Should you be able to buy standing tickets on trains?

Question

90% of the time that i get on my local train i end up having to stand, after spending £7 every day for a ticket this gets a little annoying, so i was thinking that the train companies should just sell standing tickets at a reduced price for those willing to just stand. Do you think the greedy money grabbing train companies would think this was a good idea? should i suggest it to first great western?

Answer 1

I think you'll find that somewhere in the small print of Train Companies Rules or whatever that although you buy a ticket they do not guarantee you a seat so your idea of standing only tickets would probably go down like a lead balloon, all a question of profits.

Answer 2

If you read the Terms and Conditions, you will discover that when you buy a ticket from A to B the railway company is only undertaking to get you to B - it says nothing whatsoever about providing a seat (unless there's a seat reservation involved, and even then the Ts&Cs provide them with a get-out clause). This has always been the case since the beginning of the railways, though the very early railways made this quite explicit by putting their third-class passengers in open wagons with no seats!

Answer 3

You should not be able to buy standing only tickets. Ticket sales should be limited so that only enough tickets are sold to fill the seats.

I am familiar with the standing room only situation, but the train safety boards on the Glasgow-Edinburgh services asks passengers to remian in their seats until the train has stopped for safety reasons.

Answer 4

The previous posters have been correct, in stating that you pay for the journey you make on the train, and not for a seat. However, I just though't i'd add the fact that Grand Central, a pretty new open acess rail company, offers a 50% discount to any customer who has to stand on the train, when seats aren't available.

Whether you get a 50% discount for that leg of the journey, or just the part of the journey you have to stand (probably the former), I don't know.

Answer 5

You have to remember what happens if you find a seat then? There you are standing ticket in your hand and the train is only half full one day, wht do you do take a seat?

Quite frankly the whole idea of travelling by train and the ticket issueing facilities are a nightmare to control now, without adding to the problem.

Answer 6

I think i get what your saying, well if i want to stand then can i pay less, and without getting into all the pomp of "you don't pay for a seat" yadda yadda yadda.

Maybe would stop those that want a seat moaning, and those who don't cannot moan if they don't have one