only later was it reduced to 1/3 off. I think that if the 50% discount was brought back and/or a National Railcard introduced, then railcard sales would increase massively.

IIRC the discount was 50% on walk-up fares (or was it only full fare?) and nothing, later £1 on Advance-type tickets.

So you can't then... the BahnCard 100 and Swiss GA are used mainly by frequent commuters, right.

BC100 is specifically NOT valid for journeys wholly with a Verkehrsverbund or Regional Travel Consortium, so that excludes most commuters - long-distance daily commuting is still relatively uncommon in Germany..

 

[matt_world2004]

There called season tickets in britain and typically do not cover the whole country but a defined route or geographic area.

 

[roversfan2001]

There called season tickets in britain and typically do not cover the whole country but a defined route or geographic area.

A season ticket isn't really what the OP was angling for.

 

[matt_world2004]

I think there could be a case for marketing such cards at the business market they could be non user specific the business will pay £10, 000s for the card and it could be used by one of their employees at any one time. (Obviously they could buy more than one) It would benefit businesses that engage in a lot of domestic business travel that do not require the use of a car. For example political parties universities etc etc.

 

[Sleepy]

Advance fares did not have railcard discount when they were originally introduced, perhaps some one at ATOC realised it would be a good money spinner to ching up all the students etc for a SOS when they forget their railcard !!

 

[BluePenguin]

A season ticket is a simular concept although it is only useful for people who want to travel back and fourth between one origin and one destination only. A season ticket that covers the entire country is what the OP is talking about.

I wish there was one on offer as I would buy one! Sadly the only people who benefit from anything like this are railway employees who travel for free anyway.

 

[bb21]

I think there could be a case for marketing such cards at the business market they could be non user specific the business will pay £10, 000s for the card and it could be used by one of their employees at any one time. (Obviously they could buy more than one) It would benefit businesses that engage in a lot of domestic business travel that do not require the use of a car. For example political parties universities etc etc.

Annual all-network bearer passes do still exist. Not sure whether one can still be bought though.

 

[Andrew1395]

The last purchaser of annual network passes were for the Royal Mail. I think the last were bought in about 2002.

 

[BigCj34]

People shelling out £6000 on season tickets should get some kind of reward that encourages further rail use in their leisure time, the Annual Gold Card offering of a 1/3 discount in certain parts of England is no comparison to the Bahn card.

However, I do not know how much the German government subsidises their railway compared to in Britain.

 

[bb21]

I had always thought that it would be a good idea for the annual season ticket holder's Railcard to make a return, with nationwide validity but possibly with a minimum spend requirement on the season. It could even be tiered, eg. 34% off leisure journeys for season tickets costing £3000+, 50% off leisure journeys for those costing £10k+.

 

[yorksrob]

I had always thought that it would be a good idea for the annual season ticket holder's Railcard to make a return, with nationwide validity but possibly with a minimum spend requirement on the season. It could even be tiered, eg. 34% off leisure journeys for season tickets costing £3000+, 50% off leisure journeys for those costing £10k+.

I think it should be extended to all season and metro cards down to a cost of at least £900.

 

[najaB]

I had always thought that it would be a good idea for the annual season ticket holder's Railcard to make a return, with nationwide validity but possibly with a minimum spend requirement on the season. It could even be tiered, eg. 34% off leisure journeys for season tickets costing £3000+, 50% off leisure journeys for those costing £10k+.

Have you had an opportunity to discuss this with anyone in RDG with the power to make it happen? It does sound like a good way to reduce the annual moaning about season ticket price increases. Especially if the discount was transferable to a nominated other person (e.g. wife has the annual season into London but husband gets a discount when he makes the occasional journey).

 

[tsr]

We must not forget that a Gold Card season ticket entitles the bearer to purchase one of several types of Railcard for only £10, and the Railcard may be purchased for someone else. When you consider how far this can spread a discount (eg. a Gold Card holder purchasing a Network Railcard for someone else, who can then use the discount for themselves + a few accompanying passengers) it’s really not bad value.

Ideally the Gold Card could be available nationwide but perhaps for different regions, eg. a unified level of discounts / benefits, but based on different areas such as London & SE / Wales / South West etc. This could perhaps only apply to walk-up tickets, but there could also be schemes to allow Advance longer-distance fares across the country to be discounted regardless of region, which is a common request I have heard from Gold Card holders.

 

[dutchflyer]

Nearly all West-Euro countries have such a thing, sometimes limited to use for at least 6 or even 12 monthes.
The german BC100 is ALSO valid for urban local transport in 128+ cities, including near all with trams/metro. The Swiss GA is even more wide-covering. Here in NL you can choose between NSvrij (all day, any day, all trains, except Thalys) and add a fairly cheap ''all pucl. transp.'' to it. Its much cheaper for 2nd/3d persons living at same adress.
Probably the cheapest nation-wide such monthly/yearly seasons are in Austria and Belgium and of course Luxemburg.
Here in NL I pay *(as 65+) just 42 eur/month for trains-off peak only, thats would be 99 eur for <65s. (an off-peak dayticket from NS cost 39 eur!)
Students with student loans get the choice between a free weekend/weekday all publ.transp. season, lasting as long as they keep the allowance, except for summertime.
Yes, in this respect the UK is certainly lagging far behind-perhaps some regions (Wales, Scotland) may offer more to its people.
For visitors the Interrail-global, continuous 1 month is also far cheaper as an all-lines Rover-and valid in nearly all of Europpe, not just the UK.

 

[bb21]

Have you had an opportunity to discuss this with anyone in RDG with the power to make it happen? It does sound like a good way to reduce the annual moaning about season ticket price increases. Especially if the discount was transferable to a nominated other person (e.g. wife has the annual season into London but husband gets a discount when he makes the occasional journey).

That is not really within my remit, so no.

I am aware of rumours that it is an option being considered, but that is about it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

How about as an additional option, if such a Railcard existed on a national basis, also selling it on its own for say £100-£150? I'd buy one.

 

[bb21]

How about as an additional option, if such a Railcard existed on a national basis, also selling it on its own for say £100-£150? I'd buy one.

Solely for off-peak travel, possibly.

Not a chance including peak travel, imo, unless the government agreed to plugging the revenue shortfalls, which is not gonna happen, even with Corbyn in power.