A series of changes have been made to the rules governing passenger train ticket refunds, changes, and open ticketing.

This post is translated by ChatGPT from the original text in Turkish published at Rail Turkey

As TCDD Tasimacilik’s duty of operating existing passenger routes has been extended for 10 years, the company has made adjustments to the timeframes and deduction rates related to ticket changes and refunds. These new rules are expected to increase occupancy rates and reduce revenue losses.

Refund time extended, deduction rates increased

With the new regulations, ticket refunds can now be made up to 60 minutes before the departure time at the ticket counter and 75 minutes before the departure time through internet and other sales channels. The deduction rate will be 35% on the day of the journey and 15% on earlier days.

Deductions applied to changes

For all ticket changes, including open ticketing, whether at the ticket counter or through other sales channels, they must be made 75 minutes before departure. A 10% deduction will now be applied for these changes. The validity period of open tickets has also been reduced to 90 days.

Penalties doubled for passengers without tickets

Passengers without tickets will now face a penalty of four times the full fare of the train route.

What do these changes mean?

With the increase in timeframes, there’ll be more time for passengers looking for empty seat on full trains due to last minute refunds/changes. The time for ticket refunds at the counters has been moved back by an hour, thus counters will be able to deal more for passengers willing to buy tickets in last minute. The increase in deduction rates may hurt, but it can also deter frivolous changes. It is expected to reduce the number of empty seats resulting from refunds and changes.

Cover photo: Alexander Gomme ©