It's been mentioned several times on here that peak VWC services aren't crammed. It is the post peak trains, used by people who can't afford or are unwilling to pay £200+ for a journey to London, and Friday evening/Sunday services, used by students and people who work away from home, that are the busiest. The official passengers in excess if capacity figures back this up.
For those of you who don't use Virgin Trains, here's the fares structure we have to contend with (fares on the left are Standard Class, fares on the right are First Class):
MANCHESTER>LONDON WEDNESDAY MORNING:
£108.50/£202.00 Manchester [07:00] to London [09:00]
£108.50/£202.00 Manchester [07:15] to London [09:23]
£108.50/£202.00 Manchester [07:35] to London [09:52]
£108.50/£202.00 Manchester [07:55] to London [10:04]
£067.50/£134.50 Manchester [08:15] to London [10:23]
£067.50/£134.50 Manchester [08:35] to London [10:42]
£067.50/£134.50 Manchester [08:55] to London [11:04]
£067.50/£134.50 Manchester [09:15] to London [11:23]
£076.30/£051.00 Manchester [09:35] to London [11:42]
(OFF-PEAK)
£034.00/£051.00 Manchester [09:55] to London [12:04] (OFF-PEAK)
£019.00/£051.00 Manchester [10:15] to London [12:23] (OFF-PEAK)
£012.00/£038.00 Manchester [10:35] to London [12:42]
LONDON>MANCHESTER WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON:
£026.00/£065.00 London [14:40] to Manchester [16:49] (OFF-PEAK)
£076.30/£065.00 London [15:00] to Manchester [17:07]
(OFF-PEAK)
£108.50/£134.50 London [15:20] to Manchester [17:28]
£108.50/£134.50 London [15:40] to Manchester [17:49]
£108.50/£134.50 London [16:00] to Manchester [18:07]
£108.50/£134.50 London [16:20] to Manchester [18:28]
£108.50/£134.50 London [16:40] to Manchester [18:49]
£108.50/£134.50 London [17:00] to Manchester [19:07]
£108.50/£134.50 London [17:20] to Manchester [19:28]
£108.50/£134.50 London [17:40] to Manchester [19:49]
£108.50/£134.50 London [18:00] to Manchester [20:07]
£026.00/£065.00 London [18:20] to Manchester [20:28]
£026.00/£065.00 London [18:40] to Manchester [20:49]
£076.30/£051.00 London [19:00] to Manchester [21:07]
(OFF-PEAK)
£076.30/£051.00 London [19:20] to Manchester [21:28]
(OFF-PEAK)
£019.00/£051.00 London [19:40] to Manchester [21:57] (OFF-PEAK)
The Off-Peak services highlighted in red are those that are so busy, Virgin don't bother releasing any Standard Class Advance fares. No matter how far you book in advance, the above Advance fares are the cheapest you'll get (unless you have a Railcard).
As you can see, the fares structure makes no sense whatsoever. For the Manchester>London services, who would pay more than £100 to travel in Standard Class, or more than £200 to travel in First Class, just so they can arrive in London before 10am? The answer - very few. On the [07:55] departure which I regularly travel on, Standard Class rarely exceeds 50% capacity, and First Class rarely exceeds 20% capacity. The only season Standard Class on this service is 'relatively' busy is because it is full of Railcard holders using Off-Peak tickets (like myself) and non-Railcard holders travelling from North Wales whose Off-Peak tickets are valid on this service.
For the London>Manchester services, how can Virgin claim that the [15:20] departure is a 'peak' service?! :roll: Standard Class passengers have to wait for three hours before they can travel on a service with reasonably-priced fares - the [18:20] or [18:40] - and these are the only two London>Manchester services which I think Virgin have priced correctly. The [18:00] departure is, unsurprisingly, incredibly quiet in Standard Class, as who in their right mind is going to pay £108.50 to travel on that service instead of £26 to depart 20 minutes later on the [18:20] service?
Virgin have plenty of Standard Class Advance tiers they could offer - £26, £34 and £67 - yet instead they opt for the shambolic fares structure above. Why aren't the prices as follows?
£026.00 London [15:20] to Manchester [17:28]
£034.00 London [15:40] to Manchester [17:49]
£067.00 London [16:00] to Manchester [18:07]
£067.00 London [16:20] to Manchester [18:28]
£108.50 London [16:40] to Manchester [18:49]
£108.50 London [17:00] to Manchester [19:07]
£108.50 London [17:20] to Manchester [19:28]
£067.00 London [17:40] to Manchester [19:49]
£034.00 London [18:00] to Manchester [20:07]
£026.00 London [18:20] to Manchester [20:28]
£026.00 London [18:40] to Manchester [20:49]
This would be a little more down to earth.
As others have mentioned, capacity (in terms of number of seats occupied) isn't really a problem on ICWC services. The rammed trains you see on the news are as a result of Virgin's insane pricing structure, rather than rampant, ever increasing demand. It's questionable whether the 11-car Pendolinos would even have been needed if Virgin had a sensible pricing structure, especially if they had taken the decision to convert one of the four First Class carriages to Standard Class.
An interesting comparison is to look at First Great Western's pricing structure. (I know Bristol>London is around 100 miles whereas Manchester>London is around 150 miles, but if you scale the fares up by 50% they are still much cheaper than Virgin Trains). Whether First would have adopted this when operating ICWC I can't say, but it does show that the company the public seems to hate, does make some sensible decisions.
BRISTOL>LONDON WEDNESDAY MORNING:
£093.50/£153.50 Bristol [07:00] to London [08:44]
£093.50/£153.50 Bristol [07:30] to London [09:14]
£050.50/£066.00 Bristol [08:00] to London [09:44]
£026.00/£052.50 Bristol [08:30] to London [10:15] (OFF-PEAK)
£018.50/£035.50 Bristol [09:00] to London [10:39] (OFF-PEAK)
£015.50/£035.50 Bristol [09:30] to London [11:14] (OFF-PEAK)
£023.50/£035.50 Bristol [10:00] to London [11:38] (SUPER-OFF-PEAK)
£010.00/£027.50 Bristol [10:30] to London [12:14] (SUPER-OFF-PEAK)
LONDON>BRISTOL WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON:
£010.00/£027.50 London [14:30] to Bristol [16:15] (SUPER-OFF-PEAK)
£013.00/£027.50 London [15:00] to Bristol [16:39] (SUPER-OFF-PEAK)
£015.50/£035.50 London [15:30] to Bristol [17:15] (OFF-PEAK)
£023.50/£044.00 London [16:00] to Bristol [17:41] (OFF-PEAK)
£040.50/£066.00 London [16:30] to Bristol [18:14] (OFF-PEAK)
£050.50/£084.50 London [17:00] to Bristol [18:44]
£050.50/£084.50 London [17:30] to Bristol [19:12]
£050.50/£084.50 London [18:00] to Bristol [19:43]
£050.50/£084.50 London [18:30] to Bristol [20:13]
£040.50/£066.00 London [19:00] to Bristol [20:44] (OFF-PEAK)
£023.50/£044.00 London [19:30] to Bristol [21:15] (SUPER-OFF-PEAK)
£013.00/£027.50 London [20:00] to Bristol [21:44] (SUPER-OFF-PEAK)
So whereas VT peak travellers pay over £100 for a single ticket, FGW peak travellers pay less than this to make a return journey! In fact, VT peak travellers pay more to travel in Standard Class than FGW peak travellers pay to travel in First Class. And whilst FGW off-peak travellers can arrive in London just after 10am for a reasonable price, VT off-peak travellers have to wait until after noon! Absolutely bonkers.
Whilst FGW's reasonably-priced tickets have limited availability, and the closer you get to the time of travel, the closer they get to VT's prices, at least reasonably-priced tickets actually exist! FGW also has the added bonus of their Off-Peak tickets being valid on a wide range of trains, compared to VT's Off-Peak tickets being valid on a very narrow range of trains.
