Youth club ‘A
As the cost of motoring continues to rise, are young people turning to train travel in larger numbers than ever before? Paul Clifton investigates
generation of young people is turning to rail travel as rocketing motoring costs, rising youth unemployment and tuition fees are making owning a car an unaffordable luxury for many under 25s.’ That’s a bold claim by the Association of Train
Operating Companies. Because here’s the AA’s counter claim: ‘The possession most desired by people under 25 is still a car.’ Both organisations have research which they say backs up their claims. Atoc says record numbers of young people now have a 16-25
Railcard. They make 50 million journeys by rail every year, which is 60 per cent up on five years ago. There were more than 1.2 million 16- 25 Railcard holders last year, and they made around 40 journeys each. The card costs £28 for a year, and cuts one third off all fares. Despite being a lifelong petrolhead, with too many cars on the
driveway, I’m with Atoc on this. My daughter is nearly 17. Next month she will get her provisional
driving licence. And because she has been in The Under 17 Car Club for years, she will pass her driving test within a couple of weeks. She will have an old, cheap-but-fun Ford Fiesta called Winky, and she is working part time at Halfords to pay for the insurance. So, a young petrolhead. But when she goes to see her boyfriend,
she will still leave her car at home. It’s a 60 mile drive to his house in Somerset. Let’s say two gallons of petrol each way, a total of £24. That’s roughly what she earns on a shift at Halfords. But the train fare, bought a month in advance on the First Great
Western website and travelling at the weekend, is £3.50 each way. That’s the full fare without a railcard, changing trains at Bristol on a
PAGE 16 APRIL 2012
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