Fare Dealer
RAIL fares expert Barry Doe says new fares in the North further complicate matters.
NORTHERN has introduced dedicated fares between Liverpool and Manchester (any stations). The ‘any permitted route’ fares are set by TransPennine Express and are valid on all operators’ services.
Typical interavailable fares are £14.40 Anytime Single, £18.70 Anytime Day Return, and £13.70 Off-Peak Day Return (from 0930). A weekly season is £78.80.
Northern’s equivalents are £12.20 Anytime Single, £15.80 Anytime Day Return, and £11.60 OP Day Return. Its weekly is £67.00.
There are also new dedicated fares from: Doncaster to Wakefield Westgate or Leeds; Huddersfield to Stalybridge or Manchester; Leeds to Selby or Southport; and Stoke-onTrent to Stockport or Manchester. All are reversible.
While these offer cheaper fares for those willing to accept fewer services, I agree with the article written by Philip Haigh ( RAIL 849), where he asks how such choice matches calls for fares simplification.
If you take Stoke-on-Trent to Manchester, in a normal off-peak hour there are five departures. Two are Virgin Trains (VT) Pendolinos taking 39 minutes, two are CrossCountry (XC) taking 39-42 minutes, and one is the sole Northern service taking 55 minutes.
Considering just an Off-Peak Day Return, the ‘ any permitted’ fare - meaning every operator - is set by CrossCountry and is £16.90. Typical of XC’s policy for OP Day Returns, this
is valid 0930 to 1530 and from 1816 - and this unnecessary afternoon restriction is inflicted on all three operators, even though VT and Northern don’t want them.
Virgin offers its own OP Day Return at £12.50 (from 0900 and with no afternoon restriction but, of course, limited to its services), and now Northern has come in at £11.90 (from 0930 with no afternoon restriction). Could anything be more complicated for such a short journey?
Well, yes! Add in advance. XC offer 21 different fares, VT ten and Northern nine. That’s 40 Advance Singles spread over three operators - for a short hop into town.
Of course, you’ll only see five advance fares at any one time (First and Standard for XC and VT, plus Northern’s), but the whole thing is quite ludicrous.
We can’t blame Northern. Revenue from the ‘any permitted’ fare is shared between all three operators, but 100% of the VT-only fare goes to Virgin, which Northern now emulates.
I can’t imagine how people can make a sensible choice from a ticket machine, and it seems to me that the whole system has too many downsides to be good news for customers.
Moving on, Arriva’s X93 bus service has always offered excellent connections at Scarborough to Whitby. Buses are hourly (halfhourly from Easter to early November), and take only one hour. This applies seven days a week.
Sadly, in terms of speed (let alone frequency), this therefore offers the fastest way from London to Whitby, beautiful though the rail branch is.
Northern now offers through ticketing for an extra £6.20 single or £7.30 return, but only on fares from stations on the Hull to Seamer line. Railcard discounts apply.
Of wider scope, Northern also has through tickets onto the Hadrian’s Wall AD122 bus. This long-standing service runs hourly until the end of September, linking all the main sites along the Wall with Hexham and Haltwhistle stations. See www.gonortheast.co.uk/ad122.
A normal X93 Day Rover is £12.50, but the add-on price is only £10. Again, railcard discounts apply.