PalenQ

BBC News and the Guardian both reported last week that Britain's 28 or so privatized rail franchises which each sets its own Byzantine fare structure resulting in up to a dozen at times of differt fares for trains from pt a to pt b - sometimes with literally hundreds of dollars difference between fares and various conditions with each type of ticket

But starting next month it all promises to be simpler as:

starting May 18 the various names now applied to advance discounted tickets will simply be called Advance Fares

and from sep 7 tickets that can be bought right up to the date of travel will be split into two categories - Anytime and Off-Peak

Anytime tickets can be bought right up until the time of the train and used on any train - Off-Peak must only be used in "off-peak" or non rush hour periods. Current ticket terms Saver and Cheap Day Returns will then be called Off-Peak.

So only three types of tickets in the future:
Advance
Off-Peak
Anytime

And the article says there will be 'an end to refunds on advance sales and a doubling of the fee for changes to journey times.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...ss/7364127.stm

flanneruk

Just one thing is certain about all this.

The companies' overall revenue won't go down. So if the spread between cheapest and dearest narrows, it'll be because cheap fares will rise.

There's no evidence any of this is in passengers' interest.

PalenQ

I thot it was also to lower walk up fares to encourage more use of trains (even though many are already overful IME)

like the 133 pound walk up fare one way 2nd cl Lon-Manchester

I know on here many Brits have said they don't take trains because of the lack of flexibility - like soccer hooligans who have said they either drive or fly to events because on short notice tickets can cost so much

flanneruk

There's an amazing amount of hokum about all this.

More Britons take more trains, more often, than the citizens of any other large or medium sized country. No-one's put off using the trains by "lack of flexibility". The purpose of the complicated fare structure has been to cram more people onto the trains - at which it's been spectacularly successful.

The train companies have no interest in getting more passengers, because the government's outstandingly inept micromanagement of their operation means there aren't enough carriages in the system to hold any more passengers. The companies' sole interests are:

- to stave off more criticism. The insanity has now got to a point where the next prime minster summons public meetings in my town to probe into the minutest details of how train companies store their trains overnight.
- to maximise revenue. Which means stunts that drive prices up under thge guise of simplification.

GeoffHamer

There is a lot of nonsense written about British train fares.
The "open" one-way fare from London to Manchester, valid on every train is £115, not £133.
If you travel outside the peak times (when business people travel), then a "saver" one-way ticket is £61.40 and a return (round-trip) ticket is £62.40. These are "walk-up" tickets, do not have to be bought in advance, and are not tied to specific departures (provided you avoid the morning and evening peak trains). Fares can be checked on www.nationalrail.co.uk.

PalenQ

pardon me

wrong again

it was 115 pounds which i figured to be $230 and it came from a train announcement on the train that advised folks with discounted tickets to be on the right train or they would be charged full fare or 115 pounds - i construed that to be the walkup fare for boarding that train

and to my shock i did see some business types in first class pay much more than 115 quid for train tickets bought from the conductor!

i did not mean that there were not walk up fares valid on select trains but fully flexible walkup fares that could be used on any train