Talking about the "bucketing" where they first sell x% of tickets at a cheap price, then the next x% at a higher price, and on and on until its expensive as shit.
This is really demoralizing as someone who'd like to be a bit more spontaneous, and be able hop on a train out of town (which is running either way and never full...), the price I get offered is like double the price if I booked 3-4+ months out.
There must be a better system.
In other places with better passenger rail systems (China, Korea, Japan...) prices for economy seats are flat or distance-based.
You also usually don't need to do much planning because the high-stopped trains run 4-10X faster and are more frequent.
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No because the frequency is dogshit.
If you thought surge pricing was something Uber made up, have I ever got an branch of capitalism to introduce you to!
They kind of do sometimes but they also have the weird early bird pricing model where if you buy a ticket a day or week before the train leaves you'll be paying 2-3X what it would cost to fly.
this is the context I love to see
I recall this about japan but cant speak with any authority since I'm not thaaat familiar. its not even that its cheap necessarily, but its operated as mass transit not boutique small scale shit, and the pricing is at least consistent/predictable.