Declares that Northern Rail has taken a decision to remove post-16 students from the student season tickets system on the Lakes Line; further that students face a massive increase in the cost of travel, which will mean that the journey to Sixth Form in Kendal will become unaffordable for many; and further that an online petition on a similar topic has received 308 signatures.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to encourage Northern Rail to rethink the decision to remove post-16 students from the student season tickets system on the Lakes Line.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Tim Farron , Official Report, 19 October 2016; Vol. 615, c. 922.]
[P001953]
Observations from theParliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Paul Maynard):
The withdrawal of the 16-18 season tickets was a commercial decision made in the former Northern Rail franchise following a legal challenge on the Mid Cheshire line that Northern was discriminating against certain colleges/schools by not offering it to all. Since the new franchise started, Northern has maintained this stance. However, we acknowledge that the Lakes line has raised concerns about Northern not offering a discount to students, which was previously offered by First Trans-Pennine Express prior to the remapping of services to the Northern franchise.
There was a requirement to participate in a Cumbria County Council Educational season ticket scheme both in the previous Trans-Pennine Express franchise and in the current Northern franchise, but Cumbria County Council has withdrawn this scheme.
As the current definition of “child” for National Rail is anyone 5-15 years inclusive and using a 16-25 railcard is not permitted as there are rules regarding its use before 10am weekdays (except in July and August) it is up to each individual train operator to determine the commercial viability of post-16 year ticket products.