Rail travel ➔ to adapt leisure-oriented technology to
accommodate the controls, compliance and reporting needs of corporates. “It’s not just about starting a website”
says Evolvi’s Cameron. “You have to understand exactly what the market needs and then develop the product to meet those needs.” Ian Cairns, head of distribution at
TheTrainline.com echoes these sentiments. “Lots of business travellers book through our consumer website, so they expect to see the same functionality in a business environment. Our objective is to add features that will drive greater managed
tr“ To offer truly intermodal ”
avel, rail booking systems need
to penetrate the customer base more effectively and be more visible at the booking stage alongside their airline counterparts
Pictured: Grand Central, County Durham
programme usage, such as a prompt that procurement can activate that allows travellers to book the lowest available price on the day. In effect we are following disciplines that are already in place for air and hotels,” says Cairns. Kevin Trill, head of e-commerce at FCm
Travel Solutions, welcomes TheTrainline’s announcement that travellers will be able to print their own tickets, but sees limited benefits for the corporate because not all stations have installed barcode readers. “You can only print advance purchase tickets and refunds aren’t allowed, so the technology isn’t flexible enough for the corporate market,” he explains. Despite the recognition of a common booking platform, TMCs are developing their own online tools to rival those of Evolvi and TheTrainline. Click Travel, for example, has developed an online tool which can accommodate business rules to help customers direct their travellers to the best value tickets. Looking to the international rail landscape, Thomas Drexler, director of rail at global distribution system, Amadeus, believes attitudes to distribution must change. “To offer truly intermodal travel, rail booking systems need to penetrate the customer base more effectively and be more visible at the booking stage alongside their airline counterparts.” Amadeus’ FlyByRail solution allows rail services to be booked from the same screen as flights. “Approaches to ticketing will also need to become more dynamic, and railways will need to become less nationalistic with regards to distribution,” says Drexler. “As cross-border travel increases, there will need to be greater
FRANCHISING FIASCO
LAST SUMMER the DfT awarded the lucrative West Coast franchise, run since 1997 by Virgin Trains, to FirstGroup. Virgin boss Richard Branson successfully challenged the decision in the courts, leading eventually to the franchise award being cancelled and returned to Virgin until November 2014. This contracted exercise cost the taxpayer around £55million in legal fees and compensation. The debacle prompted an independent enquiry into the DfT’s handling of the bid process, and a separate report by Eurostar chairman Richard Brown. The enquiry, chaired by Centrica boss, Sam Laidlaw, highlighted a catalogue of shortcomings ranging from inadequate planning and preparation to defi ciencies in organisation structure. The DfT’s response admitted that Laidlaw had identifi ed
➔ 34 THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE
“a series of errors and misjudgements… which cannot be allowed to happen again.” Like wrongly adding up a column of fi gures for example… The Brown Report called on government to cut franchise lengths and set clear guidelines on how much capital is required from bidders, but stopped short of calling for wholesale change to the bid process. Brown pointed out that, since privatisation, Britain’s railways carry 92 per cent more passengers on more and newer trains, more of which arrive punctually. TheTrainline’s Claire Morrissey believes that it remains to be seen what lessons have been learned from the fi asco. “It’s a very complicated process, and the longer the franchise the more complicated things become. It’s not just government’s
job to decide on the best operator for a specifi c franchise; a more consultative approach is needed.” Raj Sachdave of Capita believes that existing franchising
agreements don’t allow TOCs to be agile enough to react to specifi c market sector needs and that fundamental change is needed. “Business travellers want a premium economy class which Chiltern have delivered because their franchise allows them to be agile. It’s diffi cult for inter-city TOCs because of their franchise agreements.” Sachdave’s solution is for bidders to meet a baseline
requirement and thereafter tailor their bids in terms of service specifi cation and duration according to market needs. “It should be up to bidders to decide how long they wish to bid for. Doing so would make bidders more accountable whereas now they can simply blame the DfT for a restrictive specifi cation.” Having emerged victorious – and with image majorly
enhanced - from the franchise debacle, Richard Stanton of Virgin Trains acknowledges the uncertainty the whole affair has caused. “We believe the way franchises are let and managed could be better. Government should set the outcomes it wants, but it does not need to prescribe in detail how operators deliver them. “Not every franchise needs to be evaluated in the same
way. Of course there need to be safeguards for customers through some formal regulation but operators need to be given the freedom to make decisions in a timely way that will benefi t the customer.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108