Virgin Trains East Coast price rise and changes to off peak from September 4th

[Starmill]

Are you talking about Hull Trains Only fares? Otherwise, London to Hull rather is a VTEC flow.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Hmm, will someone remind me why Im rather loyal to Ryanair, the WCML and pritty much any other VTEC avoidance method?

Actually dont bother, the ECML has for me and my travel habbits been unafordable for serious long distance for a while now and even mid distance e.g York from Scotland requires some careful looking and often early starts/late nights to be value for money

 

[Wallsendmag]

GNER, NXEC both failed, East Coast did all sort of things to cut costs is it any wonder VTEC Are charging more ?


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[westv]

Are you talking about Hull Trains Only fares? Otherwise, London to Hull rather is a VTEC flow.

I was referring to the any operator ticket.

 

[lemonic]

GNER, NXEC both failed, East Coast did all sort of things to cut costs is it any wonder VTEC Are charging more ?


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But charging more doesn't necessarily lead to higher revenue. What it has led to is airlines on the same route getting more competitive by reducing their prices and the need for more seat sales at vastly reduced prices.

 

[Wallsendmag]

By the same token doing nothing doesn't lead to higher revenue


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[lemonic]

By the same token doing nothing doesn't lead to higher revenue


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Absolutely - but there are more effective things that VTEC could be doing to increase their revenue e.g. I have found some very overpriced Advance tickets and I am confident that reducing prices for such trains would increase total revenue.

From personal experience I know that simply putting up prices significantly in a blunt manner rarely works.

 

[Starmill]

The best way to increase revenue is to generate new customers and have existing customers buy more. The best way to do that is to keep them as satisfied as possible and offer novel features. They're going very slowly at actually improving their offer.

 

[IanXC]

I have moved the off topic discussion of fines for using diesel trains in the low emissions zone to a new thread here:
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=134482

Please ensure this thread remains on topic.

Thanks

 

[najaB]

I don't know if it's always been the case, but I noticed that I'm getting offered 'Super Off-Peak Single (Online)' tickets now for return journeys on the East Coast. In the past I only got these for journeys on the West Coast.

 

[transmanche]

I don't know if it's always been the case, but I noticed that I'm getting offered 'Super Off-Peak Single (Online)' tickets now for return journeys on the East Coast. In the past I only got these for journeys on the West Coast.

East Coast sold them for a number of years on specific flows (e.g. London-Newcastle). Now it appears VTEC will only sell them as part of a return journey, whereas EC allowed you to just purchase a single if that's all you needed.

 

[najaB]

Now it appears VTEC will only sell them as part of a return journey, whereas EC allowed you to just purchase a single if that's all you needed.

That probably explains why I'm not used to seeing them. I'm not complaining though, for the last couple of trips I've booked the cheapest option offered by the journey planner is an Online Super Off Peak Single down to London and an Advance 1st back up to Scotland (due to peak restrictions leaving London). 1st doesn't normally pass the company travel policy, but it does when it's the cheapest option on offer!

Interesting, though, that Advance 1st is available on the 1600 departure from Kings Cross even though it's not valid for the return half of a Super Off-Peak return.

 

[Wallsendmag]

You can very easily control the number of Advance ticket per train whereas with an open ticket that isn't possible


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[Starmill]

Interesting, though, that Advance 1st is available on the 1600 departure from Kings Cross even though it's not valid for the return half of a Super Off-Peak return.

Why is that interesting sorry? It's very rare for there to be no Advance First availability at all on a GR train, they can just start it at a very high level. Of course it may be totally exhausted but even that isn't so common because they can charge so much for it at the top end.

 

[najaB]

Why is that interesting sorry? It's very rare for there to be no Advance First availability at all on a GR train, they can just start it at a very high level. Of course it may be totally exhausted but even that isn't so common because they can charge so much for it at the top end.

Perhaps I should have said that I'm surprised they offer 1st Advance tickets at the price that they do on the trains that they do. On the 1600 departure heading home only Anytime walk-up tickets are valid so I have a choice of an Anytime Standard at £150, an Anytime 1st at £230 or Advance 1st at £113.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Perhaps I should have said that I'm surprised they offer 1st Advance tickets at the price that they do on the trains that they do.

I'm not, when you factor in the weird and wonderful world of ORCATS they probably make more money on the 1st Advance tickets at £100 than they do on the full fare single.

The Anytime pricing is as much about discouraging people away from Anytime tickets on to Advance tickets as it is about anything else.