Call for discounts for railcard users
Railcard users deserve to get lockdown refund on the journeys they have been unable to take, a public transport champion has demanded.
Councillor Richard Worrall said a number of residents, including the elderly, young people and disabled, were not allowed to use the travelcards for weeks – despite having forked out for an annual pass.
At a meeting of the Transport Delivery Committee, he called on Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) to lobby National Railcard into at least extending the validity of passes for the time lost during lock down.
TfWM confirmed it had written to the Department of Transport asking what action can be taken to compensate customers and were awaiting a response.
Railcards cost around £30 per year and allow 33 per cent discounts on fares.
Councillor Worrall said: “For the initial period of lock down, and in some cases longer, older and disabled users of railcards were not allowed to use or otherwise have been discouraged from using train services.
“Would TfWM call upon and lobby national railcards, with a view to them agreeing to compensate for the lost discounted rail travel opportunities by extending the validity of existing railcards beyond their current expiry dates by the amount of time lost to would-be users as result of the Covid-19 restrictions on travel?”
In a written response at the meeting, TfWM said: “Transport for West Midlands is supportive of requests by national railcard holders to extend the validity of railcards to reflect non-use as a result of Covid-19 travel restrictions.
“TfWM’s Rail Team has raised the matter directly with the Department for Transport to understand what action can be taken to compensate customers.
“DfT has confirmed it is working with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), as the owning body for railcards, to consider options for customers, but that no decision has been made as yet.
“TfWM is seeking an appropriate contact and will then also raise this matter directly with RDG.”
