Train fares

[Workingman]

Senior Railcard costs £30 and even with its discounts rail is still prohibitively expensive.

Thankfully we have a pretty good coach network which covers most main routes.

[Ally]

Doesent any one use rail cards now?
We used to

There isn’t one available for anyone between the ages of 30 and 60

Which is sh*t really.

But good for us 'oldies' at 60+.

I have a senior rail card for here and the UK and have had some brilliant bargains.

Even after paying the UK £30 for the year (12 euros in Spain) it has been way more than worth it given the traveling I did this year.

Getting to and from, for eg, Glasgow to Nottingham, I've had fares as low as under £20.

I've got an open return ticket from Bellshill to Edinburgh for £9.90 next month.

I've traveled from Bellshill to Glasgow return for under £4.

Our train system here is fabulous.
Clean, comfortable, spacious and punctual.
A real pleasure to use.

We've used it so much over the last 19 years and I can honestly say I don't recall ever seeing anyone putting feet on seats.
( I know this is a massive thing with Ria.)

The AVE rail link has a policy.
Up to 15 minutes late = 25% refund.
Up to 30 minutes late = 50% refund.
31 minutes late and over = a full refund.

Guess what? It's practically bang on time.

[TheOstrich]

Doesent any one use rail cards now?
We used to

I used to, saundra, but I let it expire during Covid and I've effectively given up on train travel for leisure entirely.

It's not so much the fares, it's the extremely poor service. What used to be half-hourly is now hourly (towards London). What used to be hourly is now two-hourly (to Exeter).
The clay embankments between Gillingham and Tisbury, in place since 1853 apparently, totally dried out in the summer heatwave and the rails subsided / buckled. Trains can only run at a maximum 40mph rather than 85mph for safety.
Given it's a single line, not double track, for huge sections between Salisbury and Exeter, they could not run the existing timetable, everything is thrown out of kilter at the "passing points". So a reduced emergency timetable is in place which could go on for months.

That plus the constant RMT strikes which have been ongoing for years, ever since South Western Railway took over the franchise.
The train is now irrelevant down here.

[saundra]

We always used family rail cards to I remember in the 70a being able to get a card with tokens from cereal pkts
a bargain
Then when we retired we had a card each
I love travel by train they would be pointless these days.
Because trainspennine is continually on strike here