Disabled Railcard discount and Paper Travelcards

[Blindtraveler]

Hi.

Trying to clear up a confusion here. For a long time I've taken TFL's word as gospal that only the disabled railcard holder. Which in this case is me can get discount on paper travelcards however buying in advance for a trip to the smoke with the Wife this weekend and a Scottish booking office who I dont want to name for fear of getting someone into hot water says that my traveling companion can also get discount on this. The disabled railcard website also suggests this but not clearly. Any experts want to shed light on this?

 

[hairyhandedfool]

The holder of a Disabled Persons Railcard and one accompanying adult can get a discount on an Anytime Day Travelcard or Off-Peak Day Travelcard. Minimum fares may apply.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Thanks for the response I do wonder why TFL have said otherwise for so long?

 

[trivran]

From the TfL website, here:

If you're using pay as you go, you can also buy an off-peak Day Travelcard at 1/3 off the adult rate for one companion travelling with you for the whole of your journey.

Not quite correct, but not entirely devoid of the truth either.

 

[MikeWh]

Thanks for the response I do wonder why TFL have said otherwise for so long?

Might be because only the railcard holder can get the discount loaded onto an Oyster card. Although the helper can still get a discounted paper travelcard. If travel is only within Central London then the daily cap for the Oyster card with railcard will be much cheaper than the paper equivalent.

Discounted paper zones 1-6 off-peak: £8.00
Oyster with disabled railcard zones 1-2 all day: £4.30
Adult Oyster zones 1-2 all day: £6.50
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

From the TfL website, here:



Not quite correct, but not entirely devoid of the truth either.

That seems correct to me. What's not right to you?

 

[swt_passenger]

That seems correct to me. What's not right to you?

Perhaps it is being thought that the discounted travelcard (for the companion) is only allowed when the person with the discount is using Oyster?

Many of TfL's descriptions of what you can do seem to default to the specific 'Oyster' situation, so in this case they are describing a work around, because obviously they cannot apply a discount to a companion's Oyster because it would have to be permanently applied, there's no mechanism to link different people's cards.

ISTM that the OP is not asking about an Oyster issue, there should surely be a separate area of TfL's site that deals with paper fares/travelcards?

 

[Blindtraveler]

Agreed on both the points SWT Passenger makes. Further to this though I have in the past been told by customer service that only the holder gets discount even with paper and have been refused sale of second discounted paper ticket more than once. Havnt bothered resolving it til now but as Im taking the Wife south this weekend thought I'd raise it again. Does the informed opinion of those here think that it might be worth buying the ones I know I definately need in advance at a station outwith London and then having the argument as and when required in London?

 

[gray1404]

Given that LU have closed many of their booking offices now, how is a disabled railcard traveller (and their friend going with them) going to obtain the discounted travel card?

Also, does the DIS discount still only apply to all zones (1-6) travel cards?

 

[Blindtraveler]

Have previously bought from national rail booking offices if LU one no longer there and as far as I know yes only 1 to 6 unless buying at somewhere like Watford and using for journey to and from London

 

[crispy1978]

My wife has a disabled railcard, and we have never had a problem getting a discount on our tickets.

Granted, we are outside of London, so whether there may be a difference here, I don't know - but I've never had a problem wherever I have traveled across the country.

 

[Clip]

Given that LU have closed many of their booking offices now, how is a disabled railcard traveller (and their friend going with them) going to obtain the discounted travel card?

Also, does the DIS discount still only apply to all zones (1-6) travel cards?

The same way everyone else who needs to use what was the booking office - they can use the customer service person who has their own menu on the POMs to issue what the passenger needs - be that discounted tickets or adding things to Oyster

 

[swt_passenger]

Given that LU have closed many of their booking offices now, how is a disabled railcard traveller (and their friend going with them) going to obtain the discounted travel card?

I'm sure railcard discounts are available via option buttons on the LU passenger operated machines, just like on National Rail TVMs.

 

[trivran]

I'm sure railcard discounts are available via option buttons on the LU passenger operated machines, just like on National Rail TVMs.

Yes they are.

That seems correct to me. What's not right to you?

As per swt_passenger (11:09). It says to me that one can only buy a discounted paper travelcard (for a companion) when the railcard holder is using Oyster, which is incorrect.

The original point was that TfL's supposed word, which Blindtraveler was taking as 'gospel' appears to be unsupported by their website.