Quote:
Originally Posted by ThomasJ
Irrespective of the price rises IE WILL STILL WIN OUT in this area and Maynooth because THERE IS NO QUICKER WAY OUT!!!   |
True, as Derek and Mark both say there is a difference between long distance and short distance. My point is on the marginal differnce, and its real, eg Portlaoise. Any service that goes to city centre direct will be a cash cow, no matter what you charge at stations. Ones to Heuston will be more vunerable untill the interconnector is built.
So, IE have got to target speeds, they have to eliminate useless padding, they have to get more carraiges and more frquencey. They also have to remove potential barriers to customers - the most obvious being Car Parking Charges.
In other words, IE cannot get back those customers they have lost through job losses and such, but they can retain those customers who, thanks to changes in for example Road Tax, find that their fuel costs may be lessened by driving smaller cars, and who will feel the benefit of lower petrol prices filtering through in the coming weeks and months.
They can do this by more discounted fares, lobbying for an increase in the tax relief in seasonal tickets, by even extending the tax releif to car park charges and of course abolishing those charges altogether.