Why no regional equivalent to the Network Railcard?

[Puffing Devil]

A side discussion prompted by the Online Network Railcard thread.

I'd love to pay £30 and have 1/3 discount on off-peak travel throughout the North West.

Why do we allow this perk in the South East and nowhere else in the country?

 

[Clip]

Its a hangover from NSE days and I cant remember why it was brought in but certainly somethign to do with filling up empty trains off peak.

however in the nroth west there seems to be a large amount of rovers and Ranger tickets available which are surely the same thing in essence - cheaper travel off peak?

 

[PeterC]

I am open to correction but I think that it derives from a Network South East initiative and so is a "grandfather" condition for the various franchises.

To introduce it to other regions would require "putting the cats in a sack" to get agreement from the TOCs.

 

[swt_passenger]

Network South East decided that they had a need to fill empty trains in their area during the off peak period.

Under sectorisation they had that flexibility, presumably their intercity and regional railways colleagues didn't have the same problem of carting fresh air around between the peaks.

I think some previous discussions have suggested that it is more likely that the Network Card would be withdrawn than a national equivalent introduced. It is not a regulated product like some of the others are, IIRC.

 

[najaB]

Network South East decided that they had a need to fill empty trains in their area during the off peak period.

Under sectorisation they had that flexibility, presumably their intercity and regional railways colleagues didn't have the same problem of carting fresh air around between the peaks.

I think I've read somewhere that it was also a bit of a dodge to get passenger numbers up in order to justify investment from the Treasury, though I could just as easily have imagined that one.

 

[AM9]

I think I've read somewhere that it was also a bit of a dodge to get passenger numbers up in order to justify investment from the Treasury, though I could just as easily have imagined that one.

That might be the sort of thing that Chris Green would have helped make happen when he set up NSE.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

A side discussion prompted by the Online Network Railcard thread.

I'd love to pay £30 and have 1/3 discount on off-peak travel throughout the North West.

Why do we allow this perk in the South East and nowhere else in the country?

Personally, I'd love to pay £6.20 for a 20 mile journey (e.g. Warrington to Liverpool) rather than the £12.10 for the 20 miles between St Albans to St Pancras. The cost (and restrictions) of South-East rail journeys more than wipe out the limited discount available on a Network card.
Why do 'we' allow such low fares elsewhere when SE travel is so expensive? If you are going to compare one thing between the two regions, to get the real picture you need to look at all the facts first.

 

[theblackwatch]

There's a 'Devon & Cornwall Railcard' (see http://www.railrover.org/railcards/devon-cornwall-railcard.html ), but inlike the Network Railcard, which anyone can buy, it would appear you need to be a resident in one of those two counties to purchase it. And you can't argue that's because fares in Devon & Cornwall are expensive.

 

[JohnR]

Railfuture did some research on a national railcard, basically similar to the Network Card, a few years ago: http://www.railfuture.org.uk/National+Rail+Card

 

[Bletchleyite]

There's a 'Devon & Cornwall Railcard' (see http://www.railrover.org/railcards/devon-cornwall-railcard.html ), but inlike the Network Railcard, which anyone can buy, it would appear you need to be a resident in one of those two counties to purchase it. And you can't argue that's because fares in Devon & Cornwall are expensive.

No, though incomes are generally low and often seasonal, so it's one effective way of implementing a tourist tax without actually implementing one.

 

[Cletus]

Without my Network Railcard I don't think I ever use the trains in the South East.

There's the £13.00 minimum charge on weekdays that reduces its usefulness.

 

[AM9]

There's a 'Devon & Cornwall Railcard' (see http://www.railrover.org/railcards/devon-cornwall-railcard.html ), but inlike the Network Railcard, which anyone can buy, it would appear you need to be a resident in one of those two counties to purchase it. And you can't argue that's because fares in Devon & Cornwall are expensive.

If that's a comment on my post then note that I didn't mention Devon or Cornwall. It is though an area that relies on tourism and there are well-discounted tickets available there.

My post was in response to the OP's "Why do we allow this perk in the South East and nowhere else in the country?" rant.

 

[route:oxford]

It does surprise me that Transport Scotland hasn't launched a

"Scottish National Pass" for discounted public transport tickets throughout Scotland.

 

[najaB]

It does surprise me that Transport Scotland hasn't launched a "Scottish National Pass" for discounted public transport tickets throughout Scotland.

They have, however, encouraged Abellio Scotrail's £5 Advance fares between the cities.

 

[jopsuk]

There's a 'Devon & Cornwall Railcard' (see http://www.railrover.org/railcards/devon-cornwall-railcard.html ), but inlike the Network Railcard, which anyone can buy, it would appear you need to be a resident in one of those two counties to purchase it. And you can't argue that's because fares in Devon & Cornwall are expensive.

There's a few even more geographically limited ones, such as the Cotswold and Esk Valley ones.

But to answer the OP, fundamentally because history. The Network Railcard was set up when the area it covers was under united management. At the time the rest of the country was run by Regional Railways and Intercity. RR did have subsectors, but none with as strong a brand (apart from maybe Scotrail, especially in the later years) as NSE. What strong regional branding there was came from the Passenger Transport Executives- I guess these could have (and possibly still could) have set up similar schemes?
Regional, cross-operator, railcards now would be hard to set up for all sorts of reasons. Mainly down to needing cooperation.

 

[Starmill]

I usually find the cheapest return fares in the South East (Often a Super Off-Peak Day Return) with a railcard the best value for money anywhere in the country. Cheap off-peak tickets are ubiquitous.