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

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mrmartin

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Jon on Twitter (think he's also on this forum too!) posted that the RDG group are going to trial a 26-30 railcard. This is amazing news even if I only have 2 years left on it.

Anyone heard anything more about this? Is this the first step towards a proper national railcard?
 
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pemma

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Why a new 26-30 card opposed to extending the validity of the 16-25 one to 30?
 

ainsworth74

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Why a new 26-30 card opposed to extending the validity of the 16-25 one to 30?

Probably so they can get a more precise idea of the impact of extending the age of validity by getting data solely from that age group. If they just expanded the existing 16-25 any data would be swallowed up by the existing customer base.

Jon on Twitter (think he's also on this forum too!) posted that the RDG group are going to trial a 26-30 railcard. This is amazing news even if I only have 2 years left on it.

Could we have a link to the tweet please :)
 

Merseysider

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I'd expect to see a higher minimum fare and/or a blanket ban on morning rush hour travel.
 

Ed92uk

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That’s great news as I am about to lose my 16-25 railcard. After renewing ever since starting university I’m not should I could handle paying full fare.
 

bb21

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That’s great news as I am about to lose my 16-25 railcard. After renewing ever since starting university I’m not should I could handle paying full fare.

You'll have to do it one day.
 

jon0844

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Jon on Twitter (think he's also on this forum too!) posted that the RDG group are going to trial a 26-30 railcard. This is amazing news even if I only have 2 years left on it.

Anyone heard anything more about this? Is this the first step towards a proper national railcard?

I did post on here in the Digital Railcard thread - as it's only available via the app - at least to begin with.

Trial will start with residents within the Greater Anglia area, but as the card can be used nationally all TOCs will be briefed on acceptance for selling tickets soon.
 
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bussnapperwm

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I did post on here in the Digital Railcard thread - as it's only available via the app - at least to begin with.

Trial will start with residents within the Greater Anglia area, but as the card can be used nationally all TOCs will be briefed on acceptance for selling tickets soon.

What's to stop someone obtaining a post address in the Greater Anglia area?? Such as one of those "online mailbox"
 

CyrusWuff

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The key is going to be where in the GA area it covers. If it's the whole route, that'll be virtually everything out of Liverpool Street except c2c, Bush Hill Park, Enfield Town and the Chingford branch. (There being a few Hertford services via Seven Sisters in the peaks).
 

jon0844

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It's a national railcard available only to a limited number of people, like two together railcards were. Not sure how they'll verify users.
 

Hadders

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When the Two Together Railcard was trialled it was in specific postcodes only for online purchases(in the Midlands iirc) but there was nothing to stop people from anywhere purchasing from stations in the trial area. With a digital railcard you won't be able to purchase from a station so they will be able to restrict it to the trial area far easier.
 

jon0844

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Will it to by the cardholder address or something? Otherwise you could make up an address as it's delivered to your phone anyway.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 

yorksrob

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What exactly is the point of a 26-30 railcard ?

What is unique about the 26-30 age cohort that means that they are less able/likely to travel at full fare than the 31-59 age group ?

More pussyfooting around the issue that unlike most European countries we don't have a national railcard available to everyone. RDG need to get that sorted out.
 

ainsworth74

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What exactly is the point of a 26-30 railcard ?

What is unique about the 26-30 age cohort that means that they are less able/likely to travel at full fare than the 31-59 age group ?

More pussyfooting around the issue that unlike most European countries we don't have a national railcard available to everyone. RDG need to get that sorted out.

Well it seems fairly clear to me that this is stepping stone to that! They're dipping their toes in the water to see what the implications from a revenue perspective are (hence why it's a separate product rather than just an extension of the existing 16-25) to enable them to determine if this is a good idea (from their perspective as of course it's a good idea! ;)). Give it time but I've just become much more confident that we'll see a National Railcard before I reach the age for a Senior Railcard! :lol:
 

yorksrob

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Give it time but I've just become much more confident that we'll see a National Railcard before I reach the age for a Senior Railcard! :lol:

I'm not convinced I will :lol:

If what you say is correct, then that's a good thing. It will be imperative for all 26-30 year olds to buy one and travel more with it, and show that it makes money !
 

Hadders

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Will it to by the cardholder address or something? Otherwise you could make up an address as it's delivered to your phone anyway.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

If it's a digital only railacard (ie. not available from stations) then it'll need to be purchased on-line. The address you enter will need to be your card billing address otherwise the payment doesn't authorise. I'm sure someone will come up with a workaround to purchase one 'out of area'.
 

yorkie

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What about us 30-60 year olds?

It's age discrimination! Lol.
I agree that it will be perceived by many people to be age discrimination, however from a legal perspective it isn't actually discrimination.

I wonder if we'll get a trial of a 50-59 year olds Railcard, as an extension to the 60+ Senior Railcard in a few years time. Eventually there'll just be a narrow age range of people who are not eligible for a Railcard :lol:

It also would not surprise me if the trial Railcard has its own different terms & conditions!
 

jon0844

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Yes, one day people aged 43 will be the only ones unable to get a railcard.
 

JonathanH

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With the alignment of State Pension Age for males and females and the further planned increases, there isn't really good ground for the Senior Railcard remaining 60+ so we could see an increase in eligibility age at some point.

(The contrary view would seem to be that more affluent individuals able to retire early are more likely to travel more with the discount.)
 

yorksrob

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With the alignment of State Pension Age for males and females and the further planned increases, there isn't really good ground for the Senior Railcard remaining 60+ so we could see an increase in eligibility age at some point.

(The contrary view would seem to be that more affluent individuals able to retire early are more likely to travel more with the discount.)

With the retirement age being pushed ever higher, and people finding themselves redundant from the higher end employment at earlier ages, we may see a comparatively disadvantaged age cohort in their 50's and early 60's struggling to get by with lower paid employment. Such a group would be ripe for a decent railcard promotion.
 

Liam

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Since I'll still be a student when I turn 30, this won't make any odds to me, but what would be the difference between the 26-30 and 16-25? Less discount I guess, 25% maybe?
 

ainsworth74

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I'm expecting a higher price and probably either a higher minimum fare or no use before 0930. I doubt the discount will change.
 

greatkingrat

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Well they have just registered the website a couple of weeks ago

https://www.whois.com/whois/26-30railcard.co.uk

EDIT: They have actually registered quite a lot of interesting domains this year, looks like the Senior Railcard will be available to 55 year olds at some point. And the National Rail Ombudsman sounds intriguing.

16-30railcard.co.uk
26-30railcard.com
26-30railcard.net
26-30railcard.org
55plus-railcard.co.uk
55plusrailcard.co.uk
digital-railcard.co.uk
digitalrailcard.co.uk
nationalrailombudsman.com
nationalrailombudsman.org
ombudsmanrail.com
ombudsmanrail.org
rail-ombudsman.info
railadjudications.com
railadjudications.org
railagentsonline.co.uk
railagentsonline.com
railagentsonline.net
railredress.com
railredress.org
 
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Romilly

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On Scotrail services, their Online Club 50 offers a 20% discount for offpeak and Advance tickets bought on their website for their trains, a 10% discount for those tickets if bought elsewhere, for an annual cost of £15. So there is already regional provision for those aged 50-59.
 

bussnapperwm

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Will it to by the cardholder address or something? Otherwise you could make up an address as it's delivered to your phone anyway.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

Then comes the point that it would discriminate against those who reside half the week in one place but have their card registered to their second residence (hypothetical second residence being outside trial area)
 

bb21

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I strongly suspect this is the prelude to a more general scheme open to all, just testing waters atm.

But don't shoot me if wrong.
 
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