This is the main criticism made of the SNCF. The great variability in prices increasingly irritates customers. This is the famous “yield management” invented for the airline sector and applied for many years to the SNCF (which prefers the term “dynamic pricing”). An approach that is part of a logic of supply and demand.
Thus, the price of a seat varies depending on the date, demand and whether the train is full at the time of booking. A seat for a desired destination, during a weekend, booked late will be charged at the highest price. Its price could be three times higher than that of the same place reserved well in advance for an early morning weekday departure.
The problem is that during booking peaks, and while the train is becoming more and more popular, the trains fill up very quickly and as a result the prices also increase very quickly. From one hour to the next, the price of the same place rises rapidly. A phenomenon amplified by the problem of the TGV fleet, currently undersized compared to demand.
Multiply the price possibilities
This volatility could be further amplified in 2024, because SNCF is finalizing the integration of a new IT pricing tool called S3 Passenger (developed by Sqills), which is already used by many rail operators around the world.
According to Les Echos, this new software package, already operational for Eurostar, the Normandy TER and Ouigo, should make it possible to multiply the possibilities of dynamic pricing with an even broader price scale adaptable to more traveler profiles. more scenarios. Therefore, leading to even higher price volatility.
Questioned by BFM Business, SNCF justifies this migration due to the age of its current system (Résarail), which dates back to 1993. “SNCF Voyageurs has chosen to evolve its reservation system in a context of necessary modernization of its IS (reservation system) ‘information, Editor’s note) The current tool dates back several decades and aims to provide the company with a robust, agile and efficient system.
Above all, the operator assures that this evolution “will have no consequences and will be invisible to our customers in the process of booking their train tickets.” Translation, the booking experience (via the SNCF Connect app or website) will not change.
But the carrier is careful not to mention the price variation. What is certain is that this evolution will affect “the trains that will run from the beginning of next year,” explains the SNCF.
a little pedagogy
It is difficult to evaluate today the new degree of price variability that the operator will offer on its trains. The topic is delicate.
The SNCF says it and repeats it again and again: if “yield management” were not used, there would surely be fewer very high prices but also many fewer very low prices and the average would increase, which could keep certain populations, as long as less rich, far from the train. And insist on the use of the Advantage card that limits prices.
However, although according to INSEE the price of tickets increases from month to month, how can we convey the message?
For this reason, the SNCF has just published short educational videos on social media, one of which answers the question of price volatility. With a bit of humor: “why can high-speed train prices change at high speed?”
In this animation (already viewed almost 4 million times), the SNCF recognizes that “things can go very quickly”, while explaining that it is about “avoiding having trains full to bursting and others running empty.” “Thanks to this method, 89% of tickets are sold cheaper than if the prices were fixed.”
Source: BFM TV
