teuchter
je suis teuchter
The government.
The proposed removal of affordable, flexible rail tickets in the UK. Don't let them get away with it!
- Thread starter teuchter
- Start date
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Right, all these things would be nice, but this is specifically about this change. Because at the moment there's no sign politically that we're going to suddenly see lots of investment into the railways. You'd need to put in lots more money to bring fares down. I'd like to see that happen, I'd like to see the whole network including buses massively improved.
None of that is on the cards at the moment. We've just watched HS2 get sabotaged and money diverted to road schemes. That's the reality of things just now.
I am focusing on this pilot scheme because it's an actual real thing that is happening now, with real consequences. But it's also something that there's a real hope of stopping, if enough people protest.
It's being pushed by a government with an anti public transport agenda. It's a little confusing to understand exactly what is changing especially if you're not a regular rail traveller. They know that and hope to get away with it. They want discussions about it to get diverted away onto other more general things. Diverting the discussion onto complaints about general reliability or cost (hopefully with some blame getting shovelled towards the private train companies) is exactly what they want. Everyone can talk about that, whilst ignoring what's being done under their noses, which is an attempt to increase fare prices and reduce flexibility. That's what's happening right now and there is a chance to stop it.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
Cyclists
kenny g
Sheeple Awake!
If you book advance tickets through cross country you can exchange them for other tickets prior to travel without any admin fees: Contact Us and Faqs | CrossCountryI think in an ideal world they'd be paid to run empty trains without having to deal with the inconvenience of passengers.
I've just looked up London - Newcastle which a journey I often buy an off peak single for, to give a bit of flexibility in case my plans change (I usually get an advance ticket going south). Now I'd be paying around the same price (£80ish) for this new ticket which is less flexible, or I'd have to get an anytime single for the bargain price of £192. The conditions aren't clear (where's Bungle when you need him?) if you need a new reservation if you change trains. If you do then the chances of being able to change things last minute are pretty minute.
This doesn't really seem like progress to me
Obviously the price of a different time advance may have gone up (or be unavailable) by then.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
I think in an ideal world they'd be paid to run empty trains without having to deal with the inconvenience of passengers.
I've just looked up London - Newcastle which a journey I often buy an off peak single for, to give a bit of flexibility in case my plans change (I usually get an advance ticket going south). Now I'd be paying around the same price (£80ish) for this new ticket which is less flexible, or I'd have to get an anytime single for the bargain price of £192. The conditions aren't clear (where's Bungle when you need him?
This doesn't really seem like progress to me
£86 return with BA
neonwilderness
What would Badgers do?
And I can decide to change flights 10 minutes before departure with that fare without any fucking about and extra charges like I can with the off peak ticket, yeah?
Also in my case the journey times aren't that much different by the time I factor in getting to/from the airports + check in time. Appreciate that's not the same for everyone though.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
Better class of passengers though.
scifisam
feck! arse! girls! drink!
The point of off-peak tickets is to encourage people to travel at less busy times. Means more people travelling overall, so more money for the train company, and it's a much better use of the lines and trains.
Per person, though. Kebabking was comparing the cost of a family of four travelling.
scifisam
feck! arse! girls! drink!
Presumably that's out of the window with this semi-flex ticket too.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
No I think the same will apply - it applies to pretty much all rail tickets including advance purchase.
scifisam
feck! arse! girls! drink!
But I bet it would have to be late outside of that 70 minute window, rather than the specific train you're booked on.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
For London to Newcastle, £220, so well over 200%.
neonwilderness
What would Badgers do?
Just booking myself a ticket to Durham tomorrow. I haven't decided which trains to get yet, so I'd assume that a "standard return" should let me travel whenever? Apparently not. When I checked, that's an off peak ticket there and a fixed advance for the return which is no use. A fully open ticket is now called a "flexible return".
I expect this nonsense will catch a lot of people out, especially if booking in a hurry and just clicking the first option you're presented with
I expect this nonsense will catch a lot of people out, especially if booking in a hurry and just clicking the first option you're presented with
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Is this on the LNER website?Just booking myself a ticket to Durham tomorrow. I haven't decided which trains to get yet, so I'd assume that a "standard return" should let me travel whenever? Apparently not. When I checked, that's an off peak ticket there and a fixed advance for the return which is no use. A fully open ticket is now called a "flexible return".
I expect this nonsense will catch a lot of people out, especially if booking in a hurry and just clicking the first option you're presented with
I don't think Durham is currently included in the "trial" that this thread refers to.
You shoudl still be able to get an off-peak single in each direction. What you can no longer get is an off-peak return - the result of a separate change a couple of years ago.
neonwilderness
What would Badgers do?
On their app. It's straight forward enough to change it to two off peak singles, but they seem to have changed things so it's not immediately obvious what type of ticket they're offering.
As it happens I'm also looking at tickets to London for later in the year where I'd usually buy the off peak ticket for a bit of flexibility. Now there's only the option advance, semi-flexible and anytime. On the random date I've picked it's £66, £88 or £258 one way (two people with a two together railcard), so quite a price hike for anything more than 70 minutes flexibility.
Obviously I'll just moan about it here and eventually book one of the cheaper options.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Are you going to London from Newcastle?
You know there's (for now) still a workaround, which is to buy your ticket from Manors instead - which means you can still get an off-peak?
teuchter
je suis teuchter
LNER are constantly messing with things. There's a whole thing of claiming that trains are reservation-compulsory, when they are not, for example. This lets them pretend they can't sell you flexible tickets on certain services - when they can and should.
neonwilderness
What would Badgers do?
I am and I didn't know that. Useful tip though, thanks
teuchter
je suis teuchter
The Telegraph have done a story on this.
LNER's manager has responded with a highly disingenuous tweet:
Happily, the comments are having none of it.
LNER's manager has responded with a highly disingenuous tweet:
Happily, the comments are having none of it.
