The £1000 ticket

[Eagle]

You still think these is demand for these tickets don't you. I suspect that if you have convinced yourself that people actually buy First Open Returns from Penzance to Derby for £600 and I've convinced myself they don't then neither of us are going to convince the other of our point of view and as we can't access data that would answer the question we really can't go much further with it.

Meh. I've given lots of plausible reasons and circumstances why someone would need such a ticket. If you can't picture them yourself, that's nothing I care.
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Just to be clear, I'm not saying there's lots of demand, I'm saying there is not zero demand.

 

[bb21]

Didn't XC until recently allow the use of Off Peak tickets on peak trains from the South West for journeys beyond Birmingham? I believe this was withdawn as a range of advance fares has now been introduced for these journeys.

Changed in January 2012 from 8X to 2V for the remainder of the 8X fares, after doing this to fares on the Bournemouth - Manchester corridor last year.

 

[Goatboy]

Meh. I've given lots of plausible reasons and circumstances why someone would need such a ticket. If you can't picture them yourself, that's nothing I care.

You can give plausible *reasons* for anything. All the reasons you've given are plausible reasons for buying the ticket - not paying the price. If the ticket was £20,000 your plausible reasons would still be valid but it would still be the case that nobody would buy the ticket. The existence of plausible reason does not prove that people actually do it. It's plausible somebody may travel who collects tickets and particuarly wants a high priced FOR as well, you can list plausible reasons for ever and a day. It doesn't really change probability.

Think about it rationally.

Lets take the pool of people who wish to travel from Penzance to Derby. It's not big, but it exists.

Now remove all those who don't wish to travel First Class.

It's much smaller now, but it's still there.

Now remove all those who don't wish to book in advance.

It's even smaller now.

Now remove all those who don't wish to break the journey in random locations on the way.

We are getting into the realms of very very small numbers now.

Now remove all those who must travel before 9.30am from Penzance.

Now the number must be so small it almost doesn't matter

Now remove all those who don't fall on the floor laughing when the TVM requests £600 in cash.

And we have the number of people who would buy this ticket - after having met all of your plausible reasons.

But at the end of the day neither of us can win without the figure of how many of these tickets they sold. I suspect it's zero. You suspect its not. We'll have to leave it there, forever wondering.

I don't think either of us would disagree that potentially, XC could generate more revenue with almost zero downside by not charging £600 for this ticket, or by allowing travel by any train from Penzance (Isnt there only ONE train you'd need to buy this ticket for anyway?) on the Offpeak which at £350 is hardly cheap but is also more reasonable for the sort of journey it is.

Also, if its true that they previously DID allow travel by any train on the offpeak until earlier this year then it means that demand for this Anytime ticket prior to January 2012 must indeed have been zero, as I said

 

[Zoe]

I don't think either of us would disagree that potentially, XC could generate more revenue with almost zero downside by not charging £600 for this ticket, or by allowing travel by any train from Penzance (Isnt there only ONE train you'd need to buy this ticket for anyway?) on the Offpeak which at £350 is hardly cheap but is also more reasonable for the sort of journey it is.

There are two XC trains departing Penzance before 0930. I believe XC don't think that off peak fares need to be available on these trains as advance fares are now available. These trains can be very busy and advance fares allow the TOC more control over the number of people that use the train and so this can help reduce overcrowding.

 

[Goatboy]

There are two XC trains departing Penzance before 0930. I believe XC don't think that off peak fares need to be available on these trains as advance fares are now available. These trains can be very busy and advance fares allow the TOC more control over the number of people that use the train and so this can help reduce overcrowding.

The ticket in question is a First Class ticket though and even on the most wedgiest of wedged Voyagers where every trip to the toilet is a challenge of mountaineering over people and luggage in vestibules it's rare that First Class is at capacity. I will concede that although I've used both of these services I've not joined until Devon. They never seemed that bad, and surely XC would rather it was fill of people paying £350 not people paying a fiver to get to Truro

 

[jkdd77]

Even if a passenger really needed to go from Penzance to Derby at short notice by train, in first class, before 0930, and returning on a different day, then there are various splits available that reduce the £640 FOR cost by almost half, with relatively little loss of flexibility.