East Midlands Railway extreme increases

Moopsey

I travel to London from Corby once a week for work. Previously, I'd pay £34 for the advance return ticket, leaving at 6:11, and return journey at 16:17, this went up to £37 after the 1 March increase, fair enough. Then after Easter, it suddenly jumped to £75, or even £91 if I look at tickets 12 weeks away. I've contacted EMR but not had a response. Even using split ticketing with the new prices is such a huge increase. I thought the rail fare increase was around 3.8%, or even in line with inflation, but this is double and then some! Anyone know why this may be? Apart from railcards, of which I can't see any that I'm entitled to, or split ticketing, is there any way around these huge increases? I'm having to reconsider my job, after 18 years working at the same place. These rail fare increases are pushing me over the financial line

Andy_L

Only certain fares are "regulated" and subject to the increase cap

"Around 45% of rail fares are 'regulated' with increases directly influenced by government policy. This includes season tickets on most commuter journeys, some Off-Peak return tickets on long distance journeys and Anytime tickets around major cities."

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/your-rail-fare.aspx

MSE_James

Advance fares are set in tiers - usually with the lowest tier offered first, and train operators can decide how many (if any) tickets to offer in each tier for a particular train.

It may be that EMR has adjusted the availability of cheaper tiers at the times you are travelling, in order to raise more revenue from commuters.

(Bearing in mind that a huge proportion of railway revenue used to come from season ticket holders commuting 4/5 times a week, and the effect of COVID and hybrid working means that source of income is very much diminished.)

echo82

As above, the issue seems to be that the cheapest tier of Advance ticket offered in the morning peak is £54, no matter the date. The 1617 is the 'last' cheap train, with £17.50 tickets available, so £71.50 would be the cheapest you could possible do that journey, excluding split ticketing (which would save a bit, but not a huge amount).

If you can shift your day half an hour earlier, travel on the 0539 and returning on the 1547 (or still 1617) still has £17.50 tickets on each leg, so £35 return is possible.

East Midlands Railway are only releasing advance tickets up until the 26th August at the moment, which is why the ones 12 weeks out are more expensive right now.