mike57
Established Member
May be but as soon as you change on to another operator (even a directly operated one) fares structure changes and this really screws thing up.Isn't that what the DfT are working towards with the changes it is making on LNER and in the South East?
A good example: We visit relatives in Peterborough 3 or 4 times a year for the day, and travel by train. So Northern Bempton - Doncaster, and LNER Doncaster - Peterborough.
Ideally we get 2 x 2 (there are two of us) advance singles for the complete journey, with a railcard these will usually cost just short of £100 for the two of us return. However this relies on advance singles being available for both legs of the journey.
If there are no advances on one bit then journey planner defaults to offering off peak singles for the whole journey, bringing the total with rail card to well over £200. This is because LNER dont offer return fares. However for the Bempton - Doncaster leg Off Peak Day returns are available for £41.50 for 2 people with a railcard, which are only 40p more than the off peak single, so by splitting tickets I save around £40. Because of the different ticket structure sfrom the two (both directly operated...) operators the fares offered by the booking engine are not competetive.
If someone isn't familiar with the fares system they are going to be confronted with the over £200 return fare even with a railcard and will probably consider other alternatives.
In an ideal world the fare offered by the booking engines should be the cheapest possible for the journey in question, but the current system fails, and the fragmented nature of the railways must make this worse. If there are going to be changes and simplifications they need to be national, and they should not be used as a backdoor way to put fares up. Until we have a transport minister who is pro railway I dont hold out much hope.