Exchange rates on international tickets

[newmilton]

A couple of weeks ago I travelled to Lyon and Geneva. Due to the French air traffic strike I ended up going via Geneva in both directions, my outbound flight to Lyon being cancelled. No problem with EasyJet about this, and I was able to complete my journey to Lyon by train, returning to Geneva a few days later.

I couldn't help but notice, however, that two tickets from Geneva to Lyon, bought from CFF, cost me 76CHF (roughly 73EUR), while two tickets from Lyon to Geneva, bought at Part-Dieu, came to only 56EUR. That's a fairly hefty mark-up being charged by the Swiss for a train they don't even operate themselves! These were standard walk-up tickets in both directions.

Any similar examples?

 

[30907]

I wonder if the fares have not been repriced since the drastic upward revaluation of the CHF?

Only a guess, the alternative (see the Boulogne thread) is that you might have got a 25% découverte discount one way because of the day and time of travel. It should show on the ticket.

 

[Greenback]

I think there have always been variations between Trenitalia and SBB for Swiss - Italian and vv services. Some of the differences that I've found in the past have been significant.

Some people have used Trenitalia to book tickets from Switzerland to Italy because they were quite a bit cheaper, yet they didn't realise they could only pick these tickets up in Italy, so it backfired on them in the end!

 

[30907]

Are those variations for walk-up fares, as in the OPs case?

 

[gordonthemoron]

there are also differences between Germany (Munich) - Zurich tickets bought from DB as opposed to SBB and also Holland-Belgium bought from SNCB as opposed to NL (in each case the first operator is more expensive)

 

[Greenback]

Are those variations for walk-up fares, as in the OPs case?

Yes, though the variation is usually pretty small and down, I assume, to currency fluctuations.

I was interested to see what a difference there was on some of the advance purchase tickets between the two countries. I guessed this could have been down to each operator having a separate quota, an done having sold out faster, but I'm probably wrong.

 

[anme]

also Holland-Belgium bought from SNCB as opposed to NL (in each case the first operator is more expensive)

Generally SNCB is cheaper than NS - sometimes by a significant amount.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Generally SNCB is cheaper than NS - sometimes by a significant amount.

sorry, that was the wrong way round

 

[dutchflyer]

Since ECU came (the technical bank-only unit that preceded the EUR) SCIC fares have all been set in that unit. Before that it was an imaginery ''railways franc'' -at that time railways corresponded everything in french anyway, just like all the mails did.
INT fares should simple be the sum of all the national sectors combined-between border tarif poiints. WHO runs the trains has nothing to do with it-in that view you Brits are bit island-isolated in thinking.
In this case it looks like the swiss still use the old rate (about 1,20 CHF per EUR), and I think since some years they also have a 'fee'' for INT ticketing added-5 CHF (not 100% sure).
In the past, when every country had its own money, and even in the UK all main stations could sell INT tckets, exchange rates (to that imaginery franc) were set per month-often with a fairly hefty ''margin''. Being a simple EUR-user anyway, I have lost knowledge about how this system now exactly works. Several countries that once participated in it have withdrawn anyway (like TUnisia, MArocco, and effectively even SE=Sweden).
Fairly hefty differences (if accounted in EUR) are also possible f.e. between UA=UKrayna and PL=POland or HUngary, due to drastic fall of UAH.

 

[30907]

Coincidentally I've just been on the CD site and discovered a "Uniform Railway Exchange" page which turns out to be the exchange rate for tariff purposes, and it's still set monthly. And the rate is pretty good.