Advanced tickets Northern railway

[Dave stoke]

I understand the principal of the advanced tickets. I have traveled regularly from Kidsgrove to Manchester Piccadilly over the last year and almost always got advance tickets.
Since Christmas have been unable to, just none showing for any service on any day for next 12 weeks.
Have asked customer service by email, took them a month to give a generic reply without addressing my question.

Advanced tickets made available in limited numbers, are they limited to zero on this route ?
If so then that represents a price hike of 150+%

 

[roversfan2001]

Northern removed Advance fares from Kidsgrove to Manchester Stns at the January fares setting round by the looks of things.

 

[Dave stoke]

Hadn’t heard of fare setting rounds. So if that was their choice, they have effectively bumped the price up by 150 %. Nice way to dodge any restrictions

 

[roversfan2001]

Fare setting rounds are when the TOCs increase fares (or add/change/remove fares). It's not really dodging restrictions, as the more expensive tickets are valid on more than one service.

 

[scrapy]

Advance tickets are generally available to fill seats that would otherwise be unfilled. As they are TOC specific they are also introduced when there is competition on a route to enable the TOC to receive 100% of the fare. They were introduced on Kidsgrove to Manchester about 2 1/2 years ago but obviously Northern have decided it's not worth it to them. When an extra hourly service starts between Macclesfield and Manchester, Northern may decide that there are more empty seats to fill but unlikely at peak times.

Advance fares are still available between Stoke and Manchester (presumably because of the competition). People have differing opinions on stopping short on Advances and it is NOT strictly allowed. You may find it cheaper to go via Stoke.

 

[Dave stoke]

Advance tickets are generally available to fill seats that would otherwise be unfilled. As they are TOC specific they are also introduced when there is competition on a route to enable the TOC to receive 100% of the fare. They were introduced on Kidsgrove to Manchester about 2 1/2 years ago but obviously Northern have decided it's not worth it to them. When an extra hourly service starts between Macclesfield and Manchester, Northern may decide that there are more empty seats to fill but unlikely at peak times.

Advance fares are still available between Stoke and Manchester (presumably because of the competition). People have differing opinions on stopping short on Advances and it is NOT strictly allowed. You may find it cheaper to go via Stoke.

Thanks very much, very informative !

Will be looking at your suggestions, cheers

 

[Puffing Devil]

Advances were pulled from my local station this time last year, together with other stations on the line with no competition. The stations with competition somehow retained their advances.....

 

[Merseysider]

Northern pulled advance tickets between Manchester and Congleton about halfway through a job in Congleton.

Northern said the removal was for “efficiency”

Needless to say, I then made a large number of “journeys” to Stoke, where Advance tickets remained

Not strictly allowed, but not a single guard cared.

 

[Ianno87]

Hadn’t heard of fare setting rounds. So if that was their choice, they have effectively bumped the price up by 150 %. Nice way to dodge any restrictions

Previous Northern having previously knocked c. 60% off the cheapest ticket price when Advances were introduced in the first place, of course.

 

[Starmill]

Advance tickets are generally available to fill seats that would otherwise be unfilled.

This is idealistic - there is little evidence for it.

Advance tickets are commercial tool to maximise profit in the short run. This is what happens in most lines of business. Seating availability is a consideration in some circumstances I have no doubt, but they are there to generate revenue first and foremost. Northern will have taken the decision that after they introduced the Advance tickets from Kidsgrove to Manchester, revenue was not higher than before as a result of them, thereby choosing later to remove them.

There is nothing at all that a customer can do about this.

 

[323235]

Northern removed the advance fares at Prestbury, Adlington and Poynton in May 2017 - the response I got by email, which was received on a sunday morning no less, was that it was due to lack of use.

I feel this indicates they were not generating new revenue but reducing existing revenue where they were used. Indeed there are many commuters who were using them on the 0747 from Manchester and 1659 from Stoke, when the savings must have been eyewatering, hence why many started buying Macclesfield tickets and starting/stopping short after removal.

 

[317 forever]

I had an Advance Single from Heaton Chapel to Crewe on 2.5.17 but have not seen Advance tickets available on this route recently.

 

[Merseysider]

I had an Advance Single from Heaton Chapel to Crewe on 2.5.17 but have not seen Advance tickets available on this route recently.

They no longer exist