Raj Sachdave, formerly Capita Travel’s


head of rail, now running the consultancy Black Box Partnerships, says: “The RDG does a good job promoting a smart, collaborative rail industry working for the customer but, under the surface, it is still a fragmented industry that doesn’t deliver results.” He adds: “Evolvi and Trainline have got


the buying and ticketing of rail travel done and dusted, but rail is usually only one segment of a business trip and they need to move beyond that. They should consider enabling booking of taxis, car rental, station car parking and other services – even left luggage. A network of service providers could be knitted together in one booking – how about coffee and a breakfast box delivered to your seat?” A development that could bring down


fares is the wider availability of advance ticket purchases on the same day. Advance ticket purchases are generally available only until 6pm the previous day, but operators, including CrossCountry and East Coast, now have limited availability on the same day. But advance fares are always lower the earlier you book, and there can be issues onboard if a passenger occupying a vacant seat is asked to move when it becomes reserved during the journey.


BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM


“There is little effect on booking policy,”


says a Trainline’s Higgins. “Some fares specific to a train operator may be slightly cheaper on the day than the walk-up fare, but if you need flexibility then the advance product may not be right for you.” Evolvi continues to develop, as Ken Cameron explains: “We have introduced multiple enhancements in recent times, notably around e-ticketing and auto-refunds. We are widening TMC access to our plat- forms, but we are also leading the way in innovations linked to our API, including successful integration between our respec- tive platforms with the Travel and Transport Statesman TMC. “The UK’s most advanced rail API enables


travel content aggregators, GDS, expense management systems and TMC portals to benefit. It covers all available fulfilment options and the widest range of fare types, and also provides access to the top 100 city pairs across Europe. Unlike other rail APIs,


any new functionality is instantly updated for our partners to integrate as they wish.”


SIMPLIFYING FARES Although online systems present fares as simply as possible, Cameron says the rail industry’s move towards simplifying fares is slow. “A key objective of the RDG Rail Simplification programme is to remove the anomalies and complexity that currently result in split ticketing, and it plans to offer the cheapest fare for every journey by default,” he explains. “We very much support these objectives but, like other stakeholders, feel frustrated by the apparent lack of progress.” While Evolvi and Trainline dominate the


market, Click Travel has developed its own system – OpenRail, which sits within its travel.cloud system. A key advantage is that no fees are payable when tickets are retrieved from ticket machines, while OpenRail offers full management information.


“A network of service providers could be knitted together in one booking – how about coffee and


a breakfast box delivered to your seat?” Raj Sachdave, Black Box Partnerships


BBT May/June 2018 129


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  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152