RAIL BOOKING
electronically and matching it with TMC data.
Mayor Lindsey Freeman and Seaford rail passengers protest delays and cancellations on Southern Rail Delay repay – Counting down to DR15
BRITISH TRAIN OPERATORS HAVE A STATUTORY DUTY to compensate passengers on delayed services, and as these Delay Repay rules get tighter, businesses and individuals could recoup significant amounts of money. The delay threshold has come down over the years from 60 to 30 minutes, but, by 2020, a delay of only 15 minutes will trigger compensation claims. Some train operators are already under this regime, while Virgin Trains, East Coast, Great Western and East Midlands Trains will be on “DR15”soon
because new franchise awards mandate it.
Many passengers do not claim, either because they do not know about it or cannot be bothered. Also the process – usually by post – can be irksome. About 50 million train journeys a year are delayed but only 20 per cent of passengers claim compensation. This is changing as new tech-savvy players enter the market, including Railguard which works through TMCs. Managing director Matt Freckelton says: “Under the current scheme, up to 3 per cent of a business’s annual rail
spend could be claimed back, but this will move to 7 per cent when the new changes are fully rolled out. In 2016-17 train operators paid out £74 million, leaving an estimated £340 million unclaimed and retained by operators.” Railguard has already signed up some TMCs, which can opt to take a cut. It works by sifting all train running data
Delay Repay Sniper is longer established having become fully functional in 2013, since when it has handled nearly 600,000 claims. It is developing a system to work with TMCs, but mainly focuses on London commuters. “I used to commute into London and delays can be demoralising,” says Lee Fortnam, head of technical development. “Train operators go out of their way to make claiming difficult as it’s a direct cost to them, but now we do it for passengers.”
Delay Repay Sniper users pay £9.99 a month for a full service or £3.75 for the data to claim themselves. A 30-day free trial is available and passengers retain all the compensation. “We are working on a business solution, and it will be up to the business whether to let the individual keep the compensation or use it as revenue,” says Fortnam.
About 50 million train journeys a year arrive late – but only
20% The consumer market is already aware of
major savings that can be made by booking a rail journey using two or more tickets for the same trip – a phenomenon known as split ticketing. Some of the technology compa- nies involved have ambitions to move into the business sector, including Ticketclever, but would there be enough demand? As with any advance purchase, split tick-
eting costs less the further ahead you book. It’s not unusual to make savings of at least one-third, even on some peak hour journeys, as the systems come up with various com- binations of advance and Anytime tickets. Technology firms such as Ticketclever
and Raileasy are exploiting anomalies in fares that often make a ticket from A to C via B considerably more expensive than
132 BBT May/June 2018
two tickets A-B and B-C. The downside is that advance tickets are often tied to seat reservations and you may have to change seats even on the same train.
END OF SPLIT TICKETING? If the rail industry simplifies fares – it prom- ises an announcement later this year – split ticketing may disappear. Train operators may react to the loss of revenue by refusing to accept split ticketing unless the train stops at the stations involved. Like Evolvi, Trainline does not offer split ticketing. “We always aim to offer passengers the best fare possible, and split ticketing has long proved too complex to deliver due to the many millions of fare combinations,” says Trainline for Business’s Higgins. “We
of passengers claim for compensation
have for some time been working with the rest of the industry to find a solution to this immense challenge.” Black Box Partnerships’ Sachdave adds:
“Train operators aren’t best friends with these new players, and there are issues around how train operators share revenue on long journeys. You have to ask why split ticketing is necessary. If fares were simpli- fied, there would be no need. “How many business travellers can be
bothered with lots of tickets for the same journey, and needing to change seats?” However, Click Travel’s Chris Vince thinks business travellers would be interested. “Split ticketing can be inconvenient, but we can talk to businesses about how they can use it to their advantage,” he says.
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