THE REVIEW ›› ON THE GROUND East Coast wants bigger bite
BTS NEWS
EAST Coast has unveiled a number of changes to its
service as it bids for a greater market share of business travel between London and Edinburgh. The operator slashed its
Scottish Executive fare from £229 to £99 for a limited period – only available through TMCs – to encourage corporates on board to experience the product. The fully flexible Scottish Executive fare includes first class travel, a meal service and wifi access. “It’s our first ever promotional
fare through the travel trade,” said Martin Turner, head of sales at East Coast. “It’s a great opportunity to showcase our product and get business travellers to try before they fly.” The operator is aiming to further
boost its market share versus air travel on services between London and Edinburgh. It has also achieved record-breaking
first class passenger numbers since the introduction of a new timetable in 2011 and a compli- mentary meal service last year. “We know some organisations
want to switch from air to rail, but one of the biggest barriers is the perception of rail travel so it was a great opportunity for corporates to save money and let travellers experience the reality of
rail travel. It could be a real catalyst for change.” The operator also plans to
improve its wifi offering later in the year – delivering “a much more reliable service and greater bandwidth and capacity” – and has expanded its Rewards loyalty scheme to include customers’ bookings made through travel management companies.
VIRGIN MAKES ITS MARK
VIRGIN Trains achieved the highest ever passenger satisfaction rating for a long- distance franchise in the latest biannual survey by the rail watchdog Passenger Focus. At the centre of the West
Coast franchise debacle last year in which it faced losing its right to run the operation, it was particularly ironic that 92 per cent of Virgin Trains customers rated their overall experience as 'satisfactory' or 'good' in the latest edition of the survey, a figure also achieved by East Coast. The average satisfaction
figure across long-distance operators was 89 per cent, with Northern Rail, First Capital Connect and Southern the lowest-ranked operators.
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