 Sunday telegraph - Train fares set to rise as ticket system overhauled
In message <Ouednf3ZGcMbPibVRVnyjgA@bt.com>, at 09:10:42 on Mon, 1 Sep
2008, Paul Scott <notvalidpmscott@> remarked:
>>>It's simplification alright...
>>
>> Nationally, perhaps. However on the Midland Mainline, passengers are now
>> faced with three walk-on fares rather than two, and two sets of blackout
>> periods to remember and not one.
>
>What are the odds this comes in with every successive new franchise then. As
>a TOC with a captive London commuter market, SWT must have seemed an ideal
>candidate to draw the initial flak last year. Even then, on SWT the current
>SOP is a one direction ticket, ie only London bound, so there are no complex
>restrictions away from Waterloo, eg evening peaks, or Friday pm.
>
>I suspect EMT are going further and using the same 3 fares in both
>direstions?
Yes, and I posted a table of "winners and losers" yesterday.
In practice there are very few winners in the afternoon flow away from
London because although the OP blackout starts a little later (so you
might be tempted to assume you get something for the 20% fare increase),
they've arranged for it to be at 16.29 and one minute before a
Nottingham train - therefore forcing users of the 16.30 to get an
Anytime ticket; and there is in fact *no* train back to Nottingham where
the higher-fare OP 'works better' compared to today's saver and the
"last train" remains the 15.55.
The last SOP to Nottingham is the 14.55 which is barely "after lunch"
and certainly nothing useful for a day trip; the next is the 19.30 four
and a half hours later, doesn't get into Nottingham until 21.28
--
Roland Perry
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