Season tickets must be paid for by the young person who uses them, not a parent?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

I talking to Hull Live on the serious issue of people sharing season tickets, I note

Mark Powles, commercial and customer director at Northern, said: “Our season tickets are no different to people’s gym memberships, store loyalty cards or indeed their Netflix account - they’re designed for use by the person whose name is on the bill.

Really?   Should that not be the name on the ticket rather that the bill.  Are Northern objecting to me buying a season ticket for my 12 year year old to use on his commute to school?  Is a Netflix account tied to a single person - I thought I could watch with my wife, family, and dogs.

[ChrisB]

Hull Live?....say no more about their reporting accuracy.

Netflix 'put up' with sharing, my understanding is that it isn't actually permitted in their T&Cs - and they're about to start charging extra in order to allow it.

[eXPassenger]

Even more interesting if the season ticket is invoiced to and paid for by your employer.

[old original]

What a load of rubbish.
I know that a lot of child/student season tickets in Cornwall & Devon are paid for by the local authorities. It's their name on the bill.

[Ralph Ayres]

A poorly-worded off the cuff comment, or poor reporting.

A store loyalty card is an odd comparison. Unlike the others, the organisation doesn't lose out if the benefit is transferred from one person to another, as has happened sometimes when the person in front of me in the queue hasn't had a card and has offered me the chance to scan mine for the points.  I think an "eat all you can" buffet is actually a far better and more obvious equivalent.

[Electric train]

A poorly-worded off the cuff comment, or poor reporting.

I agree, I believe what was meant the season ticket must be used only by the person it was purchased for.  How they police that with minors who do not and perhaps should not have any formal ID I don't know

[plymothian]

It is poor wording, as further up the article, the aim is stated: "they have stopped fare evaders from being able to ‘screenshot and share’ season tickets for others to use", ie stopping 1 person buying a season and then sharing that day's code with others to be used multiple times.

Unlike other tickets, seasons are not transferrable, they're supposed to be linked with some form of ID - a photocard only obtainable from a ticket office after purchase of a passport sized photo. This is what Mark Powles should be talking about.

With e-seasons (and frankly, the same with weekly seasons bought via a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine)), there is no check at time of purchase that the holder has one of these photocards.  What the railways should be doing is 1. making this fact more obvious when purchasing and 2. allowing other forms of ID.