Advance tickets - reduction in availability?

[whole diary]

[Glovidge]

I have noticed recently that there seems a distinct lack of opportunity in attaing Adv tickets for services from South Wales to Reading/ London even allowing for changes at Swindon eg trying to book a train for Thurs 30th Jul and only off-peak single tickets are available.

This is a pattern I have seen on a few occasions recently even when booking over a week in advance? Have FGW^▸ (First Great Western) purposefully reduced the availabilty of Advance tickets on this (or any other) route?

[ChrisB]

I suspect the school holiday season has a lot to do with this.

Bear in mind Advances are used to fill seats that would otherwise go unsold - in other words, the number of seats exceeds the demand.

Higher demand for seats will mean fewer Advances need to be released to fill the seats

[Glovidge]

Appreciate that but it appears to have been this situation for awhile. Where in days of not too distant past I could book an advacne ticket 2 days ahead on unpopular daytime services these appear to be unavailable. Even if I try to book 2 weeks ahead the savings are not fantastic.

I'll report back in September but suspect FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have decided due to the popularity of the route they can make less adv tickets available.

[JayMac]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have steadily reduced Advance quotas over the past couple of years. Since being in a management contract after handing the keys back they've not had the fall back of revenue support from the government. That is another reason for reducing AP availability or increasing AP price points. You'll still see many seats available on quieter services which belies the oft quoted reason for lack of APs being solely down to demand.

I took the last FGW of a Saturday evening from Taunton to Bristol TM^‡(resolve) a couple of weeks back. Looked a couple weeks before for AP availability. None, so had to buy walk up single.  Walked through entire train on the day and there were 100s of spare seats that could have been sold at an attractive AP price point.

[Adelante_CCT]

I took the last FGW^▸ (First Great Western) of a Saturday evening from Taunton to Bristol TM^‡(resolve) a couple of weeks back. Looked a couple weeks before for AP availability. None, so had to buy walk up single.  Walked through entire train on the day and there were 100s of spare seats that could have been sold at an attractive AP price point.

I thought the whole idea of APs was to encourage users to travel on quieter services, if there had been enough room for all passengers from Taunton to Bristol on that given day then there would have been no benefit in offering cheaper tickets on the late evening service, all that would have done was given cheaper tickets to those who had already intended to travel. If they had offered an AP on that service for example at half the price of a standard single and 100 people who intended to travel anyway purchased AP tickets, they would have then needed a minimum of a further 100 additional passengers to make a profit on this deal.

I'm sure that whilst offering APs does attract a handful of more customers (who would otherwise not travel by train) this probably doesn't cover the money lost from those using APs who would have needed to travel by train anyway.

[TaplowGreen]

This morning I looked for a Advance 1st class single from Plymouth to Reading on 21st September - almost a month away - cheapest I could find was ^100.50 - that's roughly 3 times what it would have been a year ago booking this far out......whether it's the reduction in capacity or quota this seems ridiculous.

Meanwhile a National Express single to Reading at a similar time I want to travel with the same restrictions, taking an hour or so longer is available for ^15.

[ChrisB]

SWell, if they have empty seats at travel time, the rates will reduce....until they get a revised feel for how many seats are being unfilled, it will be hit & miss for a while - don't forget they open *12* weeks ahead, so that date has been sale well over a month already

[TaplowGreen]

SWell, if they have empty seats at travel time, the rates will reduce....until they get a revised feel for how many seats are being unfilled, it will be hit & miss for a while - don't forget they open *12* weeks ahead, so that date has been sale well over a month already

.............doesn't that sort of defeat the point of encouraging people to buy tickets well in advance to get the cheapest available (....clue being in the word "Advance")?

[ChrisB]

Yes, so much so that the allocation probably sold out well before youvstarted looking?

[ChrisB]

It's also the weekend they go off to Uni....

[old original]

..and you're comparing 1st class with a coach journey

[bobm]

Just looked ahead into October and Mondays do seem to be pricier.  On a Tuesday I have found early afternoon departures for ^59.

[ChrisB]

Mondays & Fridays are always the priciest of the week generally as demand is higher. So are flights

[stuving]

.............doesn't that sort of defeat the point of encouraging people to buy tickets well in advance to get the cheapest available (....clue being in the word "Advance")?

I don't think that is "the point". Selling tickets early has no significant value to the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) in itself. It's just the main factor in a process that makes it possible to sell cheap tickets and full-price ones a well. It has to pull in enough buyers who would not pay the normal prices, and few enough who would, that selling advances brings in more revenue.

Or that's the theory, anyway. Advance fares are to some extent compulsory, though I think any regulation applies to average fares so its effect isn't going to be obvious.

[ChrisB]

I'm not sure there is any compulsion to offer sny, on any service, at any time actually