LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
The DfT has published a progress report on its promised fares trials, and the results so far are minimal.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...-plan-information-on-rail-fares-ticketing.pdf
All this seems to herald a "no change" situation as the alternatives are unpalatable.
The last sentence suggests Paul Maynard is frustrated at not making more progress.
Even Mr Nationalisation Corbyn would have a problem in undoing this particular knot, which of course dates back to BR.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...-plan-information-on-rail-fares-ticketing.pdf
Action 6 - Fares trials Background
The Action Plan announced a small number of pilots to test key strategic principles that could form the basis of fares reform and to understand how passengers might adapt their travel patterns to new fare structures. The fare trials are intended to strengthen the evidence base to improve policy-making in this area.
Three trials were proposed by industry, which are described in the table below.
Leg-based pricing
Passengers are often frustrated when a direct fare exceeds the sum of fares for journeys between intermediate stations (an issue referred to as ‘split ticketing’). This trial has been to understand how it might be possible for ticketing systems to issue tickets on the basis of individual component ‘legs’, rather than for an end-toend journey. This could form the basis of a new approach to selling tickets which would avoid ‘split ticketing’ issues.
Route simplification
Existing regulation requires every operator to offer a ticket that is available on all permitted routes. Operators are free also to issue tickets that are only valid on some routes, and these are often cheaper. On the proposed test London to Sheffield route, tickets for any permitted routes are more expensive than those for faster direct routes which means the choice of tickets is potentially confusing. There is a risk that some consumers might inadvertently buy a more expensive ticket than they need. This trial is to simplify the routeing options so that passengers only pay for the flexibility that they need.
Single-leg pricing
On a number of routes, the single fare is priced close to the return fare. This favours passengers wanting to make return trips. This trial is to understand how reform to fares and fares regulation could mitigate this effect and gather evidence on how passengers will react to changes.
What we did
We have made limited progress. The DfT has established a framework that enables operators to discuss the trials within the context of competition law, and planning for the changes needed to fares has taken place with evaluation frameworks developed. However more work is needed before the trials can be implemented and fundamental challenges exist around balancing the financial position of train companies and any cost implications for passengers. We shall renew our efforts into 2018 and review this separately later in the year. Fares reform remains a personal priority of the Rail Minister.
All this seems to herald a "no change" situation as the alternatives are unpalatable.
The last sentence suggests Paul Maynard is frustrated at not making more progress.
Even Mr Nationalisation Corbyn would have a problem in undoing this particular knot, which of course dates back to BR.