‘Millennial’ railcard due to launch in 2018

Young adults between the ages of 26 and 30 will be eligible for a card offering reduced rail fares, Chancellor Philip Hammond’s is set to announce during today’s Budget.

The so-called “millennial railcard” will go on sale in spring 2018, priced at £30, the BBC reports. Holders will be entitled to discounts of up to one-third on off-peak train services.

The existing Young Person’s Railcard gives those aged 18-25 up to a third off of fares but cannot be renewed after the holder turns 26. Extending the discount to 26- to 30-year-olds will make an additional 4.5 million people eligible for the card.

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Hammond is expected to tell Parliament that the predicted increase in young people travelling by rail will offset the cost of the discounted fares to rail companies.

Labour have accused Hammond of including the measure as “a ploy to lure younger voters, who largely turned out for Jeremy Corbyn at the last election,” Sky News reports.

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said the need for the discount was a “sad indictment” of the Conservative government’s failure to provide a decent standard of living for struggling millennials.

“At the age of 26 to 30, you'd like to think that people are at their full power and able to get on with their lives - but they don’t,” he said. “They have an inability to get on the housing ladder, they're saddled with student debt, wages have stagnated and they're still going to be subjected to the highest rail fares in all of Europe.”