Are you aged 31 or under, and do you take the Tube? Did you know that with a National Railcard linked to an Oyster card you could be saving hundreds of pounds a year?
I am tired and bored of asking these questions of fellow Londoners, but I just can’t stop.
Many people, I have realised, are utterly oblivious to how much money they could be saving on Tube fares — at least £1 on every off peak journey.
When I tell them, they tend to be – depending on their age – either thrilled or aghast.
One 29-year-old friend estimates that he could have saved more than £6,000 over the past decade, had he known he could have linked his Railcard to his Oyster card.
While I evangelise about the saving to everyone I meet, Transport for London seems fixated on reminding us that we can “pay by Contactless”, despite the fact that many of us lose money by doing so.
It probably makes financial sense not to advertise the discount; there are over a million people living in London aged between 18 and 32, and if we all started paying less to travel, where would TfL find the money?
But the decision not to promote the saving is deeply unfair. This should not be a “money-saving hack” that people encounter by chance, by word of mouth or on internet forums. If people are eligible for a discount, they should know about it.
It also angers me that there is no way to link a Railcard and a registered Oyster card online.
You must visit a Tube station and find a ticket attendant, which can be exclusionary.
One friend with ADHD — and a Railcard — knew about the discount for three years but did nothing. Throughout that time, he says, the necessary task was an endless source of guilt, an eternal presence on a list of to-dos that felt just too daunting.
There is also a general misapprehension that only the main railway stations, such as King’s Cross, Euston, or Liverpool Street, have machines and staff capable of locking in the discount. Actually, TfL says that all staffed Tube stations can help.
So here is the lowdown. With a National Railcard — including the Disabled Persons Railcard, the 26-30 Railcard, and the 16-25 Railcard (also accessible by mature students) — attached to an Oyster card, you can save 1/3 on every off-peak Tube journey and 1/3 on off-peak fare caps.
Peak times are from 6.30am - 9.30am and 4pm to 7pm, Monday to Friday, but the evening window doesn’t apply if you are travelling into (rather than out of or within) Zone 1.
Conclusion: if you don’t already have a Railcard, it may well be worth buying one.
And — this probably does count as a hack — if you renew your 26-30 railcard the day before your 31st birthday, you can benefit from the discount until you are 32.
Asked about the failure to promote the saving, a TfL spokesman said: "Railcards are a National Rail product and therefore they are for the Train Operating Companies to promote.
“However, information about Railcard discount on Oyster pay as you go is available on our website, and is also included in literature given to those who apply for a Railcard. Staff at most TfL-managed stations can set the Railcard discount to a valid Oyster card.”
He said that 311,413 valid Railcard discounts - of all types - were active on Oyster cards. He said: “Our most recent data shows that around 18 per cent of all Oyster pay-as-you-go journeys on Tube and rail services are made by cards with a Railcard discount. This is about 4.2 per cent of all pay as you go journeys (including those made using Contactless)."
