Return train tickets to be scrapped

[Bucketheadbucketbum]

Yet more punishment for rail users

Back to the car for me!

@Ozgirl75 - I agree it is far too complex.

I spend some time working at Gatwick Airport, the confusion caused by our railway "system" (huh!) has to be seen to be believed. Given the multitude of ticket types and different railway companies people get totally bewildered on arrival. Add to that, almost all signage is only in English. What a welcome it is to the UK where we want tourists to come and spend their money.

From our local station we can buy a Day Travelcard (outside peak times) for whichever zone in London we are going to, which is also valid on the underground for as many journeys as you want within that zone and the ones outside it. I wonder whether they will keep that, as it is really convenient for visitors to London.

I was just about to post something similar myself. British Rail might not have been as glamorous as the privatised rail companies but you didn't have to spend hours trawling the internet to find and book a ticket in advance - you just rocked up to the station, paid for the ticket of your choice (after 9.30am they were much cheaper) and that was that. You could ring up your nearest station and ask for advice and they could tell you (a) the times trains were available totake you to your destination and (b) what it would cost.

And their dining car breakfasts were the stuff of legend.

They should simply do 7-8.30 peak 5-6pm peak and fares are (eg) 20% higher across the board. Outside of that, tickets should be a standard price - more for the quick non stop services, cheaper for the stopping trains. They could “band” each route and it would have a standard price per mile. So the busy commuter routes would be band 1 - the most expensive (with the 20% uplift in peak times) and then band two cheaper etc etc.
Then if you pay for a month, 6 months or a year you get a discount but that’s it.
I really think that public transport should be a public good in a similar way to health or other services. Personally I don’t think it should be run for profit, I think we should be incentivised to get off the roads and onto public transport but it’s just way too expensive for that the way it is at the moment. I do think it should be publicly run and financed by a mixture of taxes and fares.

For most journeys, I would abolish peak restrictions entirely. In many parts of the North, off peak trains are just as busy as peak ones. I used to bring a full train of commuters into Manchester, return to the coast with a full train of holidaymakers/ferry passengers, then the late shift would take more ferry passengers/holidaymakers back to Manchester before bringing the commuters home. With more hybrid working the balance is as good as equal.

Towards the end of the Virgin franchise, the 1800ish trains to Liverpool, Manchester etc. were dead quiet on Fridays, while the first off peak trains were so overloaded that the trains had to have speed restrictions because they were too heavy to tilt. The solution was to abolish afternoon peak restrictions on Fridays. The increase in passengers more than paid for the significant cut in fares.

I would also start calculating fares based on a mileage rate to make them much fairer, and abolish the TOC-specific fares and other silly routing restrictions. A day return from Chester to Manchester should be a day return from Chester to Manchester, in reality I think that there are at least four options before even considering peak restrictions.

No idea but that's what should happen. Presumably at the moment people who buy one way tickets are subsidising people who buy returns. Not sure why that's a good idea.

Bless.

The Guardian (admittedly not the most reliable source) is reporting that ministers are considering demand-based / dynamic pricing.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/07/uk-train-tickets-could-be-priced-like-airline-seats-in-rail-shake-up

So, the more overcrowded your train, the more you pay? I’m assuming that “like airline seats” doesn’t mean that you’ll actually get a seat on the train?

Why does this country have to be so bloody dysfunctional and in hock to The Almighty Market?

I don't think I'd mind so much if it really was the Almighty Market. That at least I could understand. But it's not. It's a bent market funnelling upwards.

Well demand pricing is one way to ensure people won't be returning to offices and travelling at peak times!

Surely there already is demand pricing with peak/off peak?

This.

Other European countries have responded to the climate and cost of living crises by making their public transport cheaper! Supporting their people, and paying their rail workers properly too.

Exactly ChungusBoi
cheaper, greener, less economic disparity
I despair of this government

That's really interesting.

If it just meant discounts for quiet trains, while the Anytime tickets stayed at a reasonable price then that would be fine.

The sooner HS2 is built (in full), the better. We desperately need more capacity which would allow for reductions in the absurd Anytime prices going into Euston: £369.40 return from Manchester for example, that's £1.00/mile, compared with Manchester-Edinburgh return at £139.50 which is 25p/mile.

So you would assume that the govt would like more people to use the trains. For a family of 4 it costs us £57 to get a train into London on a Saturday. Plus around £7 to park at the station.
Parking in central london is £45 at the most expensive car park in Cadogan Place, and in Covent Garden it’s £30. Plus petrol of say £10 and if you arrive before 12 and leave after 6 you don’t pay the congestion charge.
I actually really like the train as it’s easy and convenient, but it would save us nearly half in driving over getting the train.

I forgot to come back to you, and news has been released since. But just in case you haven't seen it, LNER is trialling single leg pricing, where single tickets should be halfish the price of returns.

www-cityam-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.cityam.com/rail-travel-lner-government-halving-the-cost-of-single-fares-in-a-move-that-will-unleash-more-competition-innovation-and-growth/?amp=1