Eighteen-year-olds will be able to buy half-price train tickets for most services when railcard rules are changed later this month, the Department for Transport (DfT) has announced. The Government said the measure would be paid for through increased train ridership, with more people being able to access the discounted fares thus enhancing the overcrowding experience.
The rail minister claimed this, ‘common sense change is exactly what passengers should expect from the railway. Its unfair that 18 year olds cannot experience overcrowded services at the same price as 17 year olds. Under this new vote winning policy, they get to experience cost effective overcrowding themselves whilst performing a civic service to help make things worse for other passengers.
'As we move towards nationalisation of our railways, younger people really do need to experience at first hand the poor services endured by passengers when trains were last in public ownership.’ Amid claims of seat reservations being able to fix the problem, a spokesman for one rail operator said, ‘Customers already think we sell two tickets for every available seat. That is categorically wrong – we sell three tickets per seat and sometimes more on peak services.
'We are proud of our completely ineffective seat reservation enforcement system. This means that any passenger can sit in any seat regardless of whether they have reserved it or not. Under this new policy, the increased number of students and their luggage will give us further excuses for our train managers to be unable to travel along the train to keep everything in order’.
A London based operator said, ‘The seats on our flagship fleet of Class 700 trains are so uncomfortable that passengers prefer to stand. We are currently thinking of taking out seats altogether which will instantly solve any overcrowding issues on our trains.’
A student representative said, ‘This will save 18 year old students around £175. With interest payments on student loans equating to up to £10 a day, this will pay for 18 days interest’. For context, 18 days is how long it can take to get from Liverpool to Leeds by train.'
Not everyone is happy though. Low cost airlines are outraged with one saying, ‘British trains are the most expensive in Europe meaning only well off individuals can afford to use them. Everyone else is forced to travel by air. This subsidy will make rail travel affordable for 18 year olds which will have a direct impact on our business’.
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