hetismij2

Thalys is introducing a new, slightly slower, but much cheaper train service. For €10 you may have to stand all the way, but for €19 you have a guaranteed seat.

https://www.izy.com/en/homepage

Whathello

Good news !
A little bit of competition to Thalys cannot hurt and may improve their customer care.

You also have a slower but cheaper way : buses - my daughter took it - took her 4 hours.

http://www.eurolines.fr/fr/promotion...ris-bruxelles/

Man_in_seat_61

It's Thalys competing with themselves!

Watch the luggage limits! Not normally an issue with trains, bit with Izy and Ouigo, airline rules creep onto trains...

Whathello

Yes, I saw belatedly the word 'Thalys' very small...

And the schedules are just not for businessmen (even businesswomen).

PalenQ

Oops - I did not see your post before later I posted my other one on this topic.

kerouac

The SNCF booking site has also begun to include the schedules and times for their Ouibus services. On the Brussels route, it means a 5-hour trip instead of the usual 1h20. Not at all the same fare, of course.

Whathello

5 hours... worse than the bus. With my car I do it in 3 hours for 25 €... we can be 7 in the cat - 3,5 € per passenger.

menachem

It's "economy minus"

Christina

That's a pretty good deal for someone who doesn't have to be somewhere first thing in the day. Although I don't understand the business model -- they offer folding seats (like on metro cars, I suppose) for slightly more than SRO at about 15 euro. I thought there wouldn't be hardly any seats available, but saw plenty at some random date I picked in mid-May. But the reason I don't understand it is it sounds like they would have to be running different trains than usual, plus outfitting them wuth different seats, etc. Don't know how they have the tracks available to do that, the capital, or how they could make money on that given those low prices and the costs of the train itself and energy.

Luggage limits are pretty normal, can't imagine why anyone would have a problem with that.

PalenQ

Luggage limits are pretty normal, can't imagine why anyone would have a problem with that.>

Not on trains they ain't and as there is plenty of room on that train - or any train I've seen for bags - just a money grabbing thing I guess - not like airplanes with a limited baggage space.

menachem

Also, I can't see people with the "seat not guaranteed" ticket waiting until the train manager assigns them a seat on the Brussels to Paris stretch. Many seats will be empty.