Posted 24th February 2011 | 9 Comments
Cheap fares report is misleading, ATOC claims
ATOC is dismissing a report from the Consumers’ Association which claims that many rail passengers are paying unnecessarily high fares because retailing staff are not properly trained, and also because the National Rail Enquiries website does not always offer the cheapest options for a journey.
In its magazine Which?, the CA reported the results of undercover research, claiming that 59 per cent of booking office clerks and 43 per cent of NRE operators did not offer the lowest fares.
The report concluded: ‘The worst result was when we asked about making two round trips from Oxford to Cardiff in a week. For nine of the 10 times we asked the question, we were advised to buy two return tickets costing £200 each. Just one clerk correctly advised that buying a weekly season ticket would save £112.’
The design of the NRE website also came under fire in Which?, which said: ‘Ticking “include slower trains” on Nationalrail.co.uk answered four of our 15 questions. Otherwise you would have needed special knowledge, such as knowing exactly which station to insert in the “travel via” box.’
Which? surveyed just over 1,500 people, half of whom were ‘confident’ that they knew how to get the best fare.
The chief executive of Which?, Peter Vicary-Smith, said: “Train operators seem blind to the fact that their ticketing systems are too complicated.
“If people who do this for a living can't find the cheapest fare, what hope do passengers have?”
The Association of Train Operating Companies has labelled the report from Which? as ‘seriously misleading’.
A spokesman for ATOC said: “Asking 150 questions on unrealistic and obscure scenarios cannot come close to giving a representative view of the 1.3 billion journeys that are made every year by train. The researchers haven’t actually asked for the cheapest ticket in all the scenarios and even where they have done, they have explicitly excluded the cheapest fares.
“The claim that only 54% of passengers are satisfied with train services needs to be treated with a great deal of caution. Even though the magazine only surveyed 1,500 people, it claims its research is ‘more accurate’ than that of the independent watchdog Passenger Focus, which twice a year samples more than 27,000 passengers and whose latest survey found that 84 per cent were satisfied with train services.”
But the Campaign for Better Transport said the Which? report was in line with its own call for ‘cheaper, simpler, fairer’ rail fares.
Alexandra Woodsworth, who is the Campaign’s public transport campaigner, said: “Train passengers shouldn’t have to work so hard to find a decent value fare. There is little point in having cheap fares on offer if the system is so complicated that even ticket office staff can’t help you find them, and it certainly doesn’t make up for the extremely high prices at the other end of the scale.
“The Government is planning to give train companies a much greater degree of control over fares and ticketing, but the lack of passenger confidence highlighted in this research should act as a warning. Ticket pricing must be fairer and clearer to encourage more people to take the train – which would be good for passengers, train companies and the environment.”
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
George Davidson, Newport
The whole system of ticketing is forcing many people to not bother with the railways at all. Who wants to book weeks in advance in order to book a specific train out and back in order to get a low fare? The TOC's know which are likely to be their busiest services. All they need do is have a background colour on their timetables denoting where peak fares will be charged. So, for instance, a Cross Country service running on a long route, could have those times when it is full of commuters as "red (peak)" with the rest of the journey as off peak. A passenger who happens to be on the train through the off peak part of the journey and the peak could expect to pay a "shoulder" fare. No advance booking - just turn up and pay the same fare. However, this passenger, could look at the schedules and perhaps find another Cross Country train on the same route but not conflicting with a Red - "peak" zone and therefore would know that that would be the cheapest option if it was convenient to them.
The same could apply to trains going into / out of London. Be on a service that arrives before 9.30am (M>F) and leaves in the evening peak and you pay top whack. Use other services and you get cheaper fares without the hassle of advance booking - something which many foreigners find hard to do. (Americans for instance don't have chip & pin cards and often find it impossible to deal over the internet. They would also find it difficult to say that they would use a specific train from Reading for example, as they don't know when they could clear the airport).
Tarkaman, Eggesford, UK
This is all a wonderful by product of privatisation, each TOC wants all the revenue, so issue TOC specific fares such as AP 'routed tickets' valid ony on that TOC's services -they keep all the fare. An anytime single from Falkirk to Bristol would split the revenue between many operators -even those who would be most unlikely be used.The ORCATS system for revenue allocation, is also very unfair as to proportion the revenue share and TOC's manipulate the system to their own advantage and the passengers confusion. ATOC did try with Anytime singles, anytime returns and Day returns but even these have confusing time restrictions and their own partners (the TOC's) have created a muddle of fares where is is cheaper if and only if you know how to work the system. I do not doubt that many ticket office clerks gave wrong information as they rely far to much on computers and assume they are giving correct information...something about 'garbage in - garbage out' springs to mind. Ask any ticket clerk about the routeing guide which governs many journey options, this is another wonderful bewildering guide to how you should travel -its no wonder the poor passenger stands no chance -but don't blame the TOC's, they have a business to run...it's all the fault of the politicians as usual, in the way the network was privatised in the first place!
Lauren, London, UK
Usual excuses. Now that all national rail enquiries is in India it is even harder to get accurate information. Another case of costs over quality. And they actually seem happy to lose customers on the phones. It has actually got to the point where I wonder if their quality assurance managers (assuming they have them) actually listen to the few calls they now get. Hang your heads in shame at these results
Peter Stoner, Newcastle, UK
Why is it often cheaper to rebook? I saved over 50% on a journey from Newcastle to Nottingham by rebooking at York and Sheffield, to travel on exactly the same trains. The are similar examples all over the network.
James, Southampton
@Nick. In my experience, FirstGroup (Great Western and Transpennine) have become really good with compensation in recent years. Last time I was delayed on Transpennine, I was given a freepost form with somewhere to stick my tickets and it was very easy. Southern's new DelayRepay scheme isn't bad, and their 'Rainy Day Guarantee' is excellent.
On the other hand, Cross Country's system is bureaucratic , and don't even get me started on SouthWest Trains. They have a very aggressive ticketing policy all round, which is not customer friendly, and refunds for any reason are like blood from a stone.
Joel Kosminsky, London, Britain
Railways run to make money: the pressures are for revenue. Ticket office staff have sales targets - they can't take time helping people. Ticket vending machines bury lowest fares last, and cheap cross-franchise tickets are rarely available. Asking for "the cheapest fare" isn't enough - you have to know *how* to ask... 'Which?' just represented people who don't know.
Peter Martin, Ballymoney, Northern Ireland
When I first joined British Rail I had six weeks training which dealt with all ticket types. The training nowadays deals mostly with learning how to operate the ticket issueing machines as teaching staff about ticket types is impossible as there are so many different types. When it comes to new franchises the government should insist that successful bidders have to simplify the number of ticket types available.
Nick, London
Has anyone ever tried complaining to a train operator about a delayed or cancelled train and tried to get compensation?.....it's like jumping through hoops! Does anyone know of a company that could make complaining easier?
Rob, West Yorkshire
ATOC need to eat some humble pie and do something to simplify ticket sales. You shouldn't have to spend hours searching different options or need to be a specialist to buy the best cost fare.
After spending far too long trying different permutations, I saved 40 pounds on the first fare offered on a Sheffield to Penzance return. Similarly, I saved 7 sounds on a Penzance to Wolverhampton single.
I worked for the railway and so know some of the 'tricks' (that says it all, they shouldn't be tricks). Train travelling Joe Public doesn't stand a chance. Very unfair!