Ouigo

Ouigo ( / wi'go / ) is a brand of French state railway SNCF for inexpensive train services between Marne -la- Vallée ( near Paris ) and the South East of France. The trains run under this brand since 2 April 2013.

Concept

The concept of Ouigo trains based on the idea of low -cost carriers in air traffic ( for example, Ryanair, Easyjet ) and includes the following:

  • Tickets can be purchased on your own website or via the mobile app exclusively online. A purchase at vending machines, ticket offices or on the SNCF website is not possible. Tickets must be purchased at least four hours before the start of the ride. The tickets themselves are made of a QR- code, which can either be printed or viewed on your own mobile phone. Passengers must already be at the station 30 minutes before departure.
  • For the Ouigo transports four modified TGV Duplex trains are used, which are exclusively provided with a second class of travel with 2 2 or 3 1 seats. A dining car does not have the moves. By means of these modifications can be up to 634 passengers are carried in a train - twenty percent more than usual TGV trains. The trains run mostly as a double unit and offer 1268 seats.
  • The trains provide each daily output of up to 3800 km, twice as much as a conventional TGV. The maintenance takes place at night in the " Technicentre " Lyon- Gerland.
  • For the trip, it is allowed one piece of luggage per person (with a maximum size of 35 cm × 55 cm × 25 cm) and one piece of hand luggage (27 cm × 15 cm × 36 cm ) free take. For more or larger pieces of luggage, a surcharge must be paid.
  • The Ouigo trains use more remote stations to save station tolls of RFF. So the station Marne -la- Vallée is for Paris approached, for the Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport train station.
  • Since the tickets are already checked on entry, only a minimum of staff (four) is provided for the care of a train.
  • The customer service is very limited. The only way Ouigo to contact, the web form on your website. There is no phone number or e -mail address to which customers can turn.

Stations

The Ouigo trains stop at the following stations: Marne -la- Vallée- Chessy, Lyon Saint -Exupéry, Lyon Part -Dieu, Lyon Perrache, Valence, Nîmes, Montpellier, Avignon, Aix en Provence and Marseille.

The traffic routes (LGV Sud -Est LGV Rhône-Alpes and LGV Méditerranée ) are among the most used in the French high-speed network.

Prices

As described above, the Ouigo concept consists of, to save as much cost as possible to keep the fare low. Tickets for adults vary 10-85 euros, depending on the route and time of purchase. Furthermore, the following rules apply Price: Children under 12 years pay regardless of the route five euros. Luggage surcharges ( per piece ) vary between five euros ( when booking the tickets ), ten Euro (online, after buying the tickets, but before departure) and 40 € ( outside the station ). Reservations for seats with power outlets cost two euros per person. Accompanying children under 12 years of age at time of reservation of the option by at least one adult free access to a power outlet. Selects a passenger a seat with electrical outlet must be paid the fee of all traveling together, passengers aged 12 years, because the sockets are grouped in the car. Furthermore, there are small group rates.

Reactions

The response to the offer of the SNCF was mixed. Between the announcement of the offer (19 February 2013) and the first few rides (2 April 2013) sold 200,000 tickets Ouigo website was visited two million times.

Travel journalist Simon Calder referred to as Ouigo travel third class. Bruno Charrier, Chairman of the French Federation of Trade Unions Confédération générale du travail, Ouigo referred to as " trains for the poor"

There were also raised concerns about the short turnaround times in Marne- la -Vallee, Marseille and Montpellier. These amount to partially just 25 minutes, giving an average of 45 At low temperatures TGV often have a delay of up to 40 minutes, which could lead to massive delays and cancellations. In addition, there is no reserve TGV available.

According to press reports at the end of December 2013, the trains were on average capacity utilization to 60 percent. In TGV traffic compared with more than 70 percent were common. About half of the customers had switched from ordinary TGVs on the Ouigo offer.

Future

In an interview with the Business Traveller magazine of CNN Guillaume Pépy talked about that for a success of this kind Ouigo concept trains could also go to Brussels, Amsterdam and London.

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