Great Western Coffee Shop

It's interesting to note that the rail industry is advising staff that there may be a delay to the uploading of new fares to industry systems ready for the (usual) annual price rises.

Seen on RailUK Forums is an extract from 'The Manual':


(NFM = National Fares Manual. #17 is the next edition, due for publication today for fares that go live on 2nd January 2014.)

I suspect we may well be hearing something from George Osbore in his Autumn Statement this Wednesday.

Those that attended the WWRUG meeting a couple of weeks ago also got a heads up that FGW may be freezing fares, or setting the rises at much below RPI+1%.

Now Tuesday 10th...

Edit: Just seen the bottom line of your post - doh!

Edit 2: Officially confirmed at Tuesday 10th on The Manual

You can buy seasons on the Chiltern website currently starting on January 2 at 2013 prices.....

The Chancellor announced that rail fares will rise just by the rate of inflation - not inflation +1% - in January.

with or without flex?

From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25237674):

That is wrong. The flex was cut to 2% earlier this year

The difference between 3.1% and 5.1% is err... 2%.

Headline figure for the January 2014 regulated rail fares rises is now 3.1%. The flex allows increases within the range of 1.1% to 5.1%.

Indeed, just a 1% cut.

Friday 6 December 2013
Dear colleagues,
You may be aware that yesterday the Government announced it is changing the way it asks us to price regulated fares for January 2014. This means that from 2 January 2014, regulated fares will now need to rise by an average of 3.1% instead of the previously planned 4.1%.

Fares were due to go live into the industry's sales systems next week, but they will  now be delayed until later this month to allow our fares team to make the required changes.

In the meantime, customers can continue to buy tickets at current prices for travel beyond 2 January. We are still looking at the detail of the changes and what it means for customers.

We will be issuing a Retail Brief in the coming days once these details have been finalised.

Please feel free to use this information to answer any questions from customers.

First Great Western Managing Director Mark Hopwood said: "Anything that reduces the cost of rail travel is good news for customers and the industry as a whole.

"All our fares for travel after 2 January 2014 now have to be recalculated, checked and input into the industry fares systems in a third of the time it would normally take. Our fares team will be working around the clock to make that happen.^

What, by increasing them...  ::)

The latest information given to retail staff is as follows (from a post on RailUK Forums):

Anyone able to elucidate please as to what those are? (preferably with a quote from the manual!)

New 7-day seasons may be issued only on the day they start, or if the start date is a Monday from 0600 on the Sunday the day before.
7-day renewals with no break of continuity may be issued from noon the day before hand, or from noon on Friday if the start date is a Sunday or Monday.
New period and annual seasons may be issued from noon the day before, or from noon on Friday if the start date is Sunday or Monday.
Period and annual season renewals with no break of continuity may be issued up to 7 days in advance.
There is also a statement that rules on renewals are generally relaxed over Christmas and New Year and that Travelcard seasons on Oyster cards may be issued up to 30 days in advance, as they do not have the same potential for misuse as a standard season.

I think last year the relaxation allowed purchase for early January on or after the 17th December, anyone happen to know if its the same date for 1st/2nd January Annual Gold Cards this year?

Remember also that all season tickets can be purchased online about three weeks ahead of the start date.  Thus making the booking office controls rather meaningless.

2nd January is a fixture going forward.

New fares will be loaded by, and announced on December 23

Now TfL have woken up and cant update in time, so National Rail are forced to postpone the zonal fare increases because TfL says so.


2014 fares changes in the London area
As a result of the late changes to fares regulation within London, Transport for London have advised that they cannot implement the revisions until 19 January 2014.
As a result, National Rail operators have agreed also to hold back price increases of all fares wholly within the London Zonal area (Zones 1-9) until 19 January 2014. This is to ensure that they are sold at the same price via both TfL and National Rail outlets.
Achieving this in the National Rail Fares System requires a number of fares updates to be processed, and as a consequence there will be an impact on which fares will be shown in ticketing and journey planning systems.
All fares will be available for sale at the correct prices if bought on the day of travel. Enquiries or advance sales dated for travel after 2 January 2014 may be affected. The table below shows what information will be shown in ticketing systems up to 19 January 2014:

Date passenger makes enquiry at ticket office or online between 23 - 26 December:
Intended travel date between 2 and 18 Jan
Incorrect fares will be shown (too expensive, i.e. post 19/1/14 prices). Do not sell these fares, please ask customers to return after 26 Dec.
Actual current (2013) fares continue to apply and you should quote these.

Intended travel date 19 Jan onwards
Systems will show the correct fares intended to apply from 19/1/14

Date passenger makes enquiry at ticket office or online between 27 December ^ 9 January:
Intended travel date between 2 and 18 Jan
Correct current (2013) fares will be shown

Intended travel date 19 Jan onwards
Incorrect fares will be shown (too cheap, i.e. current 2013 prices). Passengers enquiring about such fares should be advised to check back on or after 10 January.

Date passenger makes enquiry at ticket office or online between 10 - 19 January:
Intended travel date between 2 and 18 Jan
Correct current (2013) fares will be shown

Intended travel date 19 Jan onwards
Systems will show the correct fares intended to apply from 19/1/14


The rules applying to the issue of Season Tickets and Travelcards in advance remain unchanged. However, please ensure that for London area fares dated to commence between 2 and 18 January, the customer is charged the current 2013 prices.


London Pricing Manager
ATOC

So, to clarify - all 2013 fares apply until 19/1, or just Travelcards & Travelcard Seasons?

It's got be all or nowt, surely?

TfL have also delayed their planned contactless payment trial on the tube/DLR/rail services for this same reason.

I would guess that any tickets issued within the Zonal areas for any TfL travel the fares are set by TfL and thus remain at 2013 prices. Its also the reason why a paper zone 1 single is such a rip off (despite being sold by a TOC), because its set by TfL and they want people to use Oyster.
Any other season tickets which dont include any element of TfL travel e.g. Pad-Rdg increase on the date as previously advised.

So it may be cheaper to buy an unnecessary travelcard season than a point-to-london season at 2014 prices between 2nd & 19th January?! :-)

Frankly, that's silly. All prices should rise on 19th

Yep, silly. But we all know that when TfL says they want something ATOC always bows down to them and they always get it. Just look at that nasty connections map. I always thought dotted lines meant limited service,