Dynamic Capacity Management

People like to travel by train. The railway network delivers double the number of passenger journeys and passenger kilometres it did 20 years ago, growth which has outperformed external drivers such as population growth. However, the rail network is constrained. Additional rolling stock and infrastructure are both expensive and slow to deliver. To attract and retain new passengers, which is needed if the Government is to reach its net zero 2050 target, the industry needs to find ways to free up space on peak services by increasing use of off-peak ones. Meanwhile the world is changing. Technology enables people to work remotely, or at multiple jobs, and many people no longer work the traditional working week of 9-5, Monday to Friday. Commuters who travel regularly but intermittently face a stark choice between the convenience of a season ticket, requiring a large up-front payment, and effectively paying for journeys they’ll never use, or less convenient and proportionally higher priced alternatives. This pricing structure appears unfair to many and overwhelmingly disadvantages women, who make up the majority of the part-time workforce. Dynamic Capacity Management brings these factors together. It will help maximise use of existing capacity by introducing utility-style ticketing that for the first time adjusts to travel patterns and rewards particular choices. Passengers will have access to the value for money of an annual season ticket via a monthly subscription, thereby avoiding the large up-front fee. They will have the assurance of the best value fares and tap-anytime convenience with the option to secure reductions against the next month’s subscription for days they don’t travel and/or when they use specified services. Train Operators get better utilisation of their existing assets, with increased revenue for little extra cost. And they gain the potential to dynamically manage demand in response to network disruption. Dynamic Capacity Management will be grounded by the insights of a real-world trial.