BR overcomes coaches
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BRITISH RAIL believes it has dealt effectively with inter-city coach competition, BR Inter-City director Cyril Bleasdale claimed in London last week.
He was addressing a Chartered Institute of Transport meeting, and said that while BR lost £8m of business to coach operators in 1981 and coaches' share of the market grew from 10 to 20 per cent, the position has since altered.
Mr Bleasdale claimed that the coach market has fallen to 15 per cent, and that the introduction of saver fares has produced £55m revenue, of which £10m has been generated. "I feel we have dealt effectively with coach competition," he said.
He also pointed out that although the Om lost revenue was only about two per cent of all of BR's revenue, it was worried about where the trend might lead, and felt compelled to try to hold on to its market share.
Mr Bleasdale conceded that BR may have over-reacted to the coach challenge by pitching some saver fares too low, and increases of up to 40 per cent in the last three months have helped improve BR's financial position.
He said that people are prepared to pay extra to travel by train, and said that experimental peak period supplements charged at Christmas would be followed by others designed to cope with peak travel provision.
And he went on to reveal that BR will be reducing the proportion of first class seats on InterCity trains from 28 to 24 per cent to increase the earning potential of these trains.