16–25 Railcard
The National Union of Students (NUS) had a very large travel company at the time with charter flights all over the world.
They wanted to expand their operations domestically and so went to various regional sales managers of British Railways to develop special fares for holders of NUS cards.
The railways management, led by Alan Chamberlain, were reluctant to offer a discount based just on such cards particularly as some colleges and universities were not members of the NUS.
This original scheme, which was intended as a trial, was changed and relaunched in October 1974 under the new name Student Railcard.
These were smaller than the erstwhile handwritten square-cornered card tickets, and had no room for a photograph to be attached; a separate Photocard, with a unique serial number was introduced instead.
[2] Changes after this mostly involved the design of the APTIS ticket stock, the price of the Railcard and the minimum fare boundaries.
From 9 January 2000, Telesales offices operated by the train operating companies were able to sell Railcards, although if a Photocard was not already held, one had to be issued at a station or travel agency within one month (a temporary pass, entitled Temporary Facility – Permit to Travel without Photocard was issued in lieu by the Telesales office).
[5] In August 2006, online booking of Railcards was made available, although the card can still be bought through train stations and over the phone.
[9] The first version of the Railcard, the "Student Card" of 1974, gave 50% discounts on Second Class Single and Ordinary Return fares, as they were then known.
From January 2011, this discount also applies to off-peak single fares on the Tube, DLR and London Overground.
Avanti West Coast waives peak time restrictions on certain services where a railcard has been used to discount the ticket.
From the beginning, discounted tickets bought with the Railcard were subject to a "minimum fare", although its level and the circumstances in which it was applied have varied considerably over time.
From 15 September 1978, minimum fares no longer applied at weekends, on bank holidays or at any time during July and August; at these times, the full 50% discount was applied to all available ticket types, no matter how low the resulting discounted fare became.
The latter condition remains in force today, meaning that the full discount is available at all times except in the morning peak (before 10.00am).
This is left blank if an adult is travelling at full (undiscounted) fare; but if any discount or other special condition applies, a code of up to five letters appears.
Since 1988, Y-P has always been used — both on the now defunct APTIS and SPORTIS (the successor to PORTIS) and on the various New Generation systems introduced since privatisation.
[16] NatWest signed a deal on 7 June 2004 for the exclusive right to offer Railcards as parts of its own incentive package.
A five-year version was offered (which was effectively worth £100, given that a one-year Railcard bought in the normal way cost £20.00)[17] as from 21 June 2004.
