No, it doesn't work for me. That's the same thing. It is too expensive to take a weekend trip booked later in that week despite seats being empty. That means I have done that precisely once (during a seat sale). I'd do it multiple times a year if I could have a return for a reasonable price nearer travel, not £200+ each way.
There's little worse than sanctimonious forward-planners saying that if it works for them it must work for everyone.
The fact is that I don't plan day trips well in advance. They're subject to weather and whatever else may come up. Thus if the price isn't OK, I don't go, I do something else, e.g. make one by car.
It clearly maximises revenue, which is Eurostar's sole motivation, but I don't find it acceptable that a nationalised State railway operates a policy of that kind - instead, maximum public benefit should be sought, which means getting cars off the road, which means a "bums on seats" policy is a more appropriate one.
It absolutely is. Purchased on the day a single between KX and Newcastle/Berwick/Edinburgh is between £130 and £200, so a return journey between £260 and £400 (and most of the £130s involve a split). That's ludicrous when an EV could do it with 4 people on board for under £100, and an ICE for under £200. It's an absolute rip-off.
I'd have less of an issue were the prices more reasonable like those of most of SNCF's TGV services (only Eurostar Red appears to engage in similar levels of extortion to Eurostar Blue). I did hold out some hope that on the day prices might remain vaguely reasonable and the trial would just result in fewer "cliff edges", but in reality the result has largely been extortion - the only reasonably priced service on the ECML is now Lumo. It is clearly and overtly designed to fleece people who don't plan in advance even if travelling when it's quiet, and that is not OK. Revenue maximisation is not the right policy for public transport as a service.
www.standard.co.uk
