Split Ticketing Market Research

[Mike@Raileasy]

Raileasy would like to conduct some research into responses to requests for split ticket journeys at station ticket offices. Can any of you who would like to participate please ask your local ticket office staff if they can offer you a split on a journey where you know there is a split saving from your local station.

May we please ask you that you do it at a time when you know the ticket office is quiet.

 

[Haywain]

Are you suggesting people ask for a specific split, which should be sold, or asking if the staff know of and will offer a split which you know that they should not do?

 

[Mike@Raileasy]

Apologies for not explaining myself very well. We are not trying to trick people.

If you know about a split from a station near you or that you are passing thro', we'd like to hear if you get offered it if you just ask "can I get a split on this journey".

Without preempting any findings, we appreciate splits are complex and time consuming but so is manual journey planning or "timetable&fareing", that is what TIS are for.

 

[SickyNicky]

I think something along the lines of:

Customer: How much is a day return from Birmingham to Sheffield on Saturday, please?
Clerk: £43, sir.
Customer: Oh - that's quite a lot. I saw something on Watchdog last week about split tickets. Can I do that for this journey?

The clerk may
a) say he's not allowed to, or otherwise decline
b) offer a split at Derby for £27.10 (I've had clerks offer this kind of thing before) or
c) offer a split at Burton plus a Derbyshire Wayfarer for £23.90 and explain that the train must stop there (that would surprise me)

 

[CyrusWuff]

Theoretically, there should be a 100% "No" response, given clerks aren't supposed to offer splits unless specifically requested or if no through fare exists for the journey being made.

In practice, you'll probably get several examples of splits being offered, such as splitting at the Network Area boundary so someone can use a Gold Card/Network Railcard for part of their journey.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Might be worth mentioning that some staff at a given station might offer splits (or make known their existence) whilst others won't. This could include groups of stations that 'share' staff (rest day relief at smaller stations for example).