It was great to be back at the World Passenger Festival where it all began for us when we launched FareVantage™ back in 2019. A lot has happened since then, to say the least.
It was great to be back at the World Passenger Festival where it all began for us when we launched FareVantage™ back in 2019. A lot has happened since then, to say the least.
Topics: Dax Cross, Revenue Management, Featured, Passenger Rail
The prestigious title, awarded by the Rail Business Awards, credits the partnership with leveraging advanced analytics to create efficiencies in pricing and scheduling.
Topics: Dax Cross, Revenue Management, Featured, Passenger Rail
Introduction
Topics: Predictive Analytics, Revenue Management, Passenger Rail
Stage |
How do I know I’m here? |
What’s the summary? |
Stage 3 – Full Steam Ahead |
Demand has mostly recovered across all journeys; full schedules are active and demand levels have stabilized over a few months. |
You are now at a new normal and you’ll need to refresh your strategies, forecasting approaches and price sensitivities accordingly. |
There is light at the end of the tunnel. Consumers start to travel by Rail rather than road and consumer confidence is at the highest it has been for months. Rail operators will be at full capacity and demand has normalized across all OD’s. As we move onto the last stage, operators should focus and act on what the new levels of demand will be and evolve to what could be the “New Normal.”
At this point, passenger purchasing behavior will have likely changed for good. We expect to see a wider traveling pattern across various times of the day and booking more closely to the departure date. While demand will gradually tick upwards, customers will still be overly sensitive to price without just and clear cause.
Revenue Management Systems will need to adapt to these new changes and learn from them so Rail operators can develop new strategies accordingly. This of course may change over time so its key that you find a balance of human intelligence - Revenue Managers who can see and hear what's happening across the industry - and Artificial Intelligence - a system that quickly learns about the new customer behaviors and automatically adjusts and provides accurate forecasts.
While COVID-19 forced Revenue Management teams to stop their existing approach, in some cases switch them off completely, now is the time to re-enable and re-align. Changes to passenger behaviour/sensitivities, frequent schedule shifts, the growing demand on Rail networks and the need for next-generation technology were all inevitably pointing towards a digital transformation in Rail anyway. COVID-19 has simply expedited this change.
We at Revenue Analytics have experienced the need for change across other verticals (Hotels, Airlines, Media) and have been part of that journey in building solutions that will help companies innovate and adapt to market changes. COVID-19 is so different to any other crisis, which is why Rail operators need to put the right plans in place for their Revenue Management System to help support recovery plans come 2021 and their customers will into the future.
The Future of Rail Demand:
Topics: News, Revenue Management, Stan Ward, Featured
Stage |
How do I know I’m here? |
What’s the summary? |
Stage 2 - |
Demand continues to rise weekly with the lifting of travel restrictions and individual markets begin to show promise. |
You’re monitoring granular performance by market and identifying opportunities to actively drive revenue. |
This stage focuses on reacting to the new insights around the increase in levels of customer demand and ensuring you are ready to capture any revenue opportunities.
Topics: News, Revenue Management, Stan Ward, Featured
The COVID-19 crisis continues to have a major impact on Passenger Rail, but with countries progressively seeing increases in demand across all forms of transportation, Rail operators sights are now focused on building recovery plans in order to get back on track. The objective of these plans is to be ready for what is now becoming a frequently used term, the “New Normal.”
With the sudden drop in demand and uncertainty on whether demand will ever go back to what they were pre COVID-19, this is forcing Revenue Management and Commercial Leaders to adapt and rethink their approach to Revenue Management.
As operators begin their journey to recovery, they are faced with a high degree of uncertainty related to various challenges that will arise from the impact of COVID-19
Topics: News, Revenue Management, Stan Ward, Featured
How are other rail operators responding to COVID-19? What’s working and what’s not? What are their future plans?
Topics: Matthew Jacoby, Pricing, Featured, Passenger Rail
As I write this article in the third week of April, the COVID-19 crisis continues to suppress passenger rail demand in the UK and Europe, with rail travel down by 60% or more. Most rail operators have essentially suspended their typical Revenue Management activities and are offering primarily (if not exclusively) flat-priced fares.
Topics: News, Revenue Management, Stan Ward, Featured
I’m delighted to share the announcement by London North Eastern Railway (LNER) that it has implemented the Revenue Analytics FareVantage™ Revenue Management System (RMS). LNER went live with FareVantage™ in late 2019, and the next-generation RMS has already helped the UK rail company, which operates on the East Coast mainline, boost ridership on price-sensitive journeys and generate substantial revenue uplift.
Topics: Dax Cross, Revenue Management, Featured, Passenger Rail, FareVantage
Passenger Rail operators are in a tough position as a public service that must still meet revenue goals.
Topics: Dax Cross, Revenue Management, Featured, Passenger Rail