Yeah, because you merged with Thalys - so, surprise surprise, you transported more people
Passenger numbers London - Paris/Bruxelles are still down on the last pre-pandemic year, not least because Eurostar now no longer serves Ebbsfleet and Ashford
@jon I'm sure I've seen this written up somewhere (probably by you), but are there any options for journeys to terminate and/or start at Ebbsfleet or Ashford? My gut says no with the layout of Ebbsfleet (mostly in a cutting), but Ashford is a bit more open
@jimh@jon the limit is the border security staff. They stopped serving ebbsfleet and Ashford so as to move the staff to London. Then they complain they can't process a full train cos stp is too small...
@jon One reason for passengers being down on the last pre-pandemic year is ... surprise surprise ... the pandemic. I'm not riding one of their trains again - or any other public transport - until they offer a plausible guarantee of zero covid exposure on the journey.
@TimWardCam Sure. There are many reasons why it is likely down. But to claim it's not down is simply wrong - the group's numbers are only up because of the merger!
(FWIW trying to work out if air in a train is safe has been an absolute pain - I’ve got pretty much nowhere in my efforts to understand it)
@jon@TimWardCam The number of passengers is up because they merged with another operator. A bit like if Lidl get more customers by merging with Carrefour...
@jon One thing I've noticed since I've started doing my European trips by rail instead of air is how much more expensive it is.
I'm sure Eurostar numbers would increase if someone could sort out transport taxation and subsidies so that train travel wasn't such an expensive option (or air travel wasn't so cheap).
@statsguy No, disagree strongly. Eurostar are absolutely milking it - because they're a monopoly operator with a route with strong demand. Why would they reduce their prices - their trains are full. In the case of Eurostar, this is a problem for rail alone - you cannot blame air for the high prices for trains there.
You need more capacity, and on that route, probably also competition.
@jon Ah OK, fair enough. I'm sure you've looked into this in way more detail than I have. But either way, it seems that some sort of government action is needed to make prices competitive with flying, right?
And am I right in thinking that one of the constraints on Eurostar capacity is the time it takes for all the additional passport checks after Brexit?
@statsguy Sure, the border checks don't help. But if you only serve St Pancras, and no longer Ebbsfleet and Ashford, you compound your problem there - because the station is so small. So you end up transporting fewer passengers, total, but each of them paying a higher fare on average.
@jon Do you know the reasoning for not reopening those stations? Is there something local government can do? Surely it would be an opportunity to increase competition and capacity? I read in the comments on the FT piece someone suggesting Stratford as another hub.I guess folks have looked into this but it seems such an obvious solution?
But in short: money. Eurostar wants to profit maximise, regardless of what Cazenave says. She sees no economic benefit to those stations. A competitor might. But competitors have other huge hurdles to overcome. And UK government doesn't care.
@jon@statsguy as I understand, it wasn't Eurostars decision to only serve St. Pancreas, but rather a demand to meet the new post Brexit border control requirements? That's at least what Eurostar staff told me on our last trip two years ago.
@orangerkater@statsguy Not quite. There would be a cost for Eurostar to keep those terminals open, but had Eurostar been willing to finance keeping border controllers there I am sure the UK government would have had nothing against it.
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