What On Earth Is Happening with the 26-30 Railcard?

The government trialed a 26-30 railcard in East Anglia at the end of 2017 for 10 000 people in the greater anglia area and is expected to be nationwide from Spring 2018 (~April 2018).

On the 6th of February this year (2018), it went live again and sadly no new areas were covered (despite national rail assuring otherwise in January). I queried them about this on the 6th and received the following email today from [email protected]:

Spoiler

TL;DR...trial is over in greter anglia and no plans to release more 26-30 railcards.

Does this mean that the 26-30 card is D.o.A or do we have to wait till at least April before getting it. If it is the latter then fair enough, but if it is the former, we TSRians need to petition this as quite a lot of people after leaving uni / under the age fo 30 can't afford to spend over £150 a week to go work in London or commute via train to their destinations. By saving at least £50 a week, we can be over £200 a month better off and use it to make our lives better. (ps those under the age of 26, this should be of importance to you guys as well)

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 1

Tiger Rag

But why does someone between the age of 26-30 "need" discounted rail; but someone at 31 doesn't?

If you're commuting to London that often, a season ticket would just be cheaper.

Reply 2

username2911200

Original post by Tiger Rag

But why does someone between the age of 26-30 "need" discounted rail; but someone at 31 doesn't?

If you're commuting to London that often, a season ticket would just be cheaper.

Exactly, by the time you're 26 you shouldn't normally be relying on discount schemes any more. 16 to 25 year olds will usually either be in education, or jobs that pay poorly or decently but not greatly, so they need the discounts the rail card and other schemes offer. Past that age you should normally be in a better job with a higher income to offset the cost of travel, so you shouldn't be relying on a rail card.

Of course there will be people who started university years later than others, but this is the minority of people and it's not a good investment of rail companies' money to have discounted rail for these people as well. You'd get thousands of people signing up for it who don't actually need it so they'd save money they should be spending on travel, potentially pushing fares up for everybody else.

Reply 3

Tiger Rag

Original post by Glassapple

Of course there will be people who started university years later than others, but this is the minority of people and it's not a good investment of rail companies' money to have discounted rail for these people as well. You'd get thousands of people signing up for it who don't actually need it so they'd save money they should be spending on travel, potentially pushing fares up for everybody else.

You can still get the 16-25 railcard if you're a full time student and over 25. But you have to apply each year.

Reply 4

username2911200

Original post by Tiger Rag

You can still get the 16-25 railcard if you're a full time student and over 25. But you have to apply each year.

You'd still get thousands of people 26-30 who aren't students signing up for the 26-30 rail card if it was implemented. It would be a massive waste of money for the rail companies and they've probably ended the trial for this reason.

Reply 5

mojojojo101

Original post by Glassapple

So government makes a policy. Train company realises they can't make money from it. Train company kill the policy.

Is that seriously an acceptable situation to you?