The rail industry is making language clearer for half a million routes this September as part of its plan to change and improve the fares system, as customers say getting the right ticket can be confusing.
Train companies are cutting jargon from tickets and journey information for 500,000 routes this September, as part of its commitment to increase customer satisfaction by delivering simpler ticketing. This is part of the industry’s aim to eliminate 1.6 million instances of potentially misleading jargon within the next couple of years.
Recent KPMG research found that a fifth (22%) of people do not think it is easy to understand what type of ticket they need to buy for their journey and a third (34%) do not trust that they are always getting the best deal available.
The rail industry is working hard to bring more clarity. The latest changes mean that in total since February 2017, all 14,000 uses of ‘Route Direct’ and over 670,000 (13%) uses of ‘Any Permitted’ will be removed where there is only one way to travel or replaced with the name of a major station the train passes through or where the customer must change train. Rail companies are also changing ‘London Terminals’ to specify the single London station the fare is valid to on the ticket, or when it is valid to multiple stations, they are providing supporting data online.
As a result, 91% of passengers using ticket vending machines are now buying the most appropriate ticket for their journey, an improvement of 11% since last year according to an ORR mystery shopping investigation published in July. If customers do purchase the wrong ticket through a ticket vending machine and have paid too much, all 17 train companies now have a price guarantee in place and will refund the additional cost.
Changes to ticket wording are part of steps the industry is taking to make fares easier for customers, including the ongoing roll-out of smart-ticketing and providing clearer information about peak and off-peak times and about how people can use their ticket.
However, to improve and simplify the types of fares available, modernise ticketing systems and develop fare structures to suit the way people work and travel today, decades old regulation will need to be brought up to date. That’s why the Rail Delivery Group joined forces in June with transport user watchdog Transport Focus to launch a consultation to find out what passengers want to see from any effort to drive ‘root and branch reform’ of the system.
Jason Webb, Deputy Managing Director of Customer Portfolio at the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the rail industry, said:
“We know it can be confusing to buy a ticket on the train and that the outdated jargon unique to rail like ‘London Terminals’ or ‘Any Permitted’ is part of the problem. We are making huge efforts as an industry to make this easier where we can, but to really make fares simpler to understand we need regulatory change. That’s why we’re running a consultation and asking customers to have their say on what they want from the future fares system.”
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