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Euston to Milton Keynes on a Network card

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PhilipW

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Are Euston to Milton Keynes Virgin tickets eligible for the 33% Network Card discount ?

I believe they are, but just thought I would check

Thanks
 
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yorkie

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I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't be.

According to the East Coast website, an MKC to London Terminals Off Peak Day Return with Network Railcard discount is £9.55 Rte: Virgin Only (also the same price for Rte: LM Only). The inter-available fare is £13.20. Other ticket types are also available.
 

Mike395

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I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't be.

According to the East Coast website, an MKC to London Terminals Off Peak Day Return with Network Railcard discount is £9.55 Rte: Virgin Only (also the same price for Rte: LM Only). The inter-available fare is £13.20. Other ticket types are also available.

Network Railcard discounted tickets have a £13 minimum fare Monday-Friday :)
 

34D

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I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't be.

According to the East Coast website, an MKC to London Terminals Off Peak Day Return with Network Railcard discount is £9.55 Rte: Virgin Only (also the same price for Rte: LM Only). The inter-available fare is £13.20. Other ticket types are also available.

In that case if going on a weekday after 10am, surely better to spend the extra 20p and pay £13.20 (which is still cheaper than the un-discounted operator-specific tickets) to get the extra flexibility.

This is a perfect example of how network railcards are (for the majority) useless on a weekday. I can't see someone from MK wanting to travel much further.
 

Paul Kelly

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You could get an off-peak day travelcard though for only £13.20, which would be making full use of the discount.
 

PhilipW

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Thank you all for the information. It was well worth me asking.

Yes, I am travelling on a Saturday so can get the £9-55 fare. I was planning to travel Virgin, for obvious reasons, but was compeltely unaware that the ticket would not be interchangable with LM services. I have just checked again on the National Rail website and it just quotes £9-55 on LM or Virgin but does not state it will be more if I interchange TOCs.

I suppose I would have noticed 'Virgin Only' on the ticket but perhaps not if I was not looking for it. It does go to show how complex our fares system is and how easy it would be for the uninitiated to trip up and make a mistake by just getting the first train back from MK whatever the Operator.
 

island

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In fairness, Virgin do a reasonably good job of warning people not to board with LDN MIDLAND ONLY tickets.
 

jon0844

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The £13 minimum has made a Network railcard totally useless for me, given the prices of fares to London from my local station. If I moved further out, it would become more useful. I guess that if fares rocketed, it would also help - but that's not the point!

I have no idea why it was increased to £13, as it lessens the value of the railcard. It already had a restriction to stop it being usable before 10am - which keeps discounted rail users off the peak trains.
 

island

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Well, there's no minimum fare on weekends. The minimum fare hasn't changed in nearly three years. But without the minimum fare it would still be of substantial use to commuters who could get a regular single in and a discounted one home.

You can get a £31.55 discount off a day return from Exeter St Davids to Kings Lynn route +VIA HONITON, however, which is more than the cost of the Railcard!
 

John @ home

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I have no idea why it was increased to £13
As far as I recall, this arose when one TOC sought to withdraw from the Network Railcard because they calculated they were losing money from it. This led to the introduction of the £10 M-F minimum fare. It was a compromise to keep all the participating TOCs on board.

I'll try to post a link to press reports about this.
 

PhilipW

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I have no idea why it was increased to £13, as it lessens the value of the railcard. It already had a restriction to stop it being usable before 10am - which keeps discounted rail users off the peak trains.

I rather think that the TOCs don't actually like the Network Card and would be happy to get rid of it completely. It only exists because it was inherited from BR and it cannot be withdrawn without a big fuss.

So the way around it is to make it less and less attractive. With the £13 min, this means already that the card cannot be used for journies of less than about 50 miles Mon-Fri. In effect, it can only be used for a doughnut range of destinations between 50 miles and the Network boundary. Over a period of time that doughnut can become thinner and thinner, all by stealth, and then suddenly, Hey Presto, the Card is totally useless on Mon-Fri.

Well, that's my opinion anyway.
 

trevmonk

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As soon as the Network card minimum fare went up to £13 I went for a Gold Card by getting a Ryde Esplanade to Ryde St Johns annual season. I am on my fifth one now and keep promising myself a trip to the Isle of Wight one day so that I can use it!

With no minimum fare I save about £650 a year on off peak fares, having paid £148 for the season. If you are a regular off peak traveller and in an area where the Network card doesn't offer much of a saving I can recommend it.

There are other benefits with a Gold Card too - other adults travel for the same fare and children for £2, you can buy a Network card for £1 for someone else, discount on off peak Tube fares, etc. There are also freebies depending which from the operator you buy your season from. In the past FCC have given me free weekend passes for buying an South West Isle of Wight season at their station!
 
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