I NOTE with interest your item about the “success” of Abellio's Club 50 (“100,000 sign up to vexed rail scheme”, The Herald, October 23). I am one of the people who signed u pfor Club 50 but I did it solely for the free tea and coffee. The 20 per cent discount offered by Club 50 and the need to book online in advance to qualify for it mean it cannot hold a candle to the Club 55 scheme that Abellio scrapped.
WIth Club 55, I could decide on the spur of the moment to head out for the day if the weather were favourable. I could simply turn up at the station, or board the train where no ticket-buying facilities were available, and buy a Club 55 return to anywhere in Scotland for only £17, using my senior railcard. Car owners who might have been heading out for a weekend theatre or shopping trip could park the car at the station and use the train, reducing congestion and helping to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
For those of us who already have a senior railcard, we get a 34 per cent discount on all tickets through England, Scotland and Wales. So for us over-60s, Club 50 holds no attraction, except for the free tea and coffee. We don't have to go online to buy our ticket. We don't have to decide which day and which train to use to come back - we have the flexibility to return any time within a calendar month.
Take a return journey from Elgin to Perth as an example. With Club 55, it would have cost railcard holders £17 or non-railcard holders £19. With the railcard 34 per cent discount, it costs £32.35, and with Club 50 a whopping £39.40. Is it any wonder that the over-60s are deciding that they can no longer afford to travel by train and are using their National Entitlement Cards to travel by Scotland's excellent network of buses and coaches? I have heard from on-board train staff that trains are less busy at this quieter time of the year and they put this down to the scrapping of Club 55.
Well done Abellio for shooting yourself in the foot with Club 50, which penalises everyone over 60 in Scotland.
Douglas Clark,
88 Duncan Drive, Elgin.
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