RAIL BOOKING


Just the ticket?


Train operators, TMCs and travel technology firms are


improving delay compensation, auto-refunds and e-ticketing. But business travellers have yet to realise the benefits


By DAVE RICHARDSON I


NCREASED USE OF RAIL BY busi- ness travellers is driven as much by booking technology as by onboard improvements and public investment


in the infrastructure. That technology is continuing to develop. Evolvi (exclusively via TMCs and ap-


plication programme interface links) and Trainline for Business (via TMCs and also working directly with corporates) dominate booking of rail travel within Britain, while the GDSs are developing technology to book rail travel in Europe and beyond, and into Britain. Trainline has also launched a European booking system and Evolvi now offers 100 European city pairs via API links, while both also offer Eurostar. The Evolvi, Trainline and TMC Click Travel systems are highly developed and


128 BBT May/June 2018


used via self-booking tools, with the benefits of advance booking when possible widely understood. The savings are obvious, with Evolvi’s average ticket value continuing to fall despite year-on-year fare increases across the rail industry. The average transaction was £56.82 in 2017, down from £59.03 in 2013 – despite average fare increases of around 3 per cent per annum in that time. Evolvi and Trainline are focused on rolling


out e-ticketing to mobile devices, but here they are dependent on investment by train operators. E-ticketing is being made a require- ment of new franchise agreements, but many operators still restrict it to advance rather than flexible “Anytime” tickets, with some major operators, including Great Western, having hardly any e-ticketing capability. But David Higgins, director at Trainline for Business, says: “We are part of an industry


project that is delivering e-tickets across the national network by the end of 2018, which is pretty swift by industry standards. We’re confident this objective will be met.” Evolvi managing director Ken Cameron


is more guarded, saying: “Our customers very much support the concept of friction- less travel, and e-ticketing is an important element in that, but there are structural challenges that need to be overcome to enable corporate travellers to benefit from e-ticketing for multi-operator journeys.” Most corporates are still determined to


drive down ticket costs further, and apart from split ticketing (see p132) they await moves by the rail industry to simplify fares across the board. Trials were announced by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which includes all train operators, early in 2017 – but there has been little progress.


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