Merseyrail Off-Peak Day Saver (again)

[First class]

It is a great idea from the Merseyrail point of view.

1. Withdraw Off Peak fares
2. Introduce a new unlimited travel off peak day ticket
3. Don't put the ticket on TVM's
4. Don't publicise it at unstaffed stations
5. Tell everyone the new ticket is a special offer and can be withdrawn at any time
6. Withdraw it.

They can then either introduce a new special offer at a higher price, reintorduce off peaks at a higher price, or simplify the ticketing by only offering Anytime singles or day returns.

Ker-ching!

The Day Saver is basically there to undercut the Merseytravel PTE Saveaway product. 100% allocation from the ME Day Saver vs about 60% from the Saveaway.

As the difference in price between the two products is 10p, Merseyrail can't increase the Day Saver above the Saveaway (or it would be a pointless ticket nobody would buy). The Saveaway increases by inflation, so effectively the Day Saver can only ever increase by inflation.

Things Merseyrail COULD do to increase revenue:

1) Remove railcard & child discounts from the Day Saver
2) Opt out of the Family Railcard/Two Together (the only optional railcards)
3) Have the single as a higher % of the return
4) Completely remove the Day Saver (but would cause a loss as people would buy Saveaways instead)
5) Add PM restrictions to the Day Saver, (but again people would just buy the Saveaway so would create a drop in revenue allocation to Merseyrail)
6) Make the AM restrictions less strict, e.g. after 08:30am, and see whether any Saveaway(60%) customers migrate to Day Savers (100%)

 

[nedchester]

Things Merseyrail COULD do to increase revenue:

1) Remove railcard & child discounts from the Day Saver
2) Opt out of the Family Railcard/Two Together (the only optional railcards)
3) Have the single as a higher % of the return
4) Completely remove the Day Saver (but would cause a loss as people would buy Saveaways instead)
5) Add PM restrictions to the Day Saver, (but again people would just buy the Saveaway so would create a drop in revenue allocation to Merseyrail)
6) Make the AM restrictions less strict, e.g. after 08:30am, and see whether any Saveaway(60%) customers migrate to Day Savers (100%)

Is the Family Railcard really optional for TOCs?