It may seem hard to believe, but Blackpool’s Heritage Tram Tours will soon be five years old! The price of a day ticket has remained the same since the service began at Easter 2012, but is set to rise by £1 for the start of the 2017 season.
The new fare structure will see the price of an adult heritage day ticket rise to £11 (this of course covers unlimited travel on all heritage tours – including evening illumination tours when these operate – as well as travel on the core LRT service and Blackpool Transport’s bus network). A single round trip between Pleasure Beach and North Pier or Cabin will now cost £3.50 for adults and £2 for children.
With the heritage operation seemingly attracting more interest from the general public than ever before in 2016, now is probably a good time to put up the prices and in fairness, £11 for a day of tram riding on an 11 mile track is still very good value – although the extra £1 could create more work for conductors who will have more loose change to deal with! Still, that should be a small price to pay if, as hoped, it makes the service even more profitable as it could help more historic trams to be returned to service in the months and years ahead.
The first chance to ride on a heritage tram in Blackpool this year will be on the weekend of January 28th & 29th when six trams will run an intensive ‘gold’ service on both days.
Still excellent value for money especially when a day ticket covers the flexities and buses as well as the heritage trams. And BHT seem to have an ever increasing number of heritage trams to care for.
Whilst the fares are still well below most attractions, I do wonder if a £5 increase on the family ticket may be a bit hard to swallow for some. Otherwise still good value – compare to Tram riding in some of our museums, and you get more miles for your money 9and aproper ‘real’ tramway!
In reality the Family Ticket was too good value – effectively it gave 3 children free with two adults. Even with the increase the price is still less than the individual fares for 2 Adults plus one child!
I’m not saying it isn’t good value, I’m saying I’d be put off by a £5 overnight increase!
that depends what ride they are having! If its a normal day that single ride would be £3.50+£3.50+£2.00+£2.00=£2.00+£13.00 that’s nowhere near £25!
Absolutely spot on Ste. Other than during the Lights (where they perhaps all go for evening tour) id put money on % of family tickets been used sparingly with them merely been used to get to other attractions and then home. They often already have transport passes for the front line service bundled into the various packages & group tickets as well (which obviously good percentage of enthusiasts not interested in the other attractions are not aware of).
A good example of how the £25 ticket is good value! The quoted example cost of £13 is only for one round trip with the family, whereas for just less than the double the family can ride all day, and on the Flexities and buses as well! If then looking at the Illuminations period where the ticket also covers one round trip for the family through the Illuminations, then it makes even better value!
You’re not comparing like-for-like “Ste”…
The £25 Family Ticket is a DAY Ticket so the equivalent separate fares are £11+£11+£6+£6+£6=£40!!! (was £10+£10+£6+£6+£6=£38 last year)
A family just wanting a single round trip (your £13.00) would not have bought a family ticket last either… they would have bought individual mini-tour tickets at £3.00+£3.00+£2.00+£2.00=£2.00+£12.00, so your example family is actually faced with a £1 increase NOT £5.00.
What I’m saying is that an overnight increase of £5 is a lot to ask. yes its good value but how many families will have a couple of Heritage rides for their £20 because its a convenient banknote and not a great deal on a day out. Suddenly going up will either cause them to have one ride as per my calculation or buy a family 1 ticket to ride around to the various attractions etc. It will sell in the lights I’m sure. But to repeat AGAIN i didn’t say it wasn’t good value – I said it was a big increase overnight and therefore might put some off.
The price rises for 2017 perhaps inevitable when you consider the £10 day ticket has been the same price since BHTT inception in 2012. £1 rise seems pretty reasonable. But as a mere enthusiast do worry that the Family Price of £25 (Up from £20) will potentially push some families away. I hope its monitored closely & some special offers (Like the successful “Local Lights Nights” if nothing else are implemented to ensure hard pressed families still have access to this wonderful diverse collection of tramcars. Ensuring the next generation hop on board is vital going forward. I think the £25 ticket risks families just having a single ride and that for me is real shame. Want them to explore the collection and ensure % become heritage converts as then their potential future £11 ticket holders & long term supporters. To me its far to simplistic to just add up Adult Ticket x2 + Child Ticket to calculate what represents value for money for Family Ticket. Achieving that transfer from casual single ride to a family ticket is important step
I believe £25 is. What you pay just for. One person at the Pleasure Beach yet they seem to have plenty of takers. £25 for a family to have unlimited use of trams and buses for a day is still extremely reasonable and saves a lot of hassle with paying separate fares for each individual journey, so it’s a matter of convenience as well.
As just mere enthusiast (perhaps a very unpopular view) id rather see the Concessionary Ticket (noting Heritage gets no reimbursement its merely discount in effect) was withdrawn noting the 2017 concessionary decision on the LRT Side and they were brought into line with Full Day Ticket Holders instead of pricing up the Family Ticket. Convinced it would deliver better returns both revenue in the short term & be better for the operation going forward.
But Chris, the Concessionary Heritage Ticket purchaser gets less for their money than the purchaser of a full price ticket as it is NOT valid on the core service or the Buses, so a lower price is justified. It is worth noting though, that a considerable number of ‘senior’ enthusiasts (many I’m sure known to yourself) who are entitled to the Concessionary fare, choose to pay the higher rate entirely of their own volition.
To liken this to changes in the LRT Concessionary fares is misleading. The changes in acceptance of concessionary passes on the LRTs are absolutely nothing to do with any trade-off against family tickets, and entirely due to changes in what Blackpool Borough Council and Lancashire County Council were willing to reimburse the operator for on a discretionary basis over and above their statutory responsibilities under the ENCTS…
I would quite agree with the Concession withdrawal. You do get less for your money but the extra couple of quid would benefit Heritage enormously. Increases are never popular and we will see what/if any affects are.