First Great Western, the UK train operator of the franchise running out of Paddington west to the Thames Valley, is to introduce an intersting season ticket idea from 6 September.

This builds on the fact that the morning peak is always much more concentrated than the evening peak.

Passengers from major stations east of Reading will be offered season tickets which give first class travel to London in the morning and standard class back again in the evening, when trains are quieter.

Prices will be 13% - 15% above the standard class fare.

This is an idea other congested railways could try, to ease crowding in the morning peak. However, in order to work, the first class area needs to be policed and (ideally) consistently in the same part of the train.

I can only think of one similar system - and that goes back to the 1960s. Passengers travelling between London and Ireland by train and ship could buy tickets which were valid for travel in second class on the train, but first class on the boat: for reasons lost in the mists of time, these were labelled "Second class and saloon" - presumably because the first-class area of the boat was called the saloon.

Are there other examples?

Vancouver International Airport published two interesting articles in its latest on-line newsletter: both were about the Canada Line light metro between airport and city, which opened 3.5 months early last month.

One tells you what the 80,000 people who used the line on its first half-day, when the ride was free, did. Many rode to the airport, which very sensibly laid on a whole series of family-friendly events. I'd expect nothing less from this airport - it's stunning!

The other gives you practical information about the line - fares, times, stops and so on.

Look at Vancouver Airports Authority website

I'm looking forward to riding the line next month. On 19/20 October, IARO is running its next conference, "Successful light rail to airports", at the Fairmont Waterfront hotel adjacent to Canada Line's downtown terminus. On 20th, we are having a half-day behind-the-scenes trip to see the operations and maintenance centres. For details, look at IARO's web-site