London Banter - View Single Post - Senior railcard discount - or not?

[email protected] · September 9th 09, 08:24 PM posted to uk.transport.london

In article ,
(Peter Masson) wrote:

"Peter Campbell Smith" wrote in message
...
Can anyone help me understand this (from
http://www.senior-railcard.co.uk/)?

* All Senior Railcard holders will get 1/3 off Anytime Day
Travelcards (Zones 1 - 6) for journeys starting outside the London
Travelcard zones.
* Existing Railcard conditions apply and discounts will be subject
to any time restrictions that apply to the Railcard, for instance
restrictions on travel on week day mornings in the London & South East
area.

An Anytime Day Travelcard is one valid at peak (and off-peak) times,
unlike the cheaper Off-Peak one. So if I want to travel at peak
time, say starting at 8am, the first bullet point seems to suggest
I get a discount.

But the second one says that the discount is subject to the usual time
restrictions, which a "However, you won't be able to enjoy a
Railcard discount when travelling peak time Monday to Friday within
London and the South East, including all South West Trains services
to and from London Waterloo."

So that seems to say that I can buy a discounted Anytime Day
Travelcard, but I can only use it off-peak. Why would I want to do
that? Is there some part of the day that is off-peak for the
London and South East restriction, but still peak from a Travelcard
point of view?

You don't get a discount on Anytime tickets in London and the South
East during the morning peak. However, some TOCs (FCC, NXEA) have
introduced evening peak restrictions on Off-peak tickets. So if you
want an out-boundary Day Travelcard on these TOCs, travelling up
Off-peak but returning in the evening peak, you need an Anytime Day
Travelcard - but, as long as your up journey is on a train on which
an Off-peak ticket is valid, you can use a Senior Railcard (or
after 10 am SX, a Network Card) to get a discounted Anytime Day
Travelcard.

Isn't rail ticketing complicated?

The joke I share with my boss is that when I get to 60 shortly I'll be
able to get to work an hour earlier. :-)

The standard FCC ruse at Cambridge for those who want to return within the
evening peak is the buy an Off-Peak Day Return or Day Travelcard from Ely
which is cheaper than the anytime version. Cambridge are happy to sell
tickets from Ely, seeing as it's NXEA and not FCC selling them.

--
Colin Rosenstiel