XC Glasgow to York

[graham43404]

I looked at this one in for another topic about Cross Country. Not for me to travel to but to check on if they were still doing advance fares on Fridays, which as most of you will know they are.

The journey is for Friday 11th November from Glasgow Central to York on the direct Cross Country service. I have used East Coasts site and now XC's own site to check it and it still seems the same. Excluding advance fares it is coming up in standard class as £55 for an anytime single, yet on a more limited super off peak single it is coming up at £81.20

Now I am sure there is some reason for it, but for the ordinary travelling public it must seem very odd.

 

[tony_mac]

The £55 fare is valid only on XC trains. The more expensive fares are valid on any operator on that route.

 

[graham43404]

The £55 fare is valid only on XC trains. The more expensive fares are valid on any operator on that route.

I thought that may be the case, however I don't understand why the super off peak is not valid on all XC services even if they don't set the fare for that particular ticket.

 

[bb21]

At a guess, XC offered the dedicated Anytime Single fare so that it will receive all of the ORCATS revenue for that ticket, ie. £55. However XC will only receive a small proportion of an inter-available fare such as the Super Off-Peak Single Route Any Permitted, maybe £20 out of an £80 ticket.

XC sees that they receive more money for that dedicated fare so it makes sense to allow it to be valid on more trains in order to entice passengers to buy them.

Also I doubt that EC would be happy with XC having less restriction on an inter-available product, as it might have ORCATS implications. If all TOCs decide to get rid of the restriction on the inter-available product then there is no incentive for XC to offer the dedicated fare at all.

 

[LexyBoy]

The comparison is skewed as you're looking at singles- the Anytime Returns will be twice the single wilst the Off Peaks will be the same price as singles.

The £80 super off peak could be used on any XC service subject to zero excess.

 

[graham43404]

Thanks for the replies on this one, it goes to show that the ticketing structure is very complicated. If even someone like me with a half decent knowledge doesn't really understand it then i'm not sure how an average Joe Bloggs booking tickets is meant to cope with it.

 

[yorkie]

Glasgow - York Singles

• £55.00 is the XC Only Anytime fare (this does not need to go through ORCATS; all the money goes to XC)
• £81.20 is the Any Permitted Super Off Peak fare (Valid after 0930; this is the protected former 'Saver' fare that became Off Peak at Simplification but then became Super Off Peak at the time DOR took over)
• £83.00 is the Any Permitted Anytime fare that is valid on any train

In the case of Super Off Peak (and Off Peak - not applicable here), returns are about a quid more than singles.

EC sell half price Any Permitted Super Off Peak Singles to London from selected stations, available in advance from the EC website. Therefore, a Super Off Peak Single valid on any train after 09:30 from Edinburgh to London is £56.80. So, if you wanted to travel after 09:30, but wanted to have the flexibility to get any train, an XC Only single from Glasgow Central to Edinburgh (£5) plus the Edinburgh-London ticket (stopping short at York) is worth considering.

I agree railway ticketing is very complicated. Have you considered contacting your MP and the ASA about ATOC's misleading claims that it is "simple"?