Yeah, I agree. Fairness (and perceived fairness) is very important. And that's one reason why I think this change looks very positive.
- It's utterly unfair that, currently, someone who makes a journey one way pays almost the same as someone who makes a return journey (and who therefore uses the railway twice as much)
- It's also utterly unfair that, currently, on many return journeys, someone who returns the same day pays significantly less than someone who returns the next day - since both people are using the railway to exactly the same extent and deriving the same benefit.
Resolving those issues alone will make rail fares much (ummm) fairer
These things may well be be perceived as unfair by some, but they are generally effective at maximising revenue. There's a reason why the price of long haul flights can be higher for a one-way journey than a return, and why a same or next day return can cost more than leaving a Saturday night before returning - airlines invented revenue optimisation and are masters at it.
Most European countries use single leg pricing and it's a much simpler way for normal passengers to understand the cost of their journeys.
It may be much simpler - but given our government's deep-seated contempt for rail subsidy, it will mean huge fare increases for a lot of people. It will also likely mean that many more splitting opportunities arise (particularly if an evening peak restriction is added to Off-Peak fares) - so the perceived unfairness and complexity of being able to pay much less by splitting will be made even worse!
For users of Super Off Peaks it isn't "fractionally more" on the LNER trial, it's exactly the same. The Off Peak was lost, but it was applicable to only a small number of journeys, some of those can be done with an Anytime Single plus a Super Off Peak Single for about the same money. Some of them might involve an Advance, but I doubt many people ended up paying much if any more. Some may even have found a cheaper way but just bought that ticket by default. Or some might have found they could buy a Super Off Peak out and then bought the return when they knew when they were going to travel, adding further flexibility.
If the Off-Peak ticket only applied to a small number of journeys, as you claim, then surely it would not have been a problem to also halve that fare? You cannot argue it both ways!
No, the Off-Peak fare was abolished because it prevented LNER from charging high prices for shoulder peak trains. That didn't suit them and so now they have full control over the price of all evening peak trains, being constrained only by the stupidly expensive Anytime Single.
