thetrainline business
Property company reduce train ticket price by 32%
Background
In January 2005, before booking travel through thetrainilne, the client had an annual rail travel spend of £700,000 and an average ticket value of £86. The purchasing culture at the organisation varied, with rail tickets being bought through various channels, but predominantly purchased at the station on the day of travel.
Challenges
- The client had a mixture of booking processes; some employees booked for themselves and some had tickets booked on their behalf, therefore thetrainline had to ensure that the corporate rail ticket booking tool was functional across both these channels.
- Some employees were unfamiliar with booking travel online, therefore the new booking process needed to be simple and streamlined.
- Employee's awareness of the company's online booking policy varied across different locations and departments.
- The client had different offices located throughout the country, which posed the problem of understanding how each office booked their travel and if they adhered to the client's travel policy.
Targets
The client's main target was to save money and reduce the price of its average ticket value, therefore four goals were agreed to reach this target:
- Keep online bookings above 99%
- Increase purchases of single tickets
- Maintain fast ticket machines usage at 85% and above
Booking Tool
thetrainline booking tool gave the client access to a full range of UK rail tickets, including cheaper
advanced tickets which are not available at the station on the day of travel. It also provided the
option of choosing two single tickets, which are often cheaper than booking a return.
The booking website enabled the client to accurately track, via the 'management information'
facility, how much each office had spent, what type of ticket they were buying and who purchased
the tickets. This data was then used to identify and solve any issues, such as buying outside the
corporate travel policy.
Key client offices were located close to train stations on the Ticket on Departure Network, enabling tickets to be booked online a minimum of two hours before departure and tickets to be collected at the station, helping to achieve compliance.
Results
thetrainline achieved the company goal of 'reducing the average ticket value' with a 32.5% decrease from £86 to £58.
Key attributes to this achievement have been:
- Maintaining the business plan with the expertise of thetrainline business manager
- 85% of all rail bookings booked through thetrainline
- 99% of bookings are booked online
- 60% of tickets purchased are cheaper single tickets
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