‘Make Epic Savings’. With the ability to slash 1/3 of the price of rail fares, the 16-25 Railcard seems to back up its slogan. But what is the ****ing point, if it doesn’t work before 10am?
Boasting an average annual saving of £135, a simple bit of maths will tell you that this requires you to purchase £405-worth of rail journeys. Its target market is clearly young people who need to travel often – this screams ‘students’ and ‘young professionals’. It is clearly not aimed at individuals who use the train once in a blue moon to visit a childhood friend who lives 100 miles away.
I commute to Trent every morning from Loughborough in a desperate attempt to save on maintenance costs. But since I have morning lectures every bloody day, I have no option but to catch a pre-10am train five days-a-week.
So when I used my railcard to purchase an ‘Anytime Day Return’ – allowing me to ‘travel any time of day and return the same day’ – I naively assumed this would mean I was free to travel at any time of the day. Don’t be silly.
It turns out – as a very helpful ticket attendant informed me – if I board a train before the magical 10am mark, the discount is invalid and I am required to pay the excess back to the full price of the original ticket. Wasn’t that nice of him…
Now don’t give me any of this ‘peak time’ nonsense. These words usually conjure up images of being caged in as though on a slave ship with a genuine concern that you might catch something, while having your personal space invaded by a strange man in a mac who smells of onions and paying extra for the privilege. Yet the train that I naively wandered onto at 9.45 contained all of 20 passengers drowning in a sea of empty seats and cost me full whack. However, on the service a mere 20 minutes later, I would be eligible for a discount despite it conceivably holding more passengers than mine.
It is a complete farce. Surely, the reason for this renowned travel pass is to encourage the younger generation to use more public transport. But what incentive is it when the discount doesn’t apply to the young people who need it the most? While offering great potential savings, the ridiculous post-10am time constraint alienates those most in need of its benefits, rendering the railcard essentially redundant.
So, to the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC), please stop punishing the individuals who really need the assistance you offer by your insistence on restricting discounted travel to after 10am. Otherwise, the 16-25 Railcard will continue to become another meaningless piece of plastic wedged firmly in the back of our wallets.
By James Sharpe
Railcard on the wrong track