Rail fare price increases condemned by passengers
Consumer groups and passengers furious as average season ticket rises by 3.1%
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Consumer and campaign groups join passengers in condemning increases that see average season ticket price rise by 3.1%- theguardian.com,
Rail commuters at
Paddington station in London. The lastest fare increases mean some
annual season tickets will cost more than £5,000. Photograph: Rex
Features
Angry passengers have criticised the latest rise in rail fares as the average price of an annual season ticket increased by 3.1%.
The regulated fare increase pushes some commuters into the "£5,000-a-year club", with annual season tickets to London from Deal and Dover Priory costing £5,012, or £4 shy of £6,000 for those using the high-speed service.
Other annual season tickets will break the £4,000 mark, with commuters from Basingstoke to London facing a £4,076 bill.
The consumer group Which? said the fare increases "will be a blow to people already feeling the financial squeeze", while the campaign group Railfuture said: "This latest fare rise comes after 10 years of inflation-busting fare increases, meaning that our trains are easily the most expensive in Europe."
According to a report published by the consultants Credo, for the Campaign for Better Transport, by 2018 fares will cover 103% of railways' operating costs, compared with 80% in 2009. This means the government will make "a profit from passengers", the campaigners said.
In the cold and dark at King's Cross station in central London on Thursday, passengers reacted with dismay to the latest increase.
"It's a lot of money for a poor service," said Simon Jones, 30, a teacher, as he waited to board a train to Newcastle upon Tyne with his friend Ben James, 33. Jones was on a leisure trip but he and James normally commute to work in London.
"Fares are pretty high," Jones said. "My salary has just gone up 1% but fares are rising around 3%. There are delays practically every day."
James said: "We're not really getting value for money. At Clapham Junction [in south London] you can hardly get on a train."
Adam Jones, 35, a sales manager travelling to Harrogate in Yorkshire with his girlfriend is a season ticket holder on the Harrogate to Leeds route. "My service is not as frequent as it should be and has very old carriages," he said.
The rail minister, Stephen Hammond, who was at King's Cross on Thursday, said the public "quite rightly thinks the government should be doing more". He said he would press the train companies and Network Rail to provide value for money and that the government was considering paying companies to convert first-class carriages into accommodation for all passengers. "There are some new ideas we are looking at," he said. "This is one of them. Is it going to happen? It may. It may not."
He added: "It's no good just fining Network Rail for poor performance and that money going back to the Treasury. We want the company to improve."
Trade union campaigners were also at King's Cross on Thursday urging reform. Bob Crow, the general secretary of the RMT transport union, said: "Train companies are most concerned about providing dividends to shareholders. "Wages are going up by an average of just 0.8%, yet rail fares are going up by an average of more than 3%."
The 3.1% rise taking effect on Thursday is for regulated fares, which include season tickets. The increase on unregulated fares, typically off-peak leisure tickets, is not capped.
A number of these fares, including some on the East Coast route, are going up by much less than 3.1%, with the overall rise in tickets – regulated and unregulated – being 2.8%.
Michael Roberts, the director general of the industry body the Rail Delivery Group, said the 2.8% average increase was the lowest in four years.
"To help the government hold down fares in future, the rail industry is working hard to get more for every pound it spends," he said. "This year and in coming years, passengers across the country will continue to benefit from billions of pounds spent on improving services. As well as introducing more carriages, work will proceed on major projects like the new Birmingham New Street station and thousands of smaller, less-visible schemes to improve the railway."
The regulated fare increase pushes some commuters into the "£5,000-a-year club", with annual season tickets to London from Deal and Dover Priory costing £5,012, or £4 shy of £6,000 for those using the high-speed service.
Other annual season tickets will break the £4,000 mark, with commuters from Basingstoke to London facing a £4,076 bill.
The consumer group Which? said the fare increases "will be a blow to people already feeling the financial squeeze", while the campaign group Railfuture said: "This latest fare rise comes after 10 years of inflation-busting fare increases, meaning that our trains are easily the most expensive in Europe."
According to a report published by the consultants Credo, for the Campaign for Better Transport, by 2018 fares will cover 103% of railways' operating costs, compared with 80% in 2009. This means the government will make "a profit from passengers", the campaigners said.
In the cold and dark at King's Cross station in central London on Thursday, passengers reacted with dismay to the latest increase.
"It's a lot of money for a poor service," said Simon Jones, 30, a teacher, as he waited to board a train to Newcastle upon Tyne with his friend Ben James, 33. Jones was on a leisure trip but he and James normally commute to work in London.
"Fares are pretty high," Jones said. "My salary has just gone up 1% but fares are rising around 3%. There are delays practically every day."
James said: "We're not really getting value for money. At Clapham Junction [in south London] you can hardly get on a train."
Adam Jones, 35, a sales manager travelling to Harrogate in Yorkshire with his girlfriend is a season ticket holder on the Harrogate to Leeds route. "My service is not as frequent as it should be and has very old carriages," he said.
The rail minister, Stephen Hammond, who was at King's Cross on Thursday, said the public "quite rightly thinks the government should be doing more". He said he would press the train companies and Network Rail to provide value for money and that the government was considering paying companies to convert first-class carriages into accommodation for all passengers. "There are some new ideas we are looking at," he said. "This is one of them. Is it going to happen? It may. It may not."
He added: "It's no good just fining Network Rail for poor performance and that money going back to the Treasury. We want the company to improve."
Trade union campaigners were also at King's Cross on Thursday urging reform. Bob Crow, the general secretary of the RMT transport union, said: "Train companies are most concerned about providing dividends to shareholders. "Wages are going up by an average of just 0.8%, yet rail fares are going up by an average of more than 3%."
The 3.1% rise taking effect on Thursday is for regulated fares, which include season tickets. The increase on unregulated fares, typically off-peak leisure tickets, is not capped.
A number of these fares, including some on the East Coast route, are going up by much less than 3.1%, with the overall rise in tickets – regulated and unregulated – being 2.8%.
Michael Roberts, the director general of the industry body the Rail Delivery Group, said the 2.8% average increase was the lowest in four years.
"To help the government hold down fares in future, the rail industry is working hard to get more for every pound it spends," he said. "This year and in coming years, passengers across the country will continue to benefit from billions of pounds spent on improving services. As well as introducing more carriages, work will proceed on major projects like the new Birmingham New Street station and thousands of smaller, less-visible schemes to improve the railway."
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