More on Gold Card discounts

Transport for London’s news release about Oyster PAYG on National Rail includes an interesting admission:

In the overwhelming majority of cases, Oyster pay as you go offers the cheapest single rail fare applicable to that particular route. The only exceptions are holders of certain National Railcards (Network, Family and Goldcard) for whom cheaper paper tickets for travel on National Rail may be available. Passengers are advised to check the best fare before travelling with the relevant train operator.

So it appears it’s official that what I said earlier is indeed likely to be the case. The questions that remain are therefore:

1. Why is the off-peak return train ticket, which is what Gold Card holders tend to buy when travelling into the centre of London after work, being abolished, thus increasing Gold Card holder’s costs regardless of whether they use Oyster or not?

2. Why can’t Gold Card discounts be applied to Oyster PAYG in the same way as Young Person’s Railcard and other Railcard discounts already are – particularly if the Gold Card travelcard is held on the Oyster card in the first place so it already ‘knows’ you’re entitled to the discount?

Question 2 looks to be the most baffling. At least it’s possible to string some sort of semi-logical argument together to answer question 1, in relation to the new peak period between 16.00 and 19.00 each weekday making such tickets more complicated or something. But really, if anyone can come up with a response to 2, I’d be very interested to hear it.

In the mean time, I shall assume that I am going to be an Oyster Loser come January.

Picture adapted from Oyster card by flickr.com/b0xman – used under a Creative Commons licence.