A new rail card for travel between Salisbury and Exeter is being proposed as one idea to help South Western Railway get back on track.

Passenger numbers have collapsed due to travel restrictions: at the height of lockdown just 5,000 travelled to Waterloo compared with 125,000 on an average morning. But a “positive” meeting last week between SWR and the Blackmore Vale Rail Partnership (BVRP) discussed various incentives to restore confidence.

The new card, provisionally named The Cities and Vale railcard (Salisbury, Exeter, The Blackmore Vale), would be based on a similar product available in Devon and Cornwall. It costs £12 and gives off-peak discount travel for two adults, not necessarily from the same family, and four children at £1 each.

“It is really popular in the west, with ridership up on some lines by 100% in recent years before the pandemic hit,” said Dorset councillor and BVRP member Derek Beer.

If approved, the card would cover journeys from all stations between Salisbury and Exeter. Another plan being examined is a Rover ticket for the region, which would benefit tourists and locals as well.

“Hopefully it would include onward, or connecting bus travel, really important in making the ticket attractive, and also environmentally sound,” said Cllr Beer, who represents Shaftesbury.
“It was quite a good and productive meeting. Both parties saw the need to restore confidence in rail, and indeed bus travel when restrictions on getting about are lifted.
This is a positive step forward in the plan to get things back to normal. There are obviously lots of approvals and such like to make them happen, but there is positivity all round, and building the confidence of the travelling public is top of the agenda.”

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