Why no railway loyalty card?

[maniacmartin]

I've got my fares crayons out.

The recent thread on unifying railways has made me recall a thread I've been meaning to make for a long time now. One way I've always thought the railways were missing a trick is that they don't have some sort of loyalty card. Railcards are great, but they don't really have that same sense of "the more you spend/travel, the more you will be rewarded". A loyalty card by an alliance of TOCs (perhaps all having a common stakeholder such as Stagecoach) might work though.

The airline industry has this totally nailed with each airline alliance having its own airmiles scheme, and it really drives loyalty in the lucrative business traveller segment. The ideal target market is business travellers who are travelling on business expenses so aren't that bothered by the cost of the ticket. Just like the airline schemes, the "railmiles" could only be collected in the personal account of the traveller, so it incentivises them to spend their employer's money on those TOCs instead of other TOCs or airlines and even taxis. Of course, those travelling on their dime could still participate too.

The only rail system that I can thing of that came close is the East Coast rewards scheme, which has now been scrapped.

Basically, you would earn 1 "railmile" for every full £1 you spend on

1. a walkup ticket (not an advance, not railcard-discounted. Possibly restrict it further so that only an Anytime would earn miles?)
2. from a participating TOC's ticket office or website
3. for travel on a participating TOC (for Any Permitted, the Fare Setter would have to be a participating TOC)

Ideally, the ticket would print with the name of the traveller on them, and they would need to produce photo ID at any manual ticket checks.

Railmiles could then be exchanged on a website into Advance tickets valid only on the participating TOCs, which could be used by someone else who is not the loyalty card holder (e.g. by a family member).

There would obviously be some complications around franchise changeovers which would also need to be though about.

(I have made no effort to check whether such a scheme would comply with the TSA)

 

[cjp]

Airline loyalty cards are designed to encourage one to fly with them rather than a competitor. With few exceptions rail routes have no competitors.

The alternative to rail journey is to drive, take a bus or a coach and in truth none of these provide a good alternative so one really has no choice except to stay loyal.

East Coast's Rewards was different and a unique way of encouraging customers to be loyal to their website and the "rewards" were a marginal cost and a much appreciated thank you which has never been equalled.

You can keep your nectar points.

 

[yorksrob]

I'm not sure. There seem to be plenty of potential journeys on the UK rail network that have an alternative.

The railmiles idea might be preferable to a lot of TOC's over a railcard if they would rather the passenger forking out before going on a journey. However, the problem for the TOC is if someone decides to spend their rail miles on another TOC.

Also, I think it would be losing a lot of commercial use if it were restricted to anytime tickets. There must be a lot of people on other fares who could be nudged to spend more on the railway.

 

[mailbyrail]

British Rail tried one back in the 70s which was successful and upset one group or another (can't remember who or many of the facts) and it was thrown out by the courts at the time. Does anybody have any more details? Nothing new under the sun!!

 

[paul1609]

The airlines that the railways are competing with are generally the likes of Easyjet and Ryanair who dont have loyalty schemes.
As far as I'm concerned if the railway companies want to offer such schemes it need to be funded out of shareholder profits, I want to see the subsidy I pay for a rail system through taxation absolutely minimised if not eliminated.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

I've got my fares crayons out.

The recent thread on unifying railways has made me recall a thread I've been meaning to make for a long time now. One way I've always thought the railways were missing a trick is that they don't have some sort of loyalty card.

Step away from the crayons...

You spell out the benefits to the customer - but what's in it for the train operators?

I suspect somewhere between nothing and not much. You are asking commercial organisations to come up with a whole new costly scheme that would not benefit them. They are in business to make money: this won't make them money, so they won't do it.

 

[Deafdoggie]

I'm happy with Nectar points, and it is probably the best you are going to get.

 

[Ploughman]

Loyalty works both ways.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The airlines that the railways are competing with are generally the likes of Easyjet and Ryanair who dont have loyalty schemes.

easyJet does have a loyalty scheme. As a result of buying a load of flights for a group a few years ago, I'm a member. It doesn't provide much in the way of benefits (a free Plus card would be nice instead!) but it does exist.

https://www.easyjet.com/en/terms-and-conditions/flight-club

 

[PeterC]

SNIP
The alternative to rail journey is to drive, take a bus or a coach and in truth none of these provide a good alternative so one really has no choice except to stay loyal.
/SNIP

.

From my point of view the railway gives me little choice but to stay loyal to my car. Now if you could trade your "railmiles" for station parking and a taxi transfer at the destination it might look interesting despite the time penalty in travelling to a railhead.