Annetts key
Established Member
I would love to know what GWRs peak numbers are. I suspect some of that off peak usage is usage that is purposely avoiding the peak but would prefer to travel in the peak with sane pricing. Just a guess. I personally know of people who are doing just that when coming in from Bath and Bristol.
And…. This is at a time when we have extremely high amounts of absence and self-isolating because of what are now our highest ever Covid numbers.
The point is a "peak" fare is a "peak" fare for a reason - it's that you are looking to travel at the busiest time on the busiest trains. Funnily enough BR used to charge "peak" fares as well. So it's not some modern construct of the nasty privatised railway. So let's put the tinfoil hats away shall we ?
I sometimes travel via GWR to London. I don’t always travel on the same weekday or at the same time, so it’s difficult to get a unbiased wide view, but from I have seen, it’s the so called peak services that are definitely less full than the off peak services before or after the so called peak. Given the difference in ticket price if you book an off peak in advance (sorry, I don’t know or fully understand the ticket structure, as I myself don’t buy many tickets, for business purposes train tickets are bought for me) that’s not really surprising.And every post of mine above agrees there should be peak fares. Although things might have got weird. If current peak fares are putting people off we might have a situation where peak trains are not the busy ones through over-disincentivising people to use them in the new world. Does that mean people travelling to London from Leeds at the weekend because they are the busiest trains should now be charged £250? It seem to be so by your argument.
So the question is, what is the difference between a three quarter full to full (by full I mean all seats occupied) train of people paying the off peak prices compared to a peak train that is nowhere near half full?
Which one is making money and which one is loosing money? Or are they both loosing or both making money?