Govia Thameslink Railway is trialling cheaper Southern Advance Peak tickets on Mondays and Fridays to try and encourage passengers back to travelling.

Ever since the lockdown, travel patterns have changed, with most passengers travelling to the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Some 40,000 fewer people travel on Monday mornings compared to Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and on Friday, this falls to some 90,000 fewer passengers.

GTR says that morning peak commuter figures sit at around 70% of pre-pandemic levels.

Two trials have been launched by Govia Thameslink Railway:

New Peak Time Advance Tickets

To encourage commuters to travel on Mondays and Fridays, Advance Tickets have been made available on a limited number of Southern services between East Croydon, Clapham Junction and London Victoria, and from stations south of Three Bridges to Eastbourne and Chichester.

These tickets will show in Southern’s journey planner when passengers book 12 weeks in advance, and will save up to 15% compared to a standard peak fare.

Loyalty Scheme

Southern is also trialing a new loyalty scheme for passengers, which runs throughout the spring. Points are accumlated with every pound spent and can be put towards family days out, subscriptions and cinema tickets.

GTR Customer Services Director Jenny Saunders said: “We’ve seen a sea change in travel habits because of the pandemic.

“Mondays and Fridays are unsurprisingly less popular with our customers because they bookend the week but our trains are quieter as a result, so we want more people to use them.

“Lower ticket prices coupled with Southern’s new loyalty rewards scheme will encourage people back to rail at times when we have more space on board, and they’ll help with the rising cost of living. We really hope both trials will be a success.”