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Fares shake-up to end train ticket confusion
Anna Davis24.04.08
A major shake-up of the rail fares system designed to make it easier for passengers to buy the best-value ticket for their journey is to be introduced next month.
It will see train companies scrapping their bewildering range of choices and replacing them with just three types of ticket - advance, offpeak and any time.
But the move by the Association of Train Operating Companies was criticised by passenger groups because refunds will no longer be given for tickets bought in advance, and the fee for changes to journey times will double. ATOC commercial director David Mapp said: "This is the biggest shakeup in the fares and ticketing system for many years and we want passengers to take advantage of it and also encourage more people to take the train.
"Passengers have told us that they want a simpler fares system. We are listening and responding.
"These changes will enable people to buy train tickets more easily and with greater confidence." Season tickets and London Oystercards are not affected by the changes.
Anthony Smith, chief executive of rail users' watchdog Passenger Focus, said: "There should be some flexibility because of the degree to which people have to book in advance to get a cheap ticket. For a lot of tickets it won't be worth paying the fee to make the change."
Mr Smith added: "Simplifying the range of fares is a big step in the right direction. Anything that hacks away at the current fares jungle will help. Fares' names such as First Great Western First-minute Business Standard, among others, will not be missed."
Passenger Focus research has shown that fewer than half of passengers are confident of getting the best-value ticket for their journey, while fewer than half understand the range of tickets and fares available.
The Campaign for Better Transport welcomed the new fare structure but called on the Government to reduce the cost of rail fares, especially for lastminute journeys.
Executive director Stephen Joseph said: "The real cost of rail fares has increased by six per cent in the last 10 years, and government plans mean it will increase further.
"Advance tickets are sometimes cheap but people can't always plan their journeys weeks beforehand.
"The Government must make train travel the cheap and easy option if we're going to reduce carbon emissions from transport."
Liberal Democrat transpor t spokesman Norman Baker MP said: "This is a sensible move which will helpfully clear away the bewildering array of weekend fares, super savers and open returns. But there is much more that can be done to bring clarity to fares.
"There are some good deals around, but travellers are often left confused as to how to get hold of cheap tickets."
Reader views (6)
Train prices are all fixed and the monopolies commission should investigate. There is a tool i use to save me money , a bit like comparethemarket...splitfare.co.uk . It splits the fare into two parts. i.e. edinburgh to London may be cheaper by getting edinburgh to peterborough & peterborough to london. same train, same journey but two tickets and a cheaper price. Weird!
- Ian Wilson, Newcastle
As a South West Trains passenger - sorry, customer, 1) I gather from their website we will still have peak fares until 09:30, then slightly reduced fares from 09:30 until 11:30, and then finally actual off-peak fares from 11:30 onwards. I wonder if the Rail Regulator will do anything about it? 2)What is an "Advance" fare? One day in advance? One week in advance? One month in advance? And, will it apply to all journeys, no matter at what time and how far?
- Blind Pugh, Addlestone, UK
In any other industry, operators getting together to agree a pricing structure would be called a cartel. Certainly, bus operators are very wary of acting in this way, even where the customer would benefit from a coordinated fares policy within the same town for instance. So what gives rail operators the blessing to meet in a smoke filled room and emerge with a single fare structure?
- Hughie, Surrey, UK
It would be handy to get rid of the confusing array of companies, as well. I once had the embarrassment of a ticket inspector telling me my ticket - which I'd just bought - was not valid on the train I was on because I had a ticket for one company's trains and was on a train belonging to another company. But I don't usually use that line and nobody at the station mentioned it to me - they didn't, for instance, ask which sort of ticket I wanted. How was I to know? Where I live, all the trains are from the same company. Until that day I didn't know that some stations are served by trains from more than one company. (I never did find out how I was supposed to identify the 'right' trains from the 'wrong' ones!)
- Suzanne, London
Simplicity is best. If it means it is all too expensive--then the solution is just don't use the service unless you absolutely have to and there is no alternative .
- William Grierson, Kimpton, UK
Yes, let's all cheer that rail travel will become even more expensive. Let's all leap around and bang the cymbals that the 'confusion' involved in booking really cheap early tickets will be scrapped and that we will have less choice. Next stop, let's end the 'confusion' in other things like telecoms competition and then we can go back to the good old days when you had to wait 9 months to get a phone installed - I'll never forget being told when I had my first phone installed: "no one has ever complained before, Mr Hockney, nine months is a great improvement on what it used to be."
- Damian Hockney A.M., London
