By Zara Grew (she/her)

Students in Scotland are being financially penalised for travelling to their morning classes due to railcard restrictions. The National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland called for action as students are having to pay higher fares before 10am due to a clause in the 16-25-year-old railcard.

NUS Scotland President, Ellie Gomersall, said that railcard restrictions are causing students to be out of pocket. “Those aged 16 to 25 or those who are full-time students are the only people in Scotland now paying more in the mornings than during the rest of the day. This is clearly unfair.”

Despite ScotRail scrapping peak fares for a 6-month trial, students are still paying more to get to classes in the morning than outside of peak times. ScotRail implemented the suspension of peak fares on 2 October and the pilot scheme will run until March 2024.

ScotRail’s website outlines the restrictions for cardholders: “It offers you a discount on any journey across the network, but for journeys made between 04.30am-09.59am Monday to Friday, there is a minimum fare of £12”.

The 16–25-year-old railcard is the only discount card that all full-time students can use to save on rail fare across Scotland. Penny Hodgeson, a student who commutes from Dunfermline to Glasgow to attend her classes at the University of Strathclyde, hit out at the steep rail fees: “Although I prefer travelling by train, I cannot afford this commute to university. By taking the bus, I pay nearly £10 less with my student card. Not only does it cost money to buy a railcard, but the fare is much more expensive”.

The latest Cost of Survival report published by NUS Scotland found that more than 1 in 5 students have missed a class due to travel costs. Union President Ellie Gomersall said: “It’s great to see ScotRail abolishing these fares but clearly there’s more work to be done, with so many students still missing out on classes because of the cost of public transport”.

According to ScotRail’s website, “The terms and conditions of the 16-25 Railcard are not controlled by ScotRail”. NUS Scotland has called for the Young Scot rail discounts currently on offer to those aged 16-17 to be extended to all students.