RailEasy accomodates Split Ticketing

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

http://www.raileasy.splitticketing.com/

Does what is says on the tin....

[JayMac]

Just asked it to split a journey from Bristol TM^‡(resolve) to Birmingham NS returning same day. Failed to offer the split at Cheltenham Spa into two CDRs^▸ (Off Peak Day Return [ticket type] (formerly 'Cheap Day')).

If it does find a split you are then charged 10% of the saving. So my advice is to just take the split info and go buy the tickets from a TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) website which doesn't charge fees, or from a station.

Also I'm certainly not entering my payment details into a website with no security certificate.

One of the urls includes raileasy, but as far as I can see SplitTicketing.com merely submit your request to raileasy for issuing the tickets after SplitTicketing.com have taken their fee. Not sure this is an official raileasy subsidiary, merely someone using them on an agency basis to reconcile ticket requests.

There's also this url: http://www.splitticketing.com/

I can also find no registered company trading as SplitTicketing.com. That's worrying if they're taking payment for providing a service.

[ChrisB]

Doesn't it pass you to RailEasy to take payment? And they have a certificate?....

[JayMac]

Follow up:

I think I've found the company behind this website:

http://companycheck.co.uk/company/08800944/RAILEASY-SPLIT-TICKETING-LTD/company-summary

And it would appear that it is a sister company to raileasy. Sharing a registered address and directors. Apologies for my earlier surmising.

Doesn't it pass you to RailEasy to take payment? And they have a certificate?....

That's how it appears to work, but I've no intention of being a guinea pig. They are taking a fee for their service at the SplitTicketing.com website. That site should have its own systems in place to protect personal data. The site's privacy policy says: "All personal and billing details are passed directly to the ticket retailer and are not processed or made available to us." How then, does this sister company process the split ticketing fee it charges?

Regardless of how the details and transactions are processed you are still entering them onto a webpage with no apparent security protocols. I'd caution against entering payment details.

[ChrisB]

I suspect Raileasy process the payment at the higher rate (total of tickets plus the 10%) and pass the 10% back internally between companies.

[JayMac]

Hopefully no further fees added by raileasy then, as they do with direct transactions. ^2.50 booking fee. Plus 4.5% of the transaction if paying by credit card (debit cards no transaction fee), and ^1.50 if you want postal delivery.

And if there's a problem with your booking? Then a call to raileasy's customer services will set you back ^1.02 a minute from a BT landline, ^1.46 if you pay Sky for your calls, and more again from a mobile. For instance their 090 number from a vodafone mobile will cost ^1.60 per minute. From O2 is ^2 per minute. From 3 its an eye-watering ^2.36 a minute.

raileasy and subsidiaries? Avoid.

I'm happy to research split ticketing options on this forum for nothing more than a 'thank-you'. 

Incidentally, I made an email enquiry to customers@splitticking.com. It bounced.

[ChrisB]

interesting that the email bounced!

[grahame]

Melksham to Farnbourough Main ...

Hoping for "normal price - ^118 ... our price ^51.40" - a Trowbridge split.

Alas:

404 - File or directory not found.
The resource you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.

and I did try it several times.

I'm also noting it always uses first available train - so a Melksham to London (Didcot split) only comes up when the immediate connecting train at Swindon calls at Didcot.

Potentially useful research tool.

[Brucey]

I just tried my old journey, Cosham to Bristol Temple Meads.  It suggested splitting at Romsey, Salisbury and Warminster for a day return.  I used to split at Southampton (but buy one of the tickets to Eastleigh, not sure if this is still a valid route), Salisbury and Warminster.  Not bad.

Myself and another programmer friend were discussing last year how simple it would be to create such a website.  The only issues we had at the time were getting the fares data, finding the time to actual write the code and how we'd make any money out of it.  Clearly this site have thought up a solution to the latter issue.

[SDS]

The website is illegal in many ways.

No registered company details are listed on the website. Breach of Companies Act and Distance Selling regulations.
No Complete privacy policy listed. Breach of EU^» (European Union - about) privacy Directive.
No Cookie Policy. Breach of some EU directive.


The iFrame uses TrainSplit.com which is https. However it only shows if you go via trainsplit.

[JayMac]

One of the company directors, posting under the name of 'SickyNicky'* over at RailUK Forums is aware of issues raised about the website's security. This is being addressed apparently.

I've had some correspondence via PM also. He is open to comment and suggestions. So I PM'd some of the comments I tried to raise via email earlier today.

I remain to be convinced about this venture, particularly as it is affiliated with a ticket retailer that has some of the highest fees in the business and a truly astronomical cost for telephone support.


*I put two and two together and actually got four. SickyNicky's location is given on RailUK as Hereford. He regularly comments on ticketing issues (splitting/routeing etc). He is involved with trainscanbecheaper.info. One of the directors of Raileasy Split Ticketing Limited has a given name of Nicholas and an address in Hereford. I asked if he was one and the same. He confirmed.

[Worcester_Passenger]

I tried a couple of my regular journeys on this site. Alas, it only does Standard class. My experience is that there's some very serious savings on First Class Day Returns - but that these involve some very serious calculations. I have a Worcester - Preston that involves five separate tickets (saving ^37), and a one to Cambridge that involves six (saving ^88).

[Mike@Raileasy]

Just asked it to split a journey from Bristol TM^‡(resolve) to Birmingham NS returning same day. Failed to offer the split at Cheltenham Spa into two CDRs^▸ (Off Peak Day Return [ticket type] (formerly 'Cheap Day')).

There's also this url: http://www.splitticketing.com/

You can get Bristol TM to Birmingham for ^32.80 (split at Cheltenham) travelling out and back on the same day.

[Mike@Raileasy]

Incidentally, I made an email enquiry to customers@splitticking.com. It bounced.

It's customers@splitticketing.com not splitticking.....

[JayMac]

Welcome to the forum Mike@Raileasy. 

The email address was a typo in this thread. The emails I tried to send the other day, to the correct address, failed. I discussed this with your co-director by PM at RailUK, who said he'd look to get it fixed.



I've just sent a test email to customers@splitticketing.com. This appears to also have bounced, so it looks like the problem is yet to be fixed. Just like my offer to research split tickets here for free, there's no charge for testing your systems. 


 
And yes, I knew of the split at Cheltenham Spa. Your engine failed to offer it the other day. Can't check again at the moment as the splitticketing.com website appears to be down. I, however prefer to use another fare, backed up with itineraries from National Rail Enquires, that costs just ^19.40, when making a day trip from Bristol to Brum.