Fairer fares for flexible season ticket holders

SIR – As the long-time holder of a South West Trains season ticket, I was disappointed to find that I was unable to suspend that ticket, even though I had made arrangements to be using the trains as little as possible during the three weeks of works at Waterloo station.

Now into our second week of a massively reduced service, it is apparent that a majority of people have taken holidays, decided to use other forms of transport or have arranged to work from home or from other offices during this period. This willingness to adapt is impressive and is surely the answer to the usual weekday overcrowding that exists on our trains.

It has long been accepted that the demand for train services is managed by using a price discrimination mechanism. Invariably people travelling at peak times pay more than people travelling at off-peak periods. But for commuters using the trains on a regular basis, there is only rigidity. There is no option but to buy an annual or monthly season ticket and, unsurprisingly, those people who have sunk money in their season ticket will not readily seek to ease the overcrowding problem by varying their journeys when they can do so, or by occasionally using other forms of transport.

We now have the technology to use the pricing mechanism to smooth the demand for train travel during the week and during the day. If season-ticket holders were to receive discounts for using the trains less – by working from home one or two days a week, for example – or for making their journeys after or before the peak periods, the existing capacity could be used much more effectively.

While this might reduce revenue for the operating train companies (and even that is debatable), it is surely not beyond the wit of politicians to mandate a more flexible pricing mechanism and to compensate train operators if their revenue is reduced. Andy Sloan

Haslemere, Surrey