AIBU about railcards

[WhatAboutThatThen]

I'm feeling like I might have been a bit of a dick about this, wanted to gauge opinion.

I am part of a group who are eligible for a network rail discount railcard, you pay a yearly fee and get 1/3rd of your travel on all rail tickets for the year. As you can imagine the cost of the railcard is quite quickly recuperated. Someone posted on the group asking for help to start a campaign to have the cost of the railcard refunded/extension given on railcard validity, as they have not used the railcard all year due to the Pandemic.

I said I couldn't support it as

a) I've personally used my railcard at least once a month in the last year as I travel for work.
b) I don't see how Network Rail can see who has and hasn't used it, so it would have to be a blanket refund of all railcards (of which there are many for various groups as well as ours)
c) The effort that would go into the campaign seems disproportionate for what is essentially £20, especially when you consider just one trip from our Northern city to London would save you at least £30.

However I think I may have been unreasonable because for some people £20 is a lot of money, also this group is based in the North West where restrictions have pretty much been in place for all but a few weeks after the end of first lockdown, for people in the local area there has not been the same chance to travel that the rest of the country, where a fairly normal summer was had.

So please tell me YABU the campaign was a reasonable request or YANBU no it doesn't make sense to seek a refund on this.

There shouldn't be any refunds. If people feel angry about the lack of benefit they got from having one for the past year, they can vote with their wallet and not renew it.

Personally I would be happy to get a partial refund on mine. I bought a 16-25 rail card in December 2019, so had about 2-3 months of use before lockdown(s).

They could have allowed people to hand in their railcards in March for a pro-rata refund for the rest of the validity. Or at any point during the whole “essential travel only” mandate

Like they did with season tickets

@TakeTheCuntOutOfScunthorpe I've never even been there but your user name has really tickled me :P Maybe I will take a trip after this lockdown is over, my rail card is valid until summer 2022 :)

Senior citizens buy railcard £30 spends £700 in tickets visiting family, railcard saved £300

Senior citizens doesn’t buy railcard, waits to tag a lift of family saves £730, train companies lose £700 ticket sales

Student buys young persons rail card £30, spends £500 in tickets saving £200

Student doesn’t buy railcard, student takes 9hr coach journey from hell at fraction of cost of even discount train ticket. Rail companies lose £500 in sales.

Railcard are sold as saving money to encourage taking train during off peak times, railcards use are restricted to certain times / journeys.

Why are people of view that railcard holders are being gifted something like it’s free.

The railcards are purchased on provisions to use, if it was sold on roll on month basis how many railcards would still say oh well I continue to pay even though government have just told me not allowed to travel.

@WhatAboutThatThen

Maybe as a rail employer *@ToTheLetter* can confirm but my understanding is that while the railcard is procured from Network Rail, each rail company has their own rules and regulations on how that card can be used. So a rail company could choose for example to allow another 3 months on the printed expiry date.

I agree with the people saying an extension would be a nice gesture, and hadn't thought of the angle that it may encourage people to travel more by train after the lockdowns are lifted.

The railcard and their terms are set out by the rail delivery group. So while each train operating company like Great Western, South Western, Southern etc sell them, they dont set when you can use them or prices etc.

Oh that's interesting, Virgin used to have a Railcard waiver scheme, where you could travel at off peak prices at any time (with your 3rd off too), so I assumed that the operators set the terms.

I miss that waiver scheme so much, I probably saved thousands from it!

I voted YABU even though I agree £20 is not that much (will be for some). It would’ve been nice if the validity was extended. British Airways gave me an extra year at my Executive Club level and lowered point requirements. I have personally been travelling so would’ve used the benefits regardless, but I can see the point of those who may have only been on that level for one year and had it not been extended, wouldn’t have seen any benefits.

I think at the moment the train service is currently being funded by the government and not the train services themselves, so I don’t think it’s right that everyone should have to incur the cost of a refund of the railcard when that’s taxpayers money which would be of much better use elsewhere.

@Chadcharming. A lot of people were asking for an extension of railcards not refund, which wouldn’t of seen anyone out of pocket as they weren’t allowed to travel.

In past I’ve purchased a family and friends card and used in once in whole year as it worked out cheaper for journey I was taking. It be different if I was saying well I didn’t used for 11months I want refund/extension as onus was on me, I had option to use it how many times I liked in that 12months.

I’m conflicted. I’d support refund of the railcards for the disabled or elderly for example because more of these people would have been shielding from Covid and so truly unable to use the cards. The disabled are also most likely to be in poverty. They didn’t even get the £20 extra a week that all able bodied people on UC got due to the pandemic.

So while I agree, I would not support a petition calling for refund of all rail cards, I would support one calling for refund or rail cards for disabled and elderly as they were hit hardest by the pandemic and/or were most likely to be in poverty.

Honestly Yanbu ti not want to get involved by why respond? If it was to a group I would just assume it wasn't for me and ignore.

@Fatladyslim

Honestly Yanbu ti not want to get involved by why respond? If it was to a group I would just assume it wasn't for me and ignore.

The poster asked a question in the group I'm in, so I answered. It would apply to me as I have the same rail card. I'm not the only person who was involved in the discussion and opinions were mixed, pretty 50/50 actually which is one of the reasons I asked here.