Government policy on split ticketing

[deltic]

I was intrigued that a government agency has the following requirements in its expenses policy for its suppliers using rail

"The Supplier wherever possible make use of split tickets, (i.e. for an overall journey from Birmingham to Leeds obtain tickets from Birmingham to Derby and Derby to Leeds, or Leeds to London obtain tickets from Leeds to Peterborough and Peterborough to London) to obtain the best price."

Can you guess the agency, its understanding of the concept and application of split ticketing may be a clue

 

[Joe Paxton]

I was intrigued that a government agency has the following requirements in its expenses policy for its suppliers using rail

"The Supplier wherever possible make use of split tickets, (i.e. for an overall journey from Birmingham to Leeds obtain tickets from Birmingham to Derby and Derby to Leeds, or Leeds to London obtain tickets from Leeds to Peterborough and Peterborough to London) to obtain the best price."

Can you guess the agency, its understanding of the concept and application of split ticketing may be a clue

NHS England? (HQ in Leeds.)

 

[AlterEgo]

Assume this is the DfT?

 

[Gareth Marston]

The wording looks familiar sure its was in Welsh Governments T & S policy before i left.

 

[Paul Kelly]

I think it's Network Rail?

 

[philthetube]

I was intrigued that a government agency has the following requirements in its expenses policy for its suppliers using rail

"The Supplier wherever possible make use of split tickets, (i.e. for an overall journey from Birmingham to Leeds obtain tickets from Birmingham to Derby and Derby to Leeds, or Leeds to London obtain tickets from Leeds to Peterborough and Peterborough to London) to obtain the best price."

Can you guess the agency, its understanding of the concept and application of split ticketing may be a clue

Which ever the agency they ought to know the difference between I.E and E.G.

 

[Joe Paxton]

I think it's Network Rail?

I'm guessing you're on to a winner with that!

 

[deltic]

Its actually Highways England

 

[yorksrob]

Let's hope they make their views known in the consultation if/when the DfT tries to do away with split ticketing.

 

[Bletchleyite]

They will never be able to do away with it entirely, as you'd always be able to make separate journeys splitting at change points by leaving and re-entering the barriered area. Nothing whatsoever they can do about that, it's genuinely separate journeys, and furthermore it needs to be allowed that way to allow the making of journeys on non Permitted Routes.

They could of course make it a bit more difficult by e.g. removing overall Delay Repay, removing the right to assistance beyond the end of the ticket you are presently travelling on etc - more like airlines.

 

[Alan2603]

Until I recently retired, I worked for a quasi government department and all our travel had to be booked through an outsourced central travel 'provider' to allegedly save the government money.

I thus always gave them, many weeks in advance, the exact times and dates of the trains I wished to travel on and told them that I have a Senior Railcard.

In return I always got sent Anytime tickets with seat reservations (without any railcard deduction) at enormous expense to the tax payer.

I did enquire with them, why, if I gave them the exact times/dates I want to travel and let them know I have a railcard, did they always buy the most expensive possible tickets. Their reply stright away was 'Oh we don't have time to go looking for cheap tickets'. I then said 'but you must have had to look up the journey to make the seat reservation, why not choose the cheapest fare?. The response was 'Well the more expensive tickets we sell, the bigger our commission'. I was speechless.

I have since retired and now more or less freelance in my old job. So, having to sort out my own travel (which takes minutes) I now travel on first class advances with the railcard deduction, or at short notice the cheapest possible fare. All at much less cost than the alleged 'cost saving travel provider'.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

When my company demanded that the cheapest ticket be bought, and the receipt pinned to the expense form, the reason was to stop people claiming Anytime fares and only buying Cheap Day Returns etc.