Renfe has not been successful with AVLO to face Ouigo and Iryo. The irruption of these companies in the Spanish railway lines has completely changed the panorama of high speed in our country, significantly lowering its prices and shooting the number of travelers.
In 2020, Ouigo began to operate in our country. The railway lines, which until then had only known Renfe trains and high-speed AVE, saw how a new actor entered the board. The latter’s answer was AVLO and it arrived a year later, a cheaper option from Renfe to move quickly to Barcelona and Valencia. Last year, already in 2022, the last participant in the war entered the conflict: Iryo has been circulating in our country for a few months.
The result has been almost immediate: many more travelers at a much lower cost. Ouigo and Iryo’s price campaigns have been very aggressive From the first moment. Ouigo announced that his tickets would cost half that of the AVE and began with a campaign of 10,000 tickets for one euro. Iryo, however, has preferred to bet on flexibility but his tickets are still noticeably cheaper than those of Renfe.
Half-price
The last quarter of 2022 has confirmed what we already imagined: prices have fallen and the number of journeys has grown. The CNMC confirms itwhich ensures that the number of travelers between Madrid and Valencia doubled and reached a million. And on the Madrid-Barcelona line, the number of journeys also grew by 35.3%, to close to three million journeys.
The main reason, without a doubt, is found in the price. Traveling from Madrid to Valencia on an Iryo train has an average price of 19 euros. The same journey by AVE is 50 euros. If we talk about going to Barcelona from Madrid in the same companies, the trip would cost us 37 or 78 euros, respectively.
The average price of the AVE has fallen and, despite everything, Iryo tickets cost half
The CNMC states that these are the average banknotes most expensive and cheapest that were registered in the last quarter of 2022. Within this range we would find Ouigo, which regularly launches offers of tickets at nine euros, and has already announced discounts of 10 euros for Easter on the Madrid-Valencia route, one of the hot spots for mobility these days of the year.
And despite not having the cheapest prices, Ouigo can also be satisfied with its results. We already knew that on the Madrid-Barcelona route, the company had managed to reach a 29.1% market share but on the Madrid-Valencia line, its presence has extended to 36% of trips. We will have to wait until the first quarter of 2023 to find out how the three companies distribute the trips, since Iryo only operated 15 days on this route during the period analyzed.
Renfe’s response to Ouigo and Iryo has been none other than lowering prices. Only in December (first month with the three companies operating), the average price of the AVE between Madrid and Valencia fell by 28.8% compared to November. AVLO and Ouigo also faced the arrival of Iryo with significant drops of 27% and 15%, respectively.
With lower prices, the increase in travelers has been significant. In infolibre They collect that the number of people who have traveled from Madrid to Barcelona or Valencia have grown by the aforementioned 35.6% and 100.9%, while from Madrid to Seville, Malaga/Granada or Alicante (where only Renfe is operating), growth has been 18%, 20.1% and 7.1%, respectively. The data equates to very similar pre-pandemic numbers.
However, the CNMC does confirm that on these lines where Renfe still operates alone prices have also dropped media, with falls of 8.5% (Seville), 10.5% (Málaga/Granada) and 2.9% (Alicante).
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Photo | Tim Adams
