The average price of a rail
ticket transacted through Evolvi Rail Systems, one of the United Kingdom's two
main corporate rail booking tool providers, fell to £61 in 2010 from £66 in
2009, and the company expects it to fall below £60 during the first six months
of 2011. Evolvi managing director Ken Cameron attributed the decrease in part
to downgrades to standard class from first class, especially by public-sector
travelers, and advance booking through online tools.
Quoting figures from the
Association of Train Operating Companies, Evolvi reported that almost 60 percent
of 2010 U.K. rail reservations fulfilled by travel management companies were
made online through a corporate booking tool. Total U.K. rail sales through
TMCs in 2010 rose 4.3 percent year over year to £522 million, but Evolvi claimed
to outperform the market by generating 8 percent more revenue versus 2009.
Evolvi's transaction volume climbed at an even steeper rate, to 4.25 million in
2010 from 3.6 million a year earlier.
"These results confirm a growing enthusiasm for
the smart procurement of rail within the corporate sector and the increasing
productivity appeal of this mode of transport when compared to road and air,"
according to Cameron. "Rail outperformed every other area of business
travel over the last year."
Evolvi, which sells only through
TMCs and not directly to corporate clients, indicated that it handled more than
half of all U.K. TMC rail sales and 27 percent of all U.K. online rail sales,
including both the corporate and retail markets. Evolvi claimed as users of its
service eight of the United Kingdom's 10 largest TMCs.
Cameron noted that the U.K.
government has allowed the train operators to increase fares up to 3 percent
above inflation, a move that he said would "likely prompt
even more corporates to consider consolidating their rail spend within a
managed travel policy environment."
Cameron also predicted that agency commissions paid by
rail companies, currently at 4 percent, would continue to fall in 2011. Evolvi
passes all commissions on to its TMC partners, charging them a transaction fee
instead.