Trainline Does New Deal with RDG for its Ticket Sales Commission

[LNW-GW Joint]

There's this curious item about Trainline, which indicates it has done a deal with RDG on commission on ticket sales.
The indication I've seen elsewhere is that it will be able to sell tickets in parallel with GBR when that booking engine starts up, instead of being squeezed out by the monopoly supplier as was feared.

MARKET REPORT: Trainline stock rockets 26% after commission rates deal

Online ticket seller Trainline jumped 26.1%, after it agreed to lower the commission it receives from its sales by 0.5 percentage points.

www.thisismoney.co.uk

Trouble is, this is a stock market view, not a rail industry view.

Shares in Trainline leapt after a smaller than expected cut to its commission rates.
The ticket seller jumped 26.1 per cent, or 51.8p, to 250p after it agreed to lower the commission it receives from its sales by 0.5 percentage points from 5 per cent to 4.5 per cent.
The deal was struck with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), an industry body that represents UK train operators.

 

[Bletchleyite]

There's this curious item about Trainline, which indicates it has done a deal with RDG on commission on ticket sales.
The indication I've seen elsewhere is that it will be able to sell tickets in parallel with GBR when that booking engine starts up, instead of being squeezed out by the monopoly supplier as was feared.

I can't see any need to squeeze anyone out. Other than Ryanair who tries to avoid it, there are plenty of third party airline sales sites.

The efficiency is gained by having one "TOC" booking site instead of about 15 different ones plus the NRE non-selling planner.

 

[plugwash]

The question with any middleman is does the value they bring in terms of extra customers make up for what they take in commissions from people who would buy the product anyway.

 

[Starmill]

Rolling out pay as you go more quickly would be a great way to deprive trainline of more commission. Just saying.

 

[Hadders]

Given that much of the general public believe that trainline is the only place you can buy rail tickets RDG/GBR would be foolish to get rid of them.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

So, no fingerprints of Ministers? They just let RDG strike a new commercial agreement here notwithstanding their promise to create a single national ticketing app?!! Either RDG will commission its own or it will let Trainline provide that service on a 'white label' basis....either way, Ministers would need to sign off the costs involved.

 

[TUC]

Competition is always good, not least when the National Rail website shows just how dreadful a lack of choice would look like.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Competition is always good, not least when the National Rail website shows just how dreadful a lack of choice would look like.

The NRE site looks a bit dated, but in terms of (non-split) fares it finds it's the best in the business. I don't think any other site knows and suggests Rovers, for example.

 

[Haywain]

So, no fingerprints of Ministers? They just let RDG strike a new commercial agreement here notwithstanding their promise to create a single national ticketing app?!!

There is not a chance that RDG could sign this off without DfT approval.

 

[js517]

The NRE site looks a bit dated, but in terms of (non-split) fares it finds it's the best in the business. I don't think any other site knows and suggests Rovers, for example.

Isn't that because almost none can be sold online?

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

There is not a chance that RDG could sign this off without DfT approval.

So, is the expectation not being created that Ministers will want Trainline to be the single national system in due course....? The NRE system was set up only to provide information on fares, not to sell them so would require quite a few $$$ spent on it to switch it over being a retail site. Not least on making it easier to use and sprucing up its design...

 

[matt_world2004]

Couldn't the government take one of the many tocs websites that retail tickets. Benchmark them on features and run it as their own..particularly if it's an site run by the OLR

 

[Wallsendmag]

Couldn't the government take one of the many tocs websites that retail tickets. Benchmark them on features and run it as their own..particularly if it's an site run by the OLR

Why , they have all the figures already.

 

[Haywain]

So, is the expectation not being created that Ministers will want Trainline to be the single national system in due course....?

No, I don’t see it that way at all.

 

[bakerstreet]

Is there a possibility that Trainline may be the only GBR provider and therefore, for before the day purchases, fees will be the norm. I do hope market innovation (eg TrainSplit) will be allowed to continue. And individual TOC sites for that matter, providing greater robustness in the system. And that fees do not become difficult or impossible to avoid

 

[alistairlees]

Is there a possibility that Trainline may be the only GBR provider and therefore, for before the day purchases, fees will be the norm.

No

I do hope market innovation (eg TrainSplit) will be allowed to continue.

Yes

And individual TOC sites for that matter, providing greater robustness in the system.

Supposedly not

 

[bakerstreet]

No

Yes

Supposedly not

That’s good news

 

[Bletchleyite]

Is there a possibility that Trainline may be the only GBR provider and therefore, for before the day purchases, fees will be the norm. I do hope market innovation (eg TrainSplit) will be allowed to continue. And individual TOC sites for that matter, providing greater robustness in the system. And that fees do not become difficult or impossible to avoid

Individual TOC sites are a waste of money and a source of confusion. It's dropping these where you get a gain from a single system. The NRE system should be replaced with a system that sells tickets. As it's already effectively owned by DfT and has some nice features, the LNER one is probably the one to go for, with some tweaks, but no doubt they'll commission a new one.

Third party for-profit sites can and should continue if they wish, just as third party for-profit sites exist for selling airline tickets and indeed tickets for the European nationalised operations. Some people prefer them. If they make a profit they will continue, if not they will close.

 

[m00036]

Individual TOC sites are a waste of money and a source of confusion. It's dropping these where you get a gain from a single system. The NRE system should be replaced with a system that sells tickets. As it's already effectively owned by DfT and has some nice features, the LNER one is probably the one to go for, with some tweaks, but no doubt they'll commission a new one.

Third party for-profit sites can and should continue if they wish, just as third party for-profit sites exist for selling airline tickets and indeed tickets for the European nationalised operations. Some people prefer them. If they make a profit they will continue, if not they will close.

As ever, simplification in this way is likely to increase the minimum fare and not affect the median fare paid for a given journey as there are small differences between valid routes and fares at present across the website (which is obviously beneficial to the customer that shops around). Whether there should be is a different question, although I think we're agreed that there are plenty of grey areas surrounding ticketing.

 

[Chris999999]

As it's already effectively owned by DfT and has some nice features, the LNER one is probably the one to go for, with some tweaks, but no doubt they'll commission a new one.

Perhaps they should base it on the Avanti one, then hardly anyone will be able to buy the ticket they want and £Billions can be saved by not running trains.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Perhaps they should base it on the Avanti one, then hardly anyone will be able to buy the ticket they want and £Billions can be saved by not running trains.

Quite. One can imagine the reaction of Sir Alan Sugar if one of the teams on an episode of "The Apprentice" had come up with a user-interface as sub-optimal as that encountered when using an Avanti TVM.

We digress slightly from the thread topic, however.