Conflicting priorities amongst train operators

In the UK, train operators are pushing their way to tear up traditional rush hour ticket rules in favour of surge pricing similar to airlines.

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Andy Bagnall, chief executive of the new rail operator body Rail Partners believes that train operators are lobbying for “a more demand-led approach that actually allows you to give better value tickets but give a better customer experience”.

 

Should the move go ahead, the industry would mirror methods used by all airlines and more recently Uber by scrapping the peak and off-peak classifications and replacing them with “demand-led pricing” for all longer journeys.

 

“You don’t have that awful first rain after the peak ends, which has three times as many passengers [because] everyone’s been waiting for the first train because of that cliff edge” commented Mr Bagnall who also said that “we would like to see dynamic pricing”

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At this current time reforms to ticketing are just one of several ideas being discussed by the Government in relation to public transport.

 

“[Customers want] an industry guarantee that when you sell me the ticket, that does what I want it to do, that will be the best possible price I can get regardless of where I go”.

 

Mr Bagnall dismissed the need to reduce the estimated 55 million ticket types on the UKs railways but did warn that if this led to a greater involvement in the train network by state, the industry’s future would be doomed.

 

“We believe that the railway is at a fork in the tracks. If we make the right choices, if we can harness the train companies to respond to customer needs, we can attract customers back”.

 

“On the other hand, [if] we take the wrong track and the wrong decisions are made — we will build an over centralised railway under Great British Railways with the role of operators unduly constrained… We will ultimately see a railway with lower passenger numbers, lower revenues, [and] probably leading to further service reductions.”

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Rail Partners however are pushing for the private sector to play a greater role in the country’s train network under the Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, changes more than a year ago. The company’s predecessor, the Rail Delivery Group, had been previously criticised for serving the needs of state-owned company Network Rail along with other operator of whom had regularly conflicting priorities.

 

A main factor of Mr Shapps’ reforms was Great British Railways which would bring together the tracks and trains in a new public sector.

 

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