Great Western Coffee Shop

Reading The Wirral Globe (https://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/23439409.northern-customers-can-swap-train-tickets-plans-change/) as one does ...


I am surprised at 1.2 billion Advance Purchase tickets a year - that's 20 tickets for every man, woman and child in the UK ... whereas each buys just 10 other tickets.   Have I read that correctly? 

From recent trips on South West Trains people with Advance tickets don't understand "but lock passengers into rigid travel plans with no wiggle room." A lot of unhappy and poorer passengers, fortunately an efficient TM, as I got off a bunch Revenue Protection teams got on, so they could have been even unhappier and even poorer.

Well, with split ticketing one return journey could easily encompass 8 or 10 advance tickets, whereas the entire year’s  commute can be accomplished on one ticket.

My forthcoming return trip to the Isle of Man encompasses 5 Advance Purchase split tickets. Plus the Sail & Rail Economy Return.
.

I think a lot more people fall foul of advance tickets now they buy them on line.  When you bought them from booking offices the majority of staff were at great pains to explain the limitations to purchasers.  Some even had little printed cards or a rubber stamp to reinforce the message.

A big red and yellow flash box on the checkout page of the websites perhaps. With warnings about the use of Advance Purchase tickets.

There was a time a few months ago when a traffic accident caused my bus to arrive too late at Totnes railway station to use my advanced ticket.  The GWR ticket office staff there were very understanding and stamped a note requesting the Train Manager on the following Cross Country service to accept my ticket, advising me to check this with him before I boarded.  The train despatch chap on the platform helpfully ensured that I found the TM who himself said, without hesitation, that it was okay to board.
I don't know how well I would have fared if I had just jumped on the XC service without doing what I did but I'm grateful to all the GWR and XC staff concerned, after all, my delay en route to the station was hardly their fault.

1. The majority now buy from Trainline.  Trainline promote Advance tickets as the cheapest ticket with 1 click buy.  To get anything flexible is a faff.  Trainline do not explain that ticket is for that train only.
(and lets not get started with what Trainline call an 'open return')

2. Passengers don't understand what an Advance ticket is, most equate advance = buy before the day/train.

Who would want to buy from train line?

considering that they charge an admin charge if you want to make a claim on a delayed service.

Good question - though I suspect it may have been rhetorical (not intended for answer)
1. Because they makes it easy (or easier)
2. Because they have strong marketing and advertising
3. Because they have a big, trusted name that's global across the whole UK
4. Because others have failed to achieve 1. and 2. and 3. all together

I have answered "why people buy from Trainline" and not "why do people WANT to buy from Trainline", mind you.  They don't necessarily want to buy from there - it may be the best or most obvious choice rather than a positive desire to give their business to that particular ticket seller.

I think it's also the case that many Businesses Corporate booking engines use Trainline so in that case people don't have any choice.

Sounds a bit punitive but very effective: on what part of the body do they use the rubber stamp - and is it inked or merely reinforcing the message?

Mark

The forehead - easy access at the gateline and instantly indicates to the Train manager the type of ticket purchased  - perhaps a VR code could be added for easy scanning?

Instant dystopia, right there!

Mark

I have just tried to search "train tickets" on three different search engines. All tried to self-fill the search dialogue box "trainline" before I finished typing those words in, and two out of the three had Trainline as the top search result, the third having it second after Chiltern Railways (?).

For comparison I also tried "Taxi" to see if I got Uber - but did not. Then again I think Uber is now considered a separate product.

My personal favourite is Trainsplit which I've always seemed to get the best results from for split and advanced tickets.

There is no doubt more and more people are buying (usually unnecessarily) tickets on line in advance for local journeys  (ie with no financial savings ) for journeys they plan to undertake in the coming days, only to subsequently cancel or change their plans due various non rail related reasons, eg a day to the seaside turns out wet, a person becomes unwell etc etc.
They don’t seek a refund because that would, at eg £10, cost more than the cost of the unused ticket.
Rail companies, or rather the Govt. DfT/Treasury are coining in money for tickets purchased but never used.
It has been reported that TfL gets £millions each year for Oyster cards which are never fully used for journeys.

I firmly believe that the original purpose of Advance fares has been lost. Selling them online 10 mins before the service leaves, for short distance local journeys where people are used to just getting on any train, is almost like setting a trap for the unwary. 

There seem to be recent cases in the disputes section of railuk forums where people have tried to buy on the platform for their local journey, but the trainline App has allegedly only offered Advance fares for the next but one train. They’ve then been accused of travelling too early.

Is it a way of TOCs such as Northern getting 100% of the revenue by limiting Advances to their own branded services?

I remember 10 years ago SWT didn’t even offer advance fares for most of their possible journeys, only longer distances, (such as west of Brockenhurst to Waterloo on the mainline), had them available.

Paul

Please show where you have seen RECENT research on this, as I believe it is no longer the case, evenif it was previously.


Again, this is ancient. Over 95% are using touch-in, touch-out cards these days, not PAYG on Oyster.

Don’t they also charge a booking fee as well? I remember they used to also charge a credit card fee before that was banned.

It’s a shame, that these fees can be avoided by simply booking on a train company website. I know, easy for those of us who follow all things rail to know this.

Dead right…originally used to fill (long distance) seats that otherwise wouldn’t have sold.

[quote¥Is it a way of TOCs such as Northern getting 100% of the revenue by limiting Advances to their own branded services?[/quote]

TOCs can only sell advances on services that they runthemselves. So TOCs will invent Advance fares to sell on their own seevices if the flow is priced by a differet TOC. Of course, any retailer can sell an Advance fare once it exists & is made available

What shocks me is the number of folk that purchase split ticket Advances for journeys such as Totnes to London Paddington split at Tiverton Parkway, Castle Cary and Newbury, then visit the ticket office to change their tickets as their plans have changed. So, in the above example, the customer will have as many as eight tickets covering their return journey. The Ts and Cs for Advances identify a £10 charge PER TICKET to change - so the customer ends up with a potential charge of £80 plus whatever the difference in the various fares is! So it is often cheaper to just buy a new ticket - particularly if the customer is in possession of a Railcard.

Don’t use Trainline, so can’t comment on what warnings they give about those amendment charges, but TrainSplit are VERY clear each ticket costs at least £10 to amend

7
Uber has successfully marketed itself as Not A Taxi ever since it launched. I struggle to see any way in which it is different frin any other private hire taxi, but the general public perceives it otherwise.

Excellent customer service - and typical rail staff do really want to be helpful and are.  Having said which, if your trip was through ticketed on a virtual branch, the risk of a missed connection due to congestion caused by an accident should be on the ticket provider whether the delayed leg is road, or rail, or ferry to Dartmouth.  It always strikes me as odd that a First Group local train connecting into a London Express offers fallback to the next service if the connection is delayed, but a First Group local bus connecting into a London Express does not.  

Interesting, it hadn't occurred to me to buy a through ticket, even though I was on a virtual branch.
This prompted me to look at prices for said through tickets and how they would compare to just getting the bus ticket on the bus.
The GWR app doesn't yet recognise my virtual branch line destination (Salcombe) and the same goes for Trainline.  Trainsplit does recognise the destination but repeatedly gives an error message to the effect that no tickets are available, so for the time being at least, it looks like I'll still be purchasing my tickets on the bus.