Lner ditches off-peak for 70min semi-flexible fare

4 min read

Network

Mel Holley

Contributing Writer

rail@bauermedia.co.uk

LNER is scrapping all walk-on Off-Peak and Super Off-Peak fares from February 5, on journeys between London King’s Cross to/ from Newcastle, Berwick-upon-Tweed or Edinburgh.

Both tickets account for more than one-in-ten journeys on LNER.

It is the latest step towards an airline-style advance booking-only system, which rail users have denounced as signalling the end of affordable, immediate travel.

In a two-year pilot of a pre-booked semi-flexible ticket, it means the £87 flexible Super Off-Peak ticket is axed, leaving the Anytime Edinburgh/London one-way £193 as the only ‘walk-up’ option.

LNER says off-peak and super off-peak fares “only represent 11% of journeys”. Instead, it says there will be more advance fares available and for purchase up to five minutes before departure.

On January 29, RAIL searched for travel two weeks later (Tuesday February 6) to discover that the 1830 Edinburgh-London only had seven ‘semi-flexible’ tickets (at £69.80) on sale, while the 1936 departure had none. Previously, the £87 flexible off-peak ticket was available.

LNER said the move is the “next step of Simpler Fares” and that it

“builds on the successful roll out of Single Leg Pricing”. It added that journeys “will be priced more closely to demand, helping to smooth demand for services over the course of the day, all aimed at making rail travel even more attractive”.

The only ticket types will be:

■ Advance (Fixed train) - the best-value fare, but booked in advance for a fixed journey.

LNER is withdrawing off-peak tickets for journeys between London King’s Cross and Newcastle, Berwick and Edinburgh, and is instead promoting a ‘70-minute flex’ ticket which is less flexible than a walk-on off-peak fare. The trial does not include Leeds, which is 91110 Battle **of Britain Memorial Flight’s destination with the 1003 from King’s Cross on January 4.**

■ ‘70min Flex’ (Semi-Flexible) - a new type of ticket offering flexibility to travel on other LNER services, 70 minutes before or after their original booked journey.

■ Anytime (Fully Flexible) - full-price ticket. Can be used at any time of day.

Stewart Fox-Mills, Fares, Ticketing and Retail Programme Director at the Great British Railways Transition Team, said: “The cross-industry Fares, Ticketing and Retail Programme is bringing the railway together to co-ordinate introducing simpler fares packages, building on the great work LNER is delivering.”

However, rail travel expert Mark Smith (aka the Man in Seat 61) said it is “a major worsening” of fares for most people.

Commenting on moves previously announced towards simpler fares, he said. “We expected the three types to be an

This article is from...

Rail Magazine

7 February 2024

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