Fare Dealer
RAIL fares expert Barry Doe says that child fares are becoming unnecessarily complicated.
THE industry seems to be getting itself into a mess regarding child fares.
Anyone up to the age of 15 - that is, up to one day before his or her 16th birthday - travels half fare. After that, young people aged 16-25 can avail themselves of a railcard, although there are various other options within Greater London for those aged 16 or 17.
Now it seems that a new railcard is to be issued later this year, extending half fare nationally to those aged 16 or 17 for an as-yet undisclosed fee. Unlike all other railcards, it will allow the discount on season tickets, too.
On top of this, Transport for Wales (TfW) has announced that in 2020, as part of its franchise agreement, it is to extend half fare up to 17 without a railcard at all. In addition, it is to offer free travel to those under 11 (nationally it’s under five), and even give free travel up to 16 off-peak.
So, taking into account the 26-30 and Senior Railcards, on a supposedly national system significant ages when conditions change throughout people’s lives will (depending on where they live) be 5, 11, 16, 18, 26, 31 and 60.
Nobody seems to think strategically any longer. The 26-30 Railcard is virtually identical
to the 16-25 version. If half fare throughout the country were extended to 17, we could then have just an 18-30 Railcard without any need for the new 16 and 17 or the 16-25 versions.
I was particularly intrigued with the TfW announcement, as to me it raises quite a few questions about which operators will use it, and its use outside Wales. I put these to TfW and in fairness I did get a decent response, although it shows there is work still to be done.
It will be for journeys where the price is set by TfW and customers travel only on TfW services. Interestingly, all point-to-point fares within Wales are priced by TfW. This is perhaps surprising when it comes to journeys such as Swansea to Cardiff Central, but nevertheless neither Great Western Railway nor Virgin Trains sets walk-on fares for their journeys within Wales.
However, it does mean that a family with two children aged seven and 17 travelling between Swansea and Cardiff will have to bear in mind that if they use TfW services the fare for the children will be one free and one half fare, whereas if they use GWR it will be one half fare and one adult.
TfW says it is discussing this with the other operators to see if they wish to join the scheme, but currently it will be as above.
Next, what about journeys such as Holyhead to Manchester Airport or Aberystwyth to Birmingham? Well, good news here, because TfW prices these throughout. So provided customers keep to TfW through services, the benefits apply.
Indeed, even Chester-Crewe is OK because despite being wholly within England, it’s priced by TfW - although you couldn’t use Virgin West Coast.
Finally, however, comes the hard bit. What about a journey such as Pembroke to Bristol Temple Meads? That’s priced by TfW, but you won’t be able to have the child benefits because TfW runs no trains to Bristol.
You’d have to buy to Newport (and use TfW trains), then buy more tickets from there to Bristol. The same thing applies to Bangor to Euston, where you’d have to use TfW to Chester (or Crewe) and then pay again to join Virgin West Coast services.
It’s going to be complicated, and in the end the rebooking might mean it’s cheaper to pay the normal child fares throughout. Once again, a new scheme might be let down because of its restricted use and cross-border anomalies.
See RAIL 874’s The Fare Dealer for Barry Doe’s in-depth analysis of the Rail Delivery Group fares report.