NorthKent1989
Established Member
- Joined
- 13 May 2017
- Messages
- 1,909
Then why are there cheaper TOC restricted tickets for slower journys between stations elsewhere in the country? In fairness such examples on WCML to Birmingham and Liverpool are both long distance and a lot slower.
However even between London and Gatwick Airport, there are "Thamelink Only" fares which are a little cheaper. It would make sense for Thamelink to introduce similar fares to reflect the increased times.
Govia love to milk pretending how they are separate companies so it is only fair that their brands providing the slower services has a cheaper fare accordingly.
Yes, you are paying to go between stations but between stations on most routes in the country there is a cheaper fare for the slower routes, whether opting for London Midland over Virgin, Southern over Southeastern, Thameslink over Southern or Northern over Transpenine Express, there is usually always a lower fare available. That is the reason why the fares should decrease, or at least a more restricted TOC only fare introduced.
Plus, don't the poor people of Medway and North Kent deserve any compensation for the increased times?
Good points, the Medway does deserve this since we do have a parallel premier service, the HS1 so yes Thameslink should make fares cheaper for making our journeys longer
Those "slower TOC only" fares tend to exist because they want to use up the capacity on their train and do so by undercutting the other TOC on price, there are very few people who would pay an equal amount (or more) to go slower. As there is no competitor, the comparison is irrelevant.
Perhaps they do deserve compensation if the increased times are taking the mickey - I've not seen it reported anywhere how much longer the journeys will be, but I suspect it is nearer to 5 minutes than 15.
It's going to be longer than five minutes, with the added stations I've calculated an increase time of 10-15 mins, and that's not taking into account the dwell times at each station, so it'll probably be a 15 min increase time, let's not forget that this service, despite missing out three stations will still be longer than a stopper.