CrossCountry AP tickets

[Halish Railway]

Please correct me if I’m mislead, but have CrossCountry’s advance purchase tickets become much cheaper recently? I have been looking at travelling from Leeds to Birmingham on Saturday 28th and back and have been able to find many advance return itineraries for under £21, when in the past I wouldn’t have been able to find anything less than £40 (with a railcard). I’ve also seen AP singles to Plymouth for £30 which I think is pretty reasonable.

Is this a new price reduction or have I just not noticed some of these well-priced AP tickets?

 

[LW84]

Must admit I noticed that too.

Manchester through to the Thames Valley on a weekday evening for c. £25 (four weeks prior to travel) was a pleasant surprise!

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

New revenue management systems and algorithms have been procured by most of the TOCs, some are already rolled out.

There's also more accurate data coming from on-board census checks /counting from an external supplier, particularly for XC.

All of this feeds smarter pricing decisions.

 

[Watershed]

You have to wonder whether the penny has finally dropped at XC that most people aren't willing to - or in practice, simply won't - buy an overpriced through ticket when splitting can make it so much cheaper. Though I have seen perverse outcomes from this change, such as Birmingham to Manchester Advances costing less than Birmingham to Stoke ones on the same train!

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

You have to wonder whether the penny has finally dropped at XC that most people aren't willing to - or in practice, simply won't - buy an overpriced through ticket when splitting can make it so much cheaper. Though I have seen perverse outcomes from this change, such as Birmingham to Manchester Advances costing less than Birmingham to Stoke ones on the same train!

XC has some of the best pricing/commercial analysts in the country, and have been ahead of most other TOCs for quite a number of years already. The amount of staff they had/have in this area are in an order of magnitude higher than other TOCs.

The difficulty, as with most things on the railway, is using that data in a way that the DfT and others are satisfied with. Even when it was a proper franchise, XC were heavily constrained by third party interference.

 

[Watershed]

XC has some of the best pricing/commercial analysts in the country, and have been ahead of most other TOCs for quite a number of years already. The amount of staff they had/have in this area are in an order of magnitude higher than other TOCs.

The difficulty, as with most things on the railway, is using that data in a way that the DfT and others are satisfied with. Even when it was a proper franchise, XC were heavily constrained by third party interference.

For all the staff they may have, they still don't seem to be able (or willing) to come up with a sensible pricing strategy.

 

[Nottingham59]

For all the staff they may have, they still don't seem to be able (or willing) to come up with a sensible pricing strategy.

By all accounts they manage to fill their trains, so they must be doing something right

 

[Watershed]

By all accounts they manage to fill their trains, so they must be doing something right

That's simply a function of supply (3 coaches of standard on many services, i.e. not much more than 150 seats) being well below the demand generated by a half-hourly frequency on key routes.

 

[ServerHoster]

I also noticed this. I'm currently booking tickets to do the Euston GWR Diverts, from Euston to Bristol Parkway. I'm coming back on XC from Bristol Parkway to Derby. As someone who doesn't really use XC, I was expecting the fare to be well over £40+, but was surprised to see it was only £12.10* one way for a non-railcard fare (*for a split ticket - the non-split was £21.10).

This was made up of:
Bristol Parkway to Worcestershire Parkway for £6.00, changing at Cheltenham Spa
Worcestershire Parkway to Derby for £6.10