Re: Overland service - input wanted
Michael Walker (walker@hotkey.net.au)
Mon, 20 Apr 1998 01:05:30 +1000
>>>It does not matter whether they have a Club Car or a
>>>Cafeteria Car or snacks after lights out, the general
>>>public will not use them.! It is that simple.
>>
>>Is that why the Melbourne XPTs are always so full?
>
>
>No - the reason why the Melbourne XPT's (and other Countrylink services)
are
>always so full is because NSW and ACT pensioners get 4 free First Class
>single tickets to anywhere on the NSW network, including Surfers Paradise.
>What a lot of them do is use one voucher from Sydney to Surfers, the second
>voucher from Surfers to Albury, the third voucher from Albury to Broken
>Hill, and the fourth voucher from Broken Hill back to Sydney (or something
>similar). That way, they get 3 return trips.
>
Also not forgetting the railway employees who get a free first class trip
anywhere in Australia first class every 12 months. The airlines did a study
(and I think the railways did one too that proved the same thing) that
showed most people who travel in first class travelled at a discount (eg
employee, pensioner on concession, etc). This was one of the reasons the
airlines ditched first class for a revamped and expanded business class on
domestic flights.