For reasons I cannot fathom I have been accused of sometimes being an old cynic. No idea where people get that idea from but sometimes it is impossible not to be tempted.
So to use the common brackets of "you coudn't make it up" here is today's offering. Yesterday Konect had a fares "revision". By the way who do operators think they are kidding with the word "revision"? Has anyone known fares to go down except for special promotions? Just be honest and say that despite inflation and nterest rates still at rock bottom (not to mention pay rises) and fuel cheaper than it has been for years you're putting fares up. Don't try and cover it in sugar and insult the intelligence of the customer.
Anyway I digress. I'm grateful to Steve who I met at the opening of the First Travel Centre in Norwich yesterday for alerting me to this anomally, and if you buy Anywhere tickets from Konect take note, and if you don't and know someone who does alert them to this.
Konect have put the price of an Anywhere Day Ticket from £7 to £9, a whopping 28.5%. Why they think that necessary I have no idea but it's hardly going to encourage sales. The thing is this though - Anglian haven't put up ther fares yet - I'm told that will coincide with the latest service cuts on Feb 22nd - ironic eh - so until then there is a fares anomaly between the two companies. If you buy an annual Anywhere ticket from Konect it will cost you £80 more than it will from Anglian - FOR THE SAME TICKET! Let's go compare shall we - no I'm not going to sing!
Konect
Day £9
Weekly £28
Monthly £98
Annual £980
Anglian
Day £7
Weekly £28
Monthly £90
Annual £900
Interestingly weeklys are the same but a big discount on all others, so if you or anyone you know buys these tickets get them from Anglian for the next few weeks. If I was a real cynic I'd say this rather sums up things at Go-Ahead right now (right hand/left hand ass/elbow etc). But as I'm not I won't!!
I think a lot of bus companies find it easier to make money by exploiting existing passengers, rather than trying to increase profits by increasing passenger numbers. I would suspect a lot of people use bus as cheaper than train, and either don't drive or do not have access to a car.
ReplyDeleteWe had a talk at Church recently by Jeremy Cooper, Ipswich Buses' MD. He said that one of the first things he did when he arrived was to reduce the price of All-Day tickets and promote them heavily with a view to attracting new custom. Don't know if it's working, though.
Delete(What we really need is all All-Day and Transfer tickets which can be used on both IB and First's Ipswich town services ... but I can't see that happening any time soon, or ever!)
The problem I see with Ipswich is any joint ticket woud have to be brokered by Ipswich Borough Council, and there we have the stumbling block as IBC still own Ipswich Buses. If and when Ipswich Buses is sold then the council can do something about the ticketing problem.
DeleteOf course if all services were brought "in house" by SCC then they could dictate what tickets were accepted on which services. But since even now you can't use one ticket on different subsidised services my hopes aren't particularly high.
It would appear that any avenue designed to disencourage passengers from using buses - and operators from expanding - is being explored at the moment, and my optimism glass is draining fast.
I'm not aware of anything that allows a shire local authority to enforce shared ticketing across a commercial network. Neighbouring Essex CC do prescribe cheap maximum evening (localities) and countywide Sunday fares on supported services, though I'm not sure what effect they have on patronage. Herts CC have the voluntary Explorer network ticket that historically has been comprehensive, though smaller commercial operators complain about unfairness and are starting to withdraw or not join. It's part of a longstanding Bus Partnership designed to encourage bus use, and as usage seems higher than in Essex may be it works. (But that could be just the First effect in Essex).
DeleteEssex apparently have a voluntary countywide ticket too for journeys starting or ending in the county, though First drivers haven't heard of it, and when I tried it on Carters in Colchester I thought I was about to get thrown off the bus. The CC aren't that popular, it seems.
It does seem that innovation in the industry in the Shires is dead, and complexity has taken its place. We're left with playing musical chairs, or if you're pessimistic then perhaps it feels like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. I'm not so pessimistic, I think the demand is there if only the companies didn't seem so determined to upset the passengers. Start by not letting them down, and actually trying to make them feel welcome. Car driving isn't cheap either, so price is important but I'm not sure it's the only issue or a magic wand.
I suspect much (perhaps even most) bus company admin is chaotic, with "management" more worried about keeping Head Office and the TC off their back than anything else (like looking after the passengers). It sometimes starts to look as though they get things more often wrong than right. It isn't easy, but they seem to be wedded to the complexity and bureaucracy that makes things harder. But looking on the bright side, anything that's brings income into Anglian, even for just a couple of weeks, must be good, mustn't it? There seems to be precious little else they're doing to encourage the punters??
ReplyDeleteVery good point.
DeleteThere have been many times when operators have cut fares, most recently First in Bristol, and often simplifications can lead to cuts for many passengers. The problem is that simply cutting fares doesn't work, we know that if you cut your fares by 10% and don't don anything else then you are unlikely to see much more than a 3% increase in passengers leading to a fall in revenue. Likewise a 10% increase in fares will normally only see ridership drop by 3%. If you are going to cut fares you need to, as has happened to First in Bristol, tie it in with other improvements and heavy promotion to make it work - it is when a fare reduction is tied to a service enhancement when you see the real big jump in ridership. All this is, of course, not a hard and fast rule - there is a ceiling at which the theory stops working, which some places may be close to hitting, and the ceiling is moveable depending on the quality of what you are offering, high fares with low quality can lead to a bigger drop than normal as people feel ripped off. Also the size of the price change will also affect the basic maths.
ReplyDeleteThe other issue is if you cut your fares, your average fare falls which means the reimbursement for concessionary fares falls and for this there will be no impact on ridership so you lose money. On a network with a reasonable concessionary market this can be a substantial cut, though if you raise your fares they also cut your reimbursement as you are clearly trying to maximise the revenue, you can normally get them to reflect the fare cut eventually you generally have to fit for it.
Konects highest fair was £6.90, now is £7.90.
ReplyDeleteKonects single/return is now the same as firsts. First normally increase yearly (this being a first for a long time) and konect didn't for 30 months.
I understand about the difference for same ticket (yes, the anywhere tickets should have changed at the same time) but the fare increases are the first in 2.5 years and not abnormal prices (compared to first)
Agreed. Konect can't offer I return for £7.90 and a day ticket cheaper. Yes their service is reduced, but still represents value for money like firsts if you don't go to Peterborough - economies of scale and all that...
DeleteIf you want differential pricing for identically valid tickets you can't do better than Stagecoach. Any DayRider plus bought from a Stagecoach company south of Leicester is valid on all companies (excluding London) but prices are very different. Even better Stagecoach Midlands charge different prices depending on which county the bus is based in despite being the same company. That bought in Warwickshire is less than £9 but if you buy it in Northamptonshire it costs around £11 for what is in effect the same ticket from the same company.
ReplyDeleteOh it's not new or unique, the Explorer ticket down here in the Southeast has been going at least 45 years and every company has charged slightly different prices. Nu-Venture are the real classics though - they accept the Explorer ticket on their buses but don't sell it themselves! Can't imagine any company in our region doing that!
DeleteKent County Council and Medway Council both insist on the acceptance of the main commercial operators' tickets on routes that they fund. This includes returns and some other local day tickets, such as Explorer. The cost of doing this should be factored into the tender price submitted by the operator (note that almost without exception that the operator takes the revenue risk on KCC and MC contracts).
DeleteA recent change though is the extension of the more-expensive Discovery ticket, which all operators can sell and accept, from Surrey and Sussex across the whole of Kent (I think it's been mentioned here before, sorry I can't find it). More details here https://new.eastsussex.gov.uk/roadsandtransport/public/concessionaryfares/moneysaving
Brilliant! Thank you so much for that and thre is enough material for a follow up post. That Discovery ticket is still enormous value bearing in mind where you can go on it.
Delete