W14_Fishbourne wrote:

On Jun 22, 9:20 am, Chris Tolley wrote:
Paul Corfield wrote:


Once again, we see the magic of the franchise bidding system at work.
Promise a huge premium to win the bid, then get the customers to foot
the bill for it.

Who else do you think is going to pay for it?

You miss my point. If there are two similar bidders, one of whom offers
no fare rises above inflation and no premium, while the other offers a
golden promise tied to raising fares above inflation, experience
suggests that the latter will win the bid, and the customers will fare
worse (pun retained).

Don't forget that as use of the network increases off-peak is becoming
almost as busy as the peak. Off-peak fares were low to encourage
people to fill otherwise empty seats. If there aren't so many empty
seats...

I'm mainly an off-peak traveller, and my experience doesn't really match
your description, except when the schools are out.

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