Raileasy split ticketing

[maniacmartin]

I think we have to remember that we are not necessarily the target market. To the average Joe on the street, even when paying the Raileasy booking fee, and 10% of the saving, it will still often be cheaper than their favourite site (The Trainline) on long-distance journeys. They're used to fees anyway, as Trainline already has them.

To check the splits manually takes a lot of time and a lot of non-enthusiasts just can't be bothered, or don't want to risk it as they are unsure of the rules and don't want to get caught out like the professor in the Daily Mail or whatever. Rail ticketing is not something where someone can just read a few sentences and know the ins and outs sadly. So, in that respect the site is providing a service that the competition is not, and its possible that people will be prepared to pay for that service.

 

[PermitToTravel]

This would be possible with splits that are solely composed of advances, but difficult with walkup splits unless you want to leave it a secret until booking time which parts of the journey are flexible and which aren't

On balance this isn't really a problem, as normal folk don't care about changing their itinerary mid-journey, but only whether they can depart early/late. As such, two prices could be shown, flexible and non-flexible.

They're essentially rover tickets so can't be sold via ToD. You guys will know why rovers and rangers aren't ToDable, it's a shame though. Not sure but I think we'd have to get accredited as well for retailing these. Nice products though and definitely something we need to look at in the future.

Do you know why Evening Cheap Returns aren't offered, even excluding the rover/ranger issue? As far as I can see they're just normal point-to-point tickets with an unusual peak restriction

 

[Merseysider]

, I like the cut of your jib

Trying to be constructive in my feedback instead of just bashing the fees!

I think we have to remember that we are not necessarily the target market...

Couldn't agree more.

To the average Joe on the street, even when paying the Raileasy booking fee, and 10% of the saving, it will still often be cheaper than their favourite site (The Trainline) on long-distance journeys. They're used to fees anyway, as Trainline already has them.

Then there's the people who wouldn't move away from The Trainline even if you waved a fiver in their face, because it saves them 80% and they haven't seen an advert for another site saving them 80%, so hey.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Do you know why Evening Cheap Returns aren't offered, even excluding the rover/ranger issue? As far as I can see they're just normal point-to-point tickets with an unusual peak restriction

NRE has no problem pulling them up and you can buy them online no problem.

Am I the only one here who doesn't know why Rovers etc aren't available through ToD?

 

[Hadders]

I don't know why rovers aren't available through ToD either!

I can understand why you'd want to hide details of the splits until the tickets are purchased but this could cause problems. Consider a journey from Paddington to Cardiff with a split at Didcot. At present he site clearly states that your train has to call at Didcot so passenger can make an informed choice about whether or not to purchase because not all of the trains call at Didcot. Now where would the passenger stand if they only found out about the requirement for the train to call at Didcot after the tickets had been purchased?

 

[PermitToTravel]

It wouldn't really be any worse than other booking engines in that it would say a departure time, arrival time, and a price. There could be a tick box to state that you're willing to pay more for flexibility (sometimes greyed out to say that flexibility has been included at no extra cost, where there are no advances/advances cost more than walk-up fares)

 

[Merseysider]

I can understand why you'd want to hide details of the splits until the tickets are purchased but this could cause problems. Consider a journey from Paddington to Cardiff with a split at Didcot. At present he site clearly states that your train has to call at Didcot so passenger can make an informed choice about whether or not to purchase because not all of the trains call at Didcot. Now where would the passenger stand if they only found out about the requirement for the train to call at Didcot after the tickets had been purchased?

Perhaps by pointing out which trains they can and can't travel on with this split. Eg, by giving an itinerary for several trains that call at Didcot Parkway on the way to Cardiff, and journeys that don't involve travel via Didcot would be greyed out, or have a red X next to them or something to signify that these journeys wouldn't be valid with the split they are about to purchase. That way, the split isn't directly revealed but the passenger is told which trains they must travel on in order to obey the NRCoC.

 

[Hadders]

That's fair enough, although it would be very easy to deduce the split points involved.

 

[telstarbox]

I've often found that starting/stopping short on permitted routes is cheaper than splitting. It's also more flexible as you don't have to factor in stopping at the split point.

Obviously this would be very complex to automate as it involves looking 'beyond' the actual A-B journey, potentially to the edges of the network to check all possibilities.

As for hiding the split until after purchase, Lastminute sell 'secret hotels' on the same basis so it could work.

 

[PermitToTravel]

If such a website hypothetically existed, and was publicly accessible, it would only serve to get the National Routeing Guide withdrawn.

 

[Merseysider]

If such a website hypothetically existed, and was publicly accessible, it would only serve to get the National Routeing Guide withdrawn.

But then there'd be no grounds to prove a ticket from Birmingham to Glasgow is valid via Preston as well as Tamworth, and so on and so on. I can't see a situation ever arising in which the NRG was withdrawn.

 

[bb21]

I think we have to remember that we are not necessarily the target market. To the average Joe on the street, even when paying the Raileasy booking fee, and 10% of the saving, it will still often be cheaper than their favourite site (The Trainline) on long-distance journeys. They're used to fees anyway, as Trainline already has them.

To check the splits manually takes a lot of time and a lot of non-enthusiasts just can't be bothered, or don't want to risk it as they are unsure of the rules and don't want to get caught out like the professor in the Daily Mail or whatever. Rail ticketing is not something where someone can just read a few sentences and know the ins and outs sadly. So, in that respect the site is providing a service that the competition is not, and its possible that people will be prepared to pay for that service.

I don't say this often but this is a top post.

Sometimes the penny-pinching mentality on this forum blinds us as to reality with the vast majority of rail travellors. This is not a criticism levied at anyone in particular. We are all guilty at one time or another.

 

[PermitToTravel]

But then there'd be no grounds to prove a ticket from Birmingham to Glasgow is valid via Preston as well as Tamworth, and so on and so on. I can't see a situation ever arising in which the NRG was withdrawn.

For "withdrawn" substitute "replaced by a system which is fit-for-purpose"

 

[ainsworth74]

For "withdrawn" substitute "replaced by a system which is fit-for-purpose"

I don't believe ATOC and the DfT are capable of designing such a thing.

 

[bb21]

I don't believe ATOC and the DfT are capable of designing such a thing.

I will believe it when I see it.

 

[Merseysider]

For "withdrawn" substitute "replaced by a system which is fit-for-purpose"

I've just noticed a pig fly past my window.

Besides, the DfT is too busy dealing with Nimbys to be designing another Routeing Guide or equivalent.

I would, however, anticipate them taking some time to ensure split ticketing on HS2 won't be possible.

 

[Hadders]

I doubt there'll be many splitting opportunities on HS2 as there won't be many stations on the line.

I imagine we'll have a 'dogs breakfast' of ticket restrictions though as we currently do with HS1.

 

[Merseysider]

I doubt there'll be many splitting opportunities on HS2 as there won't be many stations on the line.

I imagine we'll have a 'dogs breakfast' of ticket restrictions though as we currently do with HS1.

But for example, I'd expect them to make sure Liverpool - Manchester then Manchester - London HS2 doesn't work out cheaper than Liverpool - London (valid on HS2) if you see where I'm coming from.

 

[IanXC]

I don't believe ATOC and the DfT are capable of designing such a thing.

I'm far from convinced that it would be possible to :
a) design such a system which is fit for purpose
b) get all the relevant parties to agree to it
c) successfully implement it

Whilst I would suggest b) would almost certainly be the hardest part, a) and c) would also be very significant risks in the programme in my book!

 

[ainsworth74]

Yes those were my exact thoughts!

 

[bnm]

Please don't recommend people use it to find splits and then book them on TOC web sites, that would be annoying.

Your fellow 'Verified Rep.' colleague at splitticking.com did exactly that earlier in this thread. :roll:

 

[Mike@Raileasy]

bnm (whom I believe follows this forum) has been talking about us on the FGW "coffee shop" blog.

It was jolly nice of him to mention splitticketing.com to FGW passengers and a couple posted some nice savings (Worcester to Preston) even though he couldn't find the £19+ saving from Bristol TM to Birmingham.

Anyway folks he actually said:

I'm happy to research split ticketing options on this forum for nothing more than a 'thank-you'.

Cor blimey! If we'd known, we'd never have bothered

 

[Deerfold]

Has the site gone down? when I try and go to it I'm redirected to https://www. which doesn't work very well...

 

[Merseysider]

Has the site gone down? when I try and go to it I'm redirected to https://www. which doesn't work very well...

www.splittickets.com appears to be exactly the same website with just a different layout, I may be wrong however.

 

[maniacmartin]

It looks like they're in the process of making the site fully SSL.

 

[bnm]

A little personal, but the smiley makes everything okay, I guess. :roll:

At the time I checked the splitticketing.com engine did not offer the obvious split at Cheltenham for a day trip between Bristol and Birmingham. I can't check to see if this has changed because the website appears to be down. Sister site trainsplit.com is offering the split at Cheltenham now.

Is what I'm doing, for no more than a thank-you, any different to the many 'Fares Advisors' here on RailUK?

I actually think the efforts of those behind Raileasy Split Ticketing Limited (t/a splitticketing.com) are laudable. I'm just not convinced that monetising such a service will reap reward for the effort put in.

If I were a Dragon, I'd be saying "I'm out."

 

[Deerfold]

www.splittickets.com appears to be exactly the same website with just a different layout, I may be wrong however.

That page has an unlikely claim of saving (an admittedly impressive) 410% between Norwich and London...

 

[Merseysider]

That page has an unlikely claim of saving (an admittedly impressive) 410% between Norwich and London...

On that basis, the passenger gets paid £433 to make said journey...

 

[Deerfold]

On that basis, the passenger gets paid £433 to make said journey...

I'd make it rather less - I think you've calculated 510% (Don't forget the first 100% saving is the £0 paid to travel then another 310% back).

 

[Merseysider]

I'd make it rather less - I think you've calculated 510% (Don't forget the first 100% saving is the £0 paid to travel then another 310% back).

Ah yes, you're right! Still, we should take them up on that offer

 

[bnm]

The website is working if you use the secure address https://www.splitticketing.com/

The forward from http: to https: isn't configured.