But take away the London commuter TOCs and the 8% will increase sharply for the rest.
Is that because passengers are more likely to make long distance journeys using Advance Singles, as, for many, the alternative(s) (Anytime or even Off Peak type tickets) might be too expensive?
The other issue is that one can't get an advanced purchase ticket covering multiple TOCs in the former Network South East Area, except where it involves TOCs like Cross Country.
I think their point was that some routes don't offer advance ticket types, so the proportion of eligible journeys which are taken with advance tickets is going to be higher.
Indeed. From my local station I can't buy an advance ticket to anywhere else in the South East even though some journeys are a considerable distance yet, as I did recently, I can buy an advance single from Manc Piccadilly to Stockport at 23:15 at night five minutes before the train departs!
I'm not sure what you mean by discount, but in railway ticketing terminology, a discounted fare is one that is lower than the public fare (e.g. Railcard discounted, PRIV discount, Child discount, online etc...) but can be of any type of ticket, whether that be Advance, Anytime or anything in between.
Which makes a mockery of the word “advance” (as we know, you are legally required under most circumstances to have bought a ticket “in advance” of travel). Some use of the word “flexible” (and a suitable word for the “ticket formally known as advance”) in ticket names would better describe the current situation as that’s the determining factor - not when you bought it.
In the past the lack of an advanced ticket caused me to take a different course of action, which actually at the time benefited me.
But whe anybody here comments about high walk up fares somebody jumps in to say that "everybody" uses advances.
I suspect that if we had a breakdown of ticket types by distance travelled, this would hold some weight for long distance journeys. People going a few stops on a local calling service to pop into town are unlikely to buy in advance, and advance fares may not even be available. Somebody going from Nottingham to Edinburgh is probably planning that in advance and booking tickets online in advance, and thus likely getting an advance fare. Main exception would be business travellers who may indeed buy flexible tickets for long distances.
That's hilarious
Possibly close to 100% of passengers making pre-planned leisure trips at not-too-busy times, but not
I really don't think so. Business travellers are, in my experience, able to schedule their meetings and are under pressure from their expenses departments to use the cheapest ticket - if I ever used something other than an Advance I would get a "please explain".
Very true. The business traveller who doesn't know when their meeting will end is a common trope here, but it's not my experience at all
If you're looking at what proportion of passengers choose advance or flexible tickets then you only want to count those passengers who have a choice.
Quite. Which is why the LNER "trial" is a sham.
It was mine.
If you have a ticket from A to Z and you arrive at the first station in time to get your booked train or a connecting train that is advertised as meeting your booked train for a subsequent leg then you are A-OK and the railways must honour your ticket if you are delayed on your journey and miss a connection. There may sometimes be shenanigans if more than one TOC runs a route, and you may find that you can only travel with the TOC that you were booked with, but apart from that you shouldn't have any problems.
