Ticket Machines "overcharging" ... or rather not selling the lowest cost option

[whole diary]

[paul7575]

You can see the problems with some of the discussions about Brighton line fares.   (Before you even consider Gatwick Express.)

In the combined TSGN franchise spec it clearly says that the separate Thameslink fares from Brighton to London should be phased out, which clearly simplifies things to some extent, but it wasn't specified how long this should take.   

So the current transitional phase (duration apparently unknown) still has Thameslink fares, although there's now no such TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company).   The difference between season prices is significant and equalisation upwards would cause hardship.   I bet no-one has even thought of the possibility of equalising to the mean, or downwards...

Paul

[ChrisB]

It has been considered - and the result means that they'll be retained for some time as they are the cheapest fare on some flows. I think they are going to equalise downwards, but over the franchise length, so they'll be gone by the end of it, but not so fast that they'll lose much money.

[JayMac]

Much better to equalise over a period of time rather than remove them. I think that's the most customer friendly way of doing things.

Compare and contrast that with FGW^▸ (First Great Western)/GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and their massive fare rises on the Cotswold Line, done by manipulating validities.

[chrisr_75]

Compare and contrast that with FGW^▸ (First Great Western)/GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and their massive fare rises on the Cotswold Line, done by manipulating validities.

They did much the same on certain SWML^▸ (South Western Mail Line) services by manipulating advance fare availability - I think it had something to do with the change in government funding also, but nonetheless the end result to the innocent passenger was a huge increase in fares, particularly on the first 2 or 3 services after the peak is over.

[TaplowGreen]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/railways-rip-british-passengers-pay-7408719   followup to the original story comparing UK^▸ (United Kingdom) fares & conditions to those in Europe. FGW^▸ (First Great Western) heavily featured.

[ChrisB]

Comparison scewed though....swindon takes hust 60 minutes, not 90 as in the comparison. Of course you'll pay more for faster journey (but maybe not that much?)

[eightf48544]

It seems to me that no amount of fiddling will overcome the fundamental problem that the current fares systems is "Not Fit for Purpose".

Fares should be set Nationally with Zonal fares available on all public transport in  Metropolitan Areas as London plus Regional and Intercity fares for rail.

TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) then become as in Germany just operators who basically bid  to run  so many train miles a year in a given area at given fares. Their incentive to collect fares is to cover the cost of the bid, train running costs and make a profit.

[Bmblbzzz]

Do German train operators receive any subsidy or do they manage to make a profit from the difference between fares collected and operating costs? If they do make a profit from this difference, how is the situation so different here (or indeed there)?