Serco for Sleeper

[Agent_c]

They need to do something about that logo on the loco, I thought it was a piece of Graffiti at first glance.

 

[aylesbury]

The logo does not look to bad think its the corrugations that make it look a bit wiggly,certainly the wee lassy looks happy.

 

[Kite159]

I have just looked at the fares with a railcard for a Euston-Fort William trip in mid June. The standard twin is a bargain £54 for 2 people, £27 each, almost as good as a bargain berth.
Standard solo is £144 whilst first solo is £114.85????
I am not sure of the fare if only one passenger in a twin cabin has a railcard.

When looking at accomodation types for standard twin it says "Should you wish not to share a cabin you can pay a small supplement to give you sole use of the cabin"
If you go by the fares stated that small fee has to be £90, the difference between solo and twin.

£27 each is quite good (so £41 without railcard), although I suspect the number of those cheap tickets will be small.

 

[Furrball]

Partner tried to book a journey for travel in April with a flexipass ticket. Guy at the end of the phone told her that only a few people have been trained how to do this so far and that she needed to email in instead. does not bode well....

 

[Fishplate84]

Really looking forward to what might change on this. Hope people cut them some slack though, you can't create the equivalent of an SME franchise and expect all the resources of a main franchise to be available. It would sink under the weight and cost of its own administration if it tried that.
I see 'fare dealer' is grumbling about not all fares being available, you can't have it both ways - easy simple ticketing or the complicated mess of tickets that exist now. Maybe Serco has listened to passengers and tried to make it easier and clearer, which will attract far more people than being fixated on selling every possible ticket variety and making booking almost impenetrable as a result. That's exactly what people say they get frustrated by.

 

[Darandio]

What happened to the class 73's that are supposed to operate north of Edinburgh?

Still rolling out and testing.

 

[59CosG95]

I too think that it's an absolute bargain-couple of weeks back, I booked a seated journey from Euston to Waverley for under £30!

 

[Kite159]

£58.50 for a twin cable for Edinburgh, which is refundable (less £10).

Plus the chance to select your berth which is good (is it better to 'sleep' in the middle of the car than over the wheels?)

Might try and book myself a bed for a trip in September

 

[matt]

Couldn't see any mention previously but you can now book in the seated portion to/from Fort William in the seated portion rather than it showing as sold out.

 

[sprinterguy]

They need to do something about that logo on the loco, I thought it was a piece of Graffiti at first glance.

I think it's very difficult to to get any sort of logo to work against the ribbed bodyside of a class 67. Admittedly it's worse with a logo that uses finer lines like the new Caledonian Sleeper example.

 

[Rick1984]

Could they not put the logo on a plate?

 

[jopsuk]

Booked London-Glasgow for some time in April. Wasn't able to find super-cheap for the date I wanted, but the new booking system is really quite nice. The berth selector is very well done, nice and clear.

 

[sprinterguy]

Couldn't see any mention previously but you can now book in the seated portion to/from Fort William in the seated portion rather than it showing as sold out.

I'm glad to see that it is all falling into place now, and the new booking engine is far and away more user friendly and easier to use than the old one.

I've noticed a lot of online advertising for the "new" Caledonian Sleeper cropping up, on the likes of the website of the Independent, amongst others. That's good to see, and we need more of that - One of the main areas where I think that the privatised Caledonian Sleeper has let itself down has been in its' reluctance to advertise: Combined with the clunky booking engine, hidden away on the main Scotrail website, it often seemed as if Scotrail were trying to keep the sleeper as there best kept secret.

I am also pleased to see the resurrection of the BR Intercity era tag line "The journey of a night time" being used in the advertising again. Oh the nostalgia.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Couldn't see any mention previously but you can now book in the seated portion to/from Fort William in the seated portion rather than it showing as sold out.

About time they fixed that. Shame some people will have paid over the odds while they did.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Meanwhile, it's "Business as usual" for buying Caledonian Sleeper tickets from Ticket Offices, even if there hasn't been a briefing on the new product range.

 

[cf111]

Meanwhile, it's "Business as usual" for buying Caledonian Sleeper tickets from Ticket Offices, even if there hasn't been a briefing on the new product range.

I don't know if this was supposed to happen, but 16-25 railcards were (and might still be) getting a discount in 1st Class on the Sleeper website, but booking offices weren't able to replicate this.

 

[CallySleeper]

Serco under fire in the press this morning and rightly so

http://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/caledonian-sleeper-operator-under-fire-over-fares-1-3725098

A RAIL fares expert has called for an investigation into the new operator of the Caledonian Sleeper for possible ticket mis-selling.

The controversy follows a move by Serco to launch bookings two months before it takes over the overnight cross-Border services.

It also comes after train drivers expressed “real concerns” about the firm choosing to use rebuilt 50-year-old locomotives to haul the trains in Scotland.

 

[33Hz]

But how are they supposed to sell tickets for day one otherwise?

 

[Bletchleyite]

But how are they supposed to sell tickets for day one otherwise?

The same way Virgin Trains East Coast did, and every other franchise change - i.e. the incumbent continues selling using the same sales channels until the day of the switchover.

 

[Altnabreac]

The same way Virgin Trains East Coast did, and every other franchise change - i.e. the incumbent continues selling using the same sales channels until the day of the switchover.

Problem with that is that this isn't a normal franchise switchover but a franchise split.

The Sleeper Franchise would have needed to get a new sales team up and running either before or after the switchover as the existing team will go to Abellio Scotrail.

John McCormick's comments present a more balanced view than Barry Doe who I think is being slightly hysterical about the problems.

Overall it's obvious the Serco booking system is an improvement once they get the supplement issue sorted.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The Sleeper Franchise would have needed to get a new sales team up and running either before or after the switchover as the existing team will go to Abellio Scotrail.

It would indeed, but there's no reason they had to take over the actual sales until switchover day - and the inconsistencies and confusion that has resulted would seem to back up that they shouldn't have done.

 

[Altnabreac]

It would indeed, but there's no reason they had to take over the actual sales until switchover day - and the inconsistencies and confusion that has resulted would seem to back up that they shouldn't have done.

Or the problem might have been even worse as the same issues could have arisen but without the backup of the incumbent operator to solve them temporarily as Abellio could wash their hands of the issue as they wouldn't have been operating the sleeper.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Or the problem might have been even worse as the same issues could have arisen but without the backup of the incumbent operator to solve them temporarily as Abellio could wash their hands of the issue as they wouldn't have been operating the sleeper.

In that situation, though, they would have had a heavy commercial motivation to sort out the problem. And it wouldn't look good for Serco if the franchise collapsed due to an inability to sell tickets.

 

[Altnabreac]

In that situation, though, they would have had a heavy commercial motivation to sort out the problem. And it wouldn't look good for Serco if the franchise collapsed due to an inability to sell tickets.

But the problem could have arisen whenever it launched? I just don't see Barry Doe's point about going live early.

Given the Scotrail website has not sold some ticket options like Child Berths for years on end without him complaining why make such a fuss about what is a new site being launched that's taking a while to get up to speed.

Tickets were always available by other vendors or methods.

Storm in a teacup really. I've a lot of time for Barry Doe but this time I think Mark Smith's perspective is the correct one. Serco are at least moving in the right direction and developing a usable website for the future compared to the awful mess of the current Scotrail Sleeper site.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Tickets were always available by other vendors or methods.

But someone seeing "sold out" against the Fort Bill seats will have had no idea that was untrue. It is that one that makes me borderline angry, as well as the lack of any text saying what to do to get a supplement on a regular ticket. And Serco will have profited from that misunderstanding. Unacceptable in my mind. If I were on a budget, had booked a berth and turned up and found plenty of space in the seats, I would be fuming.

And that situation persisted for over a month. Once discovered, it should have had a message added to alert people what to do.

Serco are at least moving in the right direction and developing a usable website for the future compared to the awful mess of the current Scotrail Sleeper site.

I agree with this, but I don't agree it is a storm in a teacup. Misleading passengers to their financial cost is unacceptable, and whether through incompetence or deliberate delays to fixing this Serco have profited. To me that should (even if it actually doesn't) put them in breach of their franchise agreement and liable to a fine.

 

[Fishplate84]

Isn't part of the problem with railways that they can never seem to move forward because they are saddled with the baggage of legacy and utter paranoia of upsetting someone. None of the Scotrail booking system, people, processes or resources carry forward to the sleeper like a normal franchise handover. It's a start up company with everything being built from the ground up.
Serco had a unique chance to start with a clean sheet and look like they've made a good job of it even if it isn't perfect yet.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Serco had a unique chance to start with a clean sheet and look like they've made a good job of it

I don't. Overcharging unnecessarily is not making a good job of anything, and they haven't got a "clean sheet" because they are still part of the national ticketing system.

It looks nice, but it was not ready to deploy and shouldn't have deployed until it worked properly.

 

[CyrusWuff]

I don't know if this was supposed to happen, but 16-25 railcards were (and might still be) getting a discount in 1st Class on the Sleeper website, but booking offices weren't able to replicate this.

Just checked Trainline, and that appears to be offering a discount in First Class as well, but FGW's WebTIS implementation isn't and neither is Raileasy. This side of the franchise change, I wouldn't take anything as gospel however!

 

[Agent_c]

“We have always made it clear the full range of products can continue to be bought through ScotRail and other National Rail retailers, such as the Trainline and station ticket offices.

Except all those times Forum members called or emailed asking for something not in their limited range...

 

[Bletchleyite]

It strikes me their new ticketing services have been beta-tested on unwitting customers. Not on, really. Public betas are fine, provided you state that's what you are doing.