I have read lots of threads on this and none provide any clear replies. Given that you have now introduced ticket scanners at Waterloo, pease advise when you will be introducing Flexible Season Tickets for part time workers?
If no specific date is available please advise why it is taking so long to implement, whether there is a current live project and what is the ‘go live date’ for that project.
Hello Julie, Carnet tickets have been introduced to provide a cheaper alternative for customers who travel regularly, but not frequently enough to warrant purchasing a season ticket.
You can see more about this type of ticketing here: https://bit.ly/2DSKWRh
SWR promised the government 2.6bn over 7 years, banking on 7% passenger growth per year. The reality is passenger numbers have tanked, 16m less passengers in 2017 and significantly reduced season ticket sales.
Flexible working means more people working remotely and I guess others are just sick of the dismal service and choose to work elsewhere.
For these reasons SWR will never have the flexible ticket people expect. If they offered a 5 day weekly instead of 7 it would likely be adopted by most commuters, instantly cutting into their revenue.
What the carnet has done has given the illusion of meeting a manifesto promise, but only on a technicality. It certainly is not the product any consumer had in mind.
I’m afraid that is not an acceptable response. Look at the forum replies in response to the ‘carnet initiative’. 5% discount is simply unacceptable when 5 day commuters have a significantly higher discount for purchasing an annual season ticket. The carnet ticket is a massive shortcoming and a moulded loophole to fudge providing what was promised in your franchise agreement.
So my question again - when will you provide a flexible season ticket that matches the discount of an annual season ticket for part time commuters?
i think that's actually unreasonable.
An annual season ticket offers a 36% discount assuming you work 5 days per week, don't have holidays and don't work bank holidays. It carries a 28% discount if you have 4 weeks holiday.
A 3 or 6 monthly ticket offers a 17%-26% discount depending on holidays.
A monthly ticket offers a 29% discount if you are working the whole month.
A weekly ticket offers an 18% discount.
I agree with you that the Carnet discount is pathetic (5% discount). Matching the discount on the weekly ticket would be reasonable and would lower the price to £134.
Of course what would be better is to use the data from the touch tickets to automatically calculate a discount based on volume through the year.