Quick comparison of TOC's Advance ticket prices.

[38Cto15E]

I have tried to perform a price comparison for 5 Main line TOC's Advance tickets using the same time and date and as similar mileage as possible.
The routes are 1/ Norwich-Liv St, 2/ Newark Northgate-Kings Cross, 3/ East Midlands Pky-St Pancras, 4/ Birmingham New St-Euston and 5/ Castle Cary-Paddington, all between 112 and 120 miles from London.
A date of February 1st outbound about 1030hrs, and a return of Thursday 3rd Feb 1400hrs from London. These fares are all with a Railcard, but may have changed a little, as these were a day or two ago.

Greater Anglia Out 1/ 6.60 Std'd 13.20 1st,.............. Rtn 6.60 Std'd 11.85 1st,.......OPR £39.45.
LNER................. 2/ 24.80 Std'd 38.90 1st................Rtn 24.80 Std'd 38.90 1st....... OPR £50.00.
EMR.................. 3/ 18.15 Std'd 53.75 1st................Rtn 29.35 Std'd 53.75 1st........OPR £73.55.
Avanti West Coast 4/ 27.55 Std'd 57.55 1st................Rtn 27.55 Std'd 57.75 1st........OPR £39.45.
Great Western Rail 5/ 25.60 Std'd 52.60 1st................Rtn 15.75 Std'd 42.10 1st........OPR £44.45.

Without doubt people can see the differences in fares with the different TOC's for basically the same product, I have no doubt BM's will be able to improve on this, just that I initially got interested because Greater Anglia and East Midlands Railways are bth Abellio yet look at the fare differences.

 

[30907]

GA is the real outlier, first because it is historically a "commuter" operation, so has a different balance of travellers - so needs to fill offpeak seats at slack times. But second, Norwich is the end of the line - GA can't fill those seats with passengers from further out, so the same applies.
Bournemouth, the nearest equivalent to NRW in former NSE territory, and a similar distance, has similar levels of Advances.

BTW I think the Super Offpeak at £45.50 is the relevant fare from EMD.

 

[skyhigh]

I have no doubt BM's will be able to improve on this,

What's a BM?

 

[38Cto15E]

Board member, sorry.

 

[AlterEgo]

I have tried to perform a price comparison for 5 Main line TOC's Advance tickets using the same time and date and as similar mileage as possible.
The routes are 1/ Norwich-Liv St, 2/ Newark Northgate-Kings Cross, 3/ East Midlands Pky-St Pancras, 4/ Birmingham New St-Euston and 5/ Castle Cary-Paddington, all between 112 and 120 miles from London.
A date of February 1st outbound about 1030hrs, and a return of Thursday 3rd Feb 1400hrs from London. These fares are all with a Railcard, but may have changed a little, as these were a day or two ago.

Greater Anglia Out 1/ 6.60 Std'd 13.20 1st,.............. Rtn 6.60 Std'd 11.85 1st,.......OPR £39.45.
LNER................. 2/ 24.80 Std'd 38.90 1st................Rtn 24.80 Std'd 38.90 1st....... OPR £50.00.
EMR.................. 3/ 18.15 Std'd 53.75 1st................Rtn 29.35 Std'd 53.75 1st........OPR £73.55.
Avanti West Coast 4/ 27.55 Std'd 57.55 1st................Rtn 27.55 Std'd 57.75 1st........OPR £39.45.
Great Western Rail 5/ 25.60 Std'd 52.60 1st................Rtn 15.75 Std'd 42.10 1st........OPR £44.45.

Without doubt people can see the differences in fares with the different TOC's for basically the same product, I have no doubt BM's will be able to improve on this, just that I initially got interested because Greater Anglia and East Midlands Railways are bth Abellio yet look at the fare differences.

But those all serve different markets. Birmingham is the UK's second city, and you're comparing it to Newark and Castle Cary!

 

[STINT47]

Greater Anhlia operate long tra6to Norwich with lots of seats to fill whilst EMR operate mainly five coach 222s, which are often pretty full. This would also explain some of the price difference.

As someone who lives near Nottingham I do however agree that we get a poor deal in our area. We deserve longer trains and fares that are maybe not quite as cheap as Greater Anglua but somewhere closer to it.

 

[30907]

But those all serve different markets. Birmingham is the UK's second city, and you're comparing it to Newark and Castle Cary!

Yes, they do - and one has serious competition to contend with - yet the fares are not vastly different (unlike Norwich).

 

[Deafdoggie]

I've never understood why people think journeys should be priced by miles.
It stands to common sense that more people will be going London- Birmingham than London-Castle Cary. So it's going to be priced accordingly. Equally trains from London to Birmingham are (in normal times) already full, so there's an argument to say the fare could be dearer. London-Norwich rarely produces a full standing load, so there's an argument that fare should be cheaper. It's supply and demand. It's the way business works.

 

[philthetube]

I've never understood why people think journeys should be priced by miles.
It stands to common sense that more people will be going London- Birmingham than London-Castle Cary. So it's going to be priced accordingly. Equally trains from London to Birmingham are (in normal times) already full, so there's an argument to say the fare could be dearer. London-Norwich rarely produces a full standing load, so there's an argument that fare should be cheaper. It's supply and demand. It's the way business works.

Thee is also an argument that London fares should be cheaper, it costs much less per mile per person to provide a service on a busy route.

 

[Deafdoggie]

Thee is also an argument that London fares should be cheaper, it costs much less per mile per person to provide a service on a busy route.

But you can easily fill a London train. Therefore you want to maximise the money it takes so you can subsidise less used services.

 

[philthetube]

But you can easily fill a London train. Therefore you want to maximise the money it takes so you can subsidise less used services.

Am not arguing with you, just pointing out that arguments can be made for the other side.