Belperpete
Established Member
- Joined
- 17 Aug 2018
- Messages
- 1,650
If Virgin sell a ticket now for travel after the franchise change, who gets the money? I suppose the same applies to any TOC that sells a ticket now for travel on the West Coast after the franchise change. I know that the money from a ticket sale gets divvied up according to what operators you can travel on with that ticket, but is it dependent on what TOCs are operating the services at the time the ticket is sold, or at the times the ticket is valid?
If it depends on date of sale, then presumably it is in Virgin's interests to sell as many post-change tickets as possible, as they would get to keep the money without incurring the costs of running the trains. Season tickets would be particularly lucrative. And the new TOC would just have to accept that they would start off running trains for which they wouldn't get a large slice of the income.
Or if it depends on date of validity, what would happen about tickets that could be used both before and after the change. Such as the outward portion of anytime tickets, the return portion of anytime and off-peak tickets, or seasons.
If it depends on date of sale, then presumably it is in Virgin's interests to sell as many post-change tickets as possible, as they would get to keep the money without incurring the costs of running the trains. Season tickets would be particularly lucrative. And the new TOC would just have to accept that they would start off running trains for which they wouldn't get a large slice of the income.
Or if it depends on date of validity, what would happen about tickets that could be used both before and after the change. Such as the outward portion of anytime tickets, the return portion of anytime and off-peak tickets, or seasons.