Could Virgin Run A Double Shuttle?
Coming back from Manchester today, I didn’t book a ticket, but then I never do when returning to London.
Suppose I’m going to a football match or a meting at a place like Huddersfield, which is a single change at Manchester Piccadilly or Liverpool Lime treet station.
Going North, I’ll choose a train that gives me about an extra hour to get me to the stadium in time for the match. This means that if the trains are running to time, I will have time to buy a gluten-free lunch at Carluccio’s in Piccadilly station or Liverpool before doing the second leg to the destination.
I might book a First Class Advance, but usually on a Saturday, I’ll book an Off Peak ticket in Standard Class and pay the Upgrade on the train.
Coming home, I’ll always use an Off Peak ticket, as from many places, you can never guarantee to be able to get to the station to catch a booked train. Especially, if it’s a wekend and there are Rail Replacement Buses.
I use similar booking tactics to places like Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield and York.
It is a tactic that works well and I’ve never needed to buy a new ticket to get home, because I’ve missed a booked train.
Today got me thinking, as I came home from Manchester.
Would it be more profitable, if Virgin ran the service between London and Manchester as a turn-up-and-go Shuttle?
- Passengers would be able to book the trains in the normal manner.
- It would also be possible to turn up at Euston or Manchester and just by touching in and touching out with contactless technology at your destination to get on the train.
- Perhaps it could all be done on a simple terminal where you choose your class and destination, paying for the ticket with contactless technology using ApplePay, AndroidPay or a bank card.
- At Manchester Piccadilly, I had plenty of time today, so taking ten minutes to buy a ticket wasn’t a problem.
- Surely, the quicker you can buy a ticket, the more passengers will travel.
- Three trains an hour would run in both directions always starting from the same platforms.
It could get very interesting, if it was made into a double shuttle, with Euston to Liverpool services.
I suspect there’s a pattern, that perhaps has six trains an hour to Crewe, with some trains going to Manchester and others to Liverpool.
The Anonymous Widower 
I used to buy return tickets from London to Huddersfield so that I could travel to Manchester and return from Doncaster (after visiting relatives).
Not sure why you would go via Liverpool as you have a half hour journey to Manchester first.
There already are three trains an hour to / from Manchester from / to Euston – two via Stoke and one via Crewe, but these are often fully booked.
British Airways offered a MANLHR shuttle service back in the eighties – there were loads of problems and they kept changing the ticket rules so you could sensibly buy loads in advice or be used the same as just bought walk on tickets (I bought ten rounds trips once when the Sunday Times warned of an imminent price increase).
Customer service was so bad that I cut up and returned my BA execute club card three times, BA sent a new one twice!
Comment by Mark Clayton | March 10, 2016 |
Manchester to Liverpool used to be difficult, because Liverpool trains went from Victoria but London and many other trains arrived at Piccadilly. Not sure if this is still the case, since I don’t usually use the trains, and certainly wouldn’t for a long journey. Although I do need to try trains again.
Comment by nosnikrapzil | March 10, 2016 |