| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/8108 Written by courgettelawn on Tuesday, 9th October 2007 FGW have obviously spent a lot of time designing their discounted fares scheme. Not only does it have FIVE levels of discount, it claims prices so low "you have to bend down to see them." http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/BuyTickets.aspx Please help me someone! I have spent really a long time trying to use the FGW website to find any opportunity to buy a discount fare for any day in the weeks before Christmas travelling from Salisbury to St Austell. Can it be done on any of these mysterious fares? Re: FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/8109 Written by WyvusArconius on Tuesday, 9th October 2007 I dont know if I can be of any help, but I use the first minute fares quite regulary. over the summer i used them to go from Chippenham to Penzance for Re: FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/8112 Written by courgettelawn on Tuesday, 9th October 2007 The problem I get is that there seem to be none on offer to me from Salisbury to Cornwall. Is this because the whole week before Christmas is considered peak? Or perhaps I'm too early? It's a mystery, perhaps I will telephone them. Re: FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/8115 Written by Nick Field on Tuesday, 9th October 2007 I think all first minite fares are singles, normally you have to click on the banner where it says 'two singles could be cheaper than a return' Re: FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/8119 Written by stuj on Tuesday, 9th October 2007 You can book upto the 19th December at the moment, so have a look if you want a ticket before this date. If not, wait a couple of days and it'll soon be up. Re: FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/8177 Written by courgettelawn on Saturday, 13th October 2007 Thank you for the advices. I did click on the link to single fares but none seemed available at discount. I will keep trying. Re: FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/8179 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Saturday, 13th October 2007 [quote author=courgettelawn link=topic=4373.msg8177#msg8177 date=1192261656] ... I did click on the link to single fares but none seemed available at discount. ... [/quote] Yeah ... sometimes I think they're more of a carrot to draw in customers than something that accounts for a serious number of passengers .... I was offered 20 different Melksham to London fares the other day ... but the site would only sell me 4 of the five most expensive. http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=4405.0 Re: FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/8180 Written by Sion Bretton on Saturday, 13th October 2007 Did you know that a Standard Day return From Melksham to Bristol TM Is Re: FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/8597 Written by courgettelawn on Tuesday, 13th November 2007 Well this afternoon I tried the telephone. I called FGW customer services where I was told unless I was actually buying a ticket there and then I couldn't simply find out which journeys were eligible for cheap Leisure Advance fares. I was pinged to National Rail Enquiries who then told me to call FGW again. I insisted at least on finding out which journeys were eligible and at least got some times. I was also told that travelling from Salisbury to St Austell would qualify for tickets between Re: FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/8599 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Tuesday, 13th November 2007 You mean you are getting pages like this?  And that carries on - there MUST be some tickets somewhere?  That's right - advertised price from 8 pounds - actual lowest price fare available, 52.50. And I can't imagine that the 07:17 will be packed out with people who have already bought up all those allocations. I question whether there ever were any. The airline industry continues to be in trouble over misleading pricing; I can't help wondering of the offers of fares that don't exist (and probably never have!) on that train isn't equally misleading. But then what;s the difference between 8 pounds and 53 between friends! http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2104288,00.html Re: FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/8600 Written by Industry Insider on Tuesday, 13th November 2007 [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=4373.msg8599#msg8599 date=1194979453] That's right - advertised price from 8 pounds - actual lowest price fare available, 52.50. And I can't imagine that the 07:17 will be packed out with people who have already bought up all those allocations. I question whether there ever were any. The airline industry continues to be in trouble over misleading pricing; I can't help wondering of the offers of fares that don't exist (and probably never have!) on that train isn't equally misleading. But then what;s the difference between 8 pounds and 53 between friends! http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2104288,00.html [/quote] The connecting train from Swindon to London will have sold out of all its allocation of the cheaper fare. There WILL have been some (maybe the slightest handful) as the train was released for reservations, but with Swindon to London being a popular route that time of morning they will be snapped up very quickly! Re: FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/8603 Written by courgettelawn on Tuesday, 13th November 2007 It's mean, quite frankly. There is a disproportionate amount of advertising and enticement for these so-called cheap fares which nine times out of ten are not available. How early would my train journey in December have been 'released'? I started looking in September and was told that it was 'too' advanced. So was I too late or did they never exist? When was the magic day of booking? On the second Sunday of the month, if it falls on a full moon, with an r in it? Re: FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/8607 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Wednesday, 14th November 2007 [quote author=Industry Insider link=topic=4373.msg8600#msg8600 date=1194983263] The connecting train from Swindon to London will have sold out of all its allocation of the cheaper fare. There WILL have been some (maybe the slightest handful) as the train was released for reservations, but with Swindon to London being a popular route that time of morning they will be snapped up very quickly! [/quote] Thanks for that - I'm a little suprised, as your statement is at odds with one from Andrew Griffiths, made when First raised the price of a day return (bought on the day) from under 50 pounds to over 100, by withdrawing the only train on which the cheaper ticket was availaible. I was told "We cannot do a general derogation for Melksham for buy-on-the-day fares to tarvel by the earlier train as it would be abused by travellers from other stations. However we will set aside a number of purchase ahead tickets at the lowest rates so that they are available specifically for travellers from Melksham". It was enough of a slap in the face to have most of our trains withdrawn .... to then put the prices up by double was cruel, and to be told that had to be done because others might abuse a fair system for us was [words fail me]. And you're now telling me, Industry Insider, that the small crumb of comfort of some tickets set aside for us doesn't actually happen? Re: FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/8615 Written by Industry Insider on Wednesday, 14th November 2007 [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=4373.msg8607#msg8607 date=1195033612] [quote author=Industry Insider link=topic=4373.msg8600#msg8600 date=1194983263] The connecting train from Swindon to London will have sold out of all its allocation of the cheaper fare. There WILL have been some (maybe the slightest handful) as the train was released for reservations, but with Swindon to London being a popular route that time of morning they will be snapped up very quickly! [/quote] Thanks for that - I'm a little suprised, as your statement is at odds with one from Andrew Griffiths, made when First raised the price of a day return (bought on the day) from under 50 pounds to over 100, by withdrawing the only train on which the cheaper ticket was availaible. I was told "We cannot do a general derogation for Melksham for buy-on-the-day fares to tarvel by the earlier train as it would be abused by travellers from other stations. However we will set aside a number of purchase ahead tickets at the lowest rates so that they are available specifically for travellers from Melksham". It was enough of a slap in the face to have most of our trains withdrawn .... to then put the prices up by double was cruel, and to be told that had to be done because others might abuse a fair system for us was [words fail me]. And you're now telling me, Industry Insider, that the small crumb of comfort of some tickets set aside for us doesn't actually happen? [/quote] Well, I must confess to not being an absolute authority on advance purchase tickets, but as I understand/understood it, each reservable train (i.e. the Swindon-London portion of a Melksham-London journey) has a given number of seats allocated to cheap advance purchased fares. Once these seats are sold (i.e. say there's 30 available on the 07:17 train) by passengers buying tickets from Swindon-London, Gloucester-London (changing at Swindon), Melksham-London etc., then the allocation is sold and you move on to the next cheapest fare, etc. Perhaps somebody more intimately involved with fares could explain further? It's fair to say that despite being 'mean' when you can't get one, if you are one of the lucky ones you get to travel at peak times for a ridiculously low fare, and on trains where there is plenty of capacity outside of the peak period many more cheap tickets are available which offer real savings on fares like the Blue and White Savers which BR sold over a decade ago! If only Melksham had an off-peak service... Now there may have been some special exception put in for Melksham based on its levels of service, but I would press Andrew Griffiths further and ask him for more details (i.e. exact numbers) - after all, he could actually release one ticket for a Tuesday and one for a Wednesday, have none for the rest of the week and not be in breach of his statement in your correspondance with him! Re: FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/8648 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Thursday, 15th November 2007 Indeed, I should ask further and the promise without numbers could be one ticket per annum within what was said. I really appreciate that there are *some* bargains in *some* places there - I got a 30 quid single to Ely, First Class, the other weekend - but I have a real issue still with First halving the train service and doubling the walk-on price. "Calculated to drive the traffic away" one wonders? Re: FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/9007 Written by 50019 on Wednesday, 12th December 2007 [quote author=Industry Insider link=topic=4373.msg8600#msg8600 date=1194983263] [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=4373.msg8599#msg8599 date=1194979453] That's right - advertised price from 8 pounds - actual lowest price fare available, 52.50. And I can't imagine that the 07:17 will be packed out with people who have already bought up all those allocations. I question whether there ever were any. The airline industry continues to be in trouble over misleading pricing; I can't help wondering of the offers of fares that don't exist (and probably never have!) on that train isn't equally misleading. But then what;s the difference between 8 pounds and 53 between friends! http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2104288,00.html [/quote] The connecting train from Swindon to London will have sold out of all its allocation of the cheaper fare. There WILL have been some (maybe the slightest handful) as the train was released for reservations, but with Swindon to London being a popular route that time of morning they will be snapped up very quickly! [/quote] Looking at this train between Swindon and London for dates many weeks in advance, there are still no quotas, suggesting this particular train has none, or perhaps a very very few. Given the morning peak arrival time at Paddington, this is not unexpected, as this train is likely to be full and possibly standing with commuter / business travellers. Most off peak trains offer at least a Leisure Advance A, which seems to be about 50% of a Saver Return, and hence a massive discount on a Saver Single. And looking on the website at various journeys, it seems to work well where changes / and or buses are involved. For example this Saturday a Re: FirstMinuteFares - where are they??? - 4373/9009 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Wednesday, 12th December 2007 [quote author=50019 link=topic=4373.msg9007#msg9007 date=1197420078] Looking at this train between Swindon and London for dates many weeks in advance, there are still no quotas, suggesting this particular train has none, or perhaps a very very few. Given the morning peak arrival time at Paddington, this is not unexpected, as this train is likely to be full and possibly standing with commuter / business travellers. [/quote] I would agree with you - so the promise that we were given that "someting would be done" for people who wish to make a day trip to London during the week and saw their fares rise from under 50 to over 100 pounds within a months were empty. Looks like First got away with what was, in effect 100% plus fare rise for a service that was 60% reduced. My - I wish I could get away with things like that in my business ;D link to index of articles |
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Save the Train was the campaign to bring an approriate train service back to and through Melksham. Most big contributors are still around writing at the Coffee shop forum where new members are very welcome. The train has been saved - sort of - we have stepped back up from an unusable service to a poorish one but it's doing very well. We did that through setting up the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership. That fulfilled its early objectives; it has been taken over by local and regional government types who are now doing medium and long term work. The team from this forun can also be found at the Melksham Rail User Group (which was the Melksham Rail Development Group at the time these articles were written and we had no users. We mustn't loose sight, though, that the train service remains poor and needs our community support in marketing and campaigning to keep it going in a positive direction ... and all the more so when we're expecting to find a different normallity once we get out of the Coronavirus Pandemic and head for zero carbon via the climate crisis. Yes, it's saved ... it's now a key community facility ... the need for enhancement and the strong and near-universal local support remain, and the rail industry and goverment remain slow to move and provide the enhancements even to level us up with other towns. Please support the Melksham Rail User Group - now very much in partnership rather than protest with the rail industry and local government, including GWR, TransWilts and unitary and town councils. And please use the trains and buses, and cycle and walk when you can. -- Graham Ellis, (webmaster), February 2021 | |||
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