That's no excuse, pretty much all post privatisation stock is on that lease setup. Other TOCs however bite the bullet and do what is right not what is cheapest. Given experence on Southern as well its just another Govia `save every last penny` output.
I don't agree that wasting subsidy on price-dumped Super Off Peak tickets *is* the right thing, though. Scarce funds can be spent better, and would be spent better on getting those Desiros out for south WCML services on weekends, rather than for providing bargain basement services for the few.
As far as I am concerned there are only two valid situations under which the LM Crewe trains should be extended to 8-car.
1: If they would still be overcrowded were the only fares available the present Any Permitted ones.
2: If London Midland can make an entirely commercial case for doing so (i.e. there will not need to be any increased subsidy nor fares increase on any other route, nor capacity reduction on any subsidised route, in order for them to do so).
I don't see either of those scenarios as even vaguely likely.
Neil
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Funnily enough the electronic version of the restriction code (full details
here) has special gaps hacked into it whereby departures from Milton Keynes Central at 1126, 1149 and 1154
are allowed - the latter two cover trains to Northampton and Birmingham respectively, but there is no train that departs MKC at 1126 so that exception makes no sense!
That's probably the error. If I recall rightly, previously on a Saturday the hourly Euston-Watford-MKC-(Brum/Crewe) splitter departed MKC at xx26. So the error is that that hasn't been updated. But I'm having a hell of a time convincing them that it is broken, and in the meantime people are being overcharged.
Neil
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So what you are saying is that there should be a cartel on pricing (meaning we all pay the highest fare) and by extension only the richest may use the train?
Given a full choice? There should be a national fares system based around either mileage or zones with specified discounts, and the TOCs should only be competing with one another at the point of contracts being issued.
Failing that? TOCs should not be price-dumping tickets unless they are willing to provide the capacity on a commercial basis to avoid this price-dumping causing overcrowding. That might not mean the abolition of the LM-only fares, but certainly would mean increasing them to a more realistic level.
Are LM not just using market forces and suing the system they have to work within to boost their income? Is that not what private companies do?
They should not be ramming trains full with price-dumped fares to the disadvantage of those who have no choice but to use them and for whom a subsidy is paid by the taxpayer, no.
On a long-distance service off-peak there should not be any trains loaded >100%. If their fares system is causing loads >100%, fares should be increased or, if commercially viable without additional subsidy, additional capacity should be provided.
Should you not be criticising Virgin for not cutting their fares to complete?
How can VT realistically compete with an operator spending subsidy on ramming trains to the rafters off-peak? All that is is a race to the bottom.
I honestly can not understand why people are advocating (if not encouraging)these ideas which will result in us all being ripped off and being offered less choice as consumers!
Once again, VT off-peak walk-up fares are not a "rip-off". They are lower than most other IC operators for equivalent distances.
The Anytime fares are pricey, but nobody is going to be travelling in the morning peak unless they have to, whatever the fare, as it simply isn't fun. And it's not the peak-time LM trains that have an overcrowding problem anyway - the 4 cars of the 1805 that proceed beyond Northampton appear to load to about 90% at MKC. It's the off-peak ones where people are paying 29 quid all the way to Crewe (return). That fare is simply not realistic on a non-quota-controlled basis, and it is not remotely surprising its existence is causing overcrowding.
Neil
) Their mileage based maintenance regimen doesn't help, nor does their focus on shifting peak hours crowds into London, nor at times do their staffing issues and nor does (looking outside in) there seem to be a management desire to address this.