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The great train robbery
Dick Murray, Transport Editor02.01.08
Rail companies faced a growing backlash from passengers and politicians as they raised fares by up to 14.5 per cent.
Anger and frustration boiled over at the ticket offices as the inflationbusting rises hit home.
The train operators, which each make tens of millions of pounds profit, brought in the highest commuter fare increases allowed under the regulations.
While regulated fares, which include most season tickets and peak-time tickets, have risen by an average of 4.8 per cent, some smashed through the 10 per cent mark. MPs, passenger watchdogs, and environmental groups joined the protests. Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary, accused the Government of running the railways "like a Dutch auction" with passengers "priced off trains and back into their cars".
Under the increases:
• All morning and evening peak tickets, including season and "Savers" serving London increase by 4.8 per cent on nearly every line - the biggest rise that is permitted by law.
• Southeastern has been given special permission to increase its fares by three per cent above inflation to pay for additional investment in the service.
• Off-peak rates for cheap day returns, advanced purchase and long distance open tickets go up by an average of 5.4 per cent - but in many cases by more.
• One-day Travelcards and Travelcard season tickets - which combine rail, Tube and bus and are run by Transport for London - rise on average by 3.8 per cent, the July inflation figure on which all rises are based.
The rail companies sought to justify the maximum allowed rises by quoting government policy that they should recoup more of the cost of the service from those who use it rather than relying on the taxpayer to subsidise it.
Anthony Smith, chief executive of Passenger Focus, the national rail watchdog, accused the industry of "masking steep rises" on some routes by highlighting average increases.
Stephen Joseph, executive director of the Campaign for Better Transport (formerly Transport 2000), said: "If the Government is serious about tackling climate change, it must ensure train
First Great Western had some of the biggest individual increases. From Hayes, the cost of a weekly rail-only season ticket goes up from £24.80 to £28.50 (14.5 per cent). Weekly seasons from Bexleyheath (up from £25.10 to £28.50) and Woolwich Arsenal (£20.40 to £23.20) are the next worst hit with increases of 13 per cent.
On First Great Western services into Paddington, a yearly season ticket from Slough rises by £192 to £2,160 (9.8 per cent,) from Maidenhead by £224 to £2,544 (9.7 per cent) and from Langley by £176 to £2,012 (9.6 per cent).
Danielle Thornton, 29, a television producer from Maidenhead, said: "My monthly ticket used to cost £274.60. That has now gone up to £298. I'm very annoyed because obviously nobody's wages are going to have gone up by 10 per cent."
Organisers of a "fares strike" which hit FGW trains around Bristol last year said they would spread their campaign. Passengers on South West Trains said they would join to highlight "exorbitant fares and horribly cramped services".
TfL said it had its hands tied on Travelcard price increases, which went up despite single fares being been frozen on the Tube, buses, Docklands Light Railway and trams. One-day and season tickets have gone up because they also cover Londonend rail journeys, a spokesman said.
| OFF-PEAK TICKET RISES | |||
| Peak-time fares are regulated but there are no limits for off-peak and first-class fares | |||
| Off-peak increases 2008 | Off-peak increase 2007 | Trains arriving on time April - June 2007 | |
| c2c | 4.8 | 4.3 | 94.8% |
| Chiltern Railways | 5.1 | 4.5 | 94.5% |
| First Capital Connect | 4.8 | 3.5 | 90.5% |
| First Great Western | 6.1 | 4.8 | 83% |
| Gatwick Express | 5.0 | 7.3 | 92.2% |
| National Express East Coast | 6.6 | 5.5 | 82.5% |
| Midland Mainline | 4.8 | 5.9 | 90.9% |
| One railway | 6.8 | 5.0 | 90.8% |
| Southeaster | 4.8 | 4.3 | 92.6% |
| Southern | 4.8 | 4.3 | 91.1% |
| South West Trains | 4.3 | 5.3 | 93.3% |
Reader views (17)
I would say that the train companies don't care what their passengers think or say, they have a captive market and know that there is very little that most of their commuters can do about it. I blame the regulators for allowing the rail companies to push the limits so far.
- Alex Cromarty, Eltham, London
What I find very hard to believe now is that there are three tiers of rail tickets. Peak tickets when arriving before 10am ouch they hurt, the newly introduced if your train arrives in London after 10am but before 12 midday and the the normal ticket that were know as cheap day returns. Although, to get one of these cheap day returns your train can't arrive in London before 12 midday now so they are making even more money out of the day-trippers as well now.
From Canterbury they now make an additional £6.40 per return if I travel into London before 12 like I have done for years its criminal and unjust
- Graham Cutress, Canterbury kent
Mr Watson's comment is well-meaning but fanciful. Not many people can work flexible hours and if, like me, you travel 2 hours each way, every day, getting into work even earlier (or arriving home later in the day) is simply not possible. I will endure a 10% increase in my season ticket this year on First Great Western to around £7,500 for a (sub-)Standard Class journey that does not even guarantee me a seat.
- Michael Owen, Chippenham
My rail costs have increased annually by £220.80 in just 15 months of travelling on South Eastern. Yet I still have the misfortune to travel on some of the most filthiest and overcrowded trains in London. Stations are often closed and abandoned, assaults on the line are a problem and trains are late on a daily basis with cancellations on a weekly basis.
I did change my hours to avoid the peak times - but the trains on my line appear to be busier than most others out of Charing Cross even in the middle of the afternoon. Changing hours is not an option for many however - and it is the first time I have been privileged enough to be able to do so. Most have no option but to travel out between 7-8am on the cattle class. The Government and rail companies have let us down badly.
- Annie, London
Is it any wonder that the number of people cycling to work has gone through the roof in recent years? The last time I bought a monthly ticket around two years ago I think I was paying something like £89 per month (this included a 5% discount for bad service). I checked yesterday, and it would now cost £120 per month. That works out as roughly a 40% increase over roughly two years. If prices keep on going up like this every year it really will get to a point where people can't afford to use the train. Having said that, maybe this will help to encourage companies to allow more staff to work from home.
If trains really are so expensive to run maybe we need to look at the whole system. Would it simply be more cost efficient to remove all the tracks around London and have something like coaches running on them instead?
- David, Croydon, Surrey
How forward thinking this government is whilst supposedly championing "green" issues, they allow hikes which will simply push more and more into their cars filling our already creaking road network and producing more carbon - still the upside for the government will be increased numbers having to pay the congestion charge - well done again Nu Labour!
- David, Southampton
So, the trains are stuffed solid, yet too expensive? Why not get your employers to be more flexible, and let you travel off peak? Cheaper and you might get a seat. Stop whinging and think!
- Martin H. Watson, Teddington, England
Train companies should be prevented from imposing any fare increases until their reliability hits 100%.
- Marc, Harrow, UK
My off-peak one day all zone Travelcard from Benfleet cost me an extra 30p to-day! But I do hold a national disabled railcard which gives a discount on all railfares nationally.
As for journeys within London all 3 candidates for mayor need to campaign for the mayor and TFL to have full control of all main line rail fares within Greater London.
With the freeze on all TFL only fares this year, the disparity between areas with the underground and those without has grown even more! A situation which is both unfair for places far from the Underground and will in fact lead to further overloading of the Underground as people with a choice choose to travel to the nearest underground station in preference to their main lines.
Ironically, those complaining about the increases most live in the Tory shires and it was their party of choice that privatised the railways and set up the system in the first place!
Now how much will bus fares have to increase to pay for Boris Johnson's conductors who won't even have fares to collect?
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
I can't believe that the transport system is squeezing us into the trains and squeezing all our money out too.
We should all just not work. It costs me less to fly to Nice than to catch the train to London.
- Dennis, Ingatestone, Essex
Why do people go live so far away anyhow?
- Jacqueline, Hampstead, London
What a shambles. I would like to know what the Department for Transport are going to do about this complete mess.
- Linda, London
Well done to all on receiving such low increases in your fares!
I renewed my weekly travelcard this morning and was hit with an increase of 33.60%!
I wouldn't mind but I only go four stops on a Southern Railways overland train.
Needless to say I have just submitted a complaint and am waiting for their 10 day response time to elapse. I have also suggested that they remove statements from their website claiming increases have been kept to 'the National Average' and below 5% as this is clearly false advertising.
This really 'grinds my gears', in fact it will be grinding my gears on a more frequent basis from now on as it will be cheaper to drive.
- Stuart Boffin, Penge, London
My new monthly season ticket from Eltham has risen by 13.65%. What happened to the supposed 'inflation + 3%' that Southeastern were being allowed to raise fares by? That should be the maximum they can raise fares by, not averaging out by incorporating a tiny number of fare reductions to hide their behaviour. At least with an old fashioned highwayman you knew you were being robbed.
The improvements that Southeastern bang on about consists of a fairly ghastly paint job on their stations. There are no new trains on order for commuter services, nor are there likely to be for the foreseeable future. In addition, the new timetable introduced in December now means slower journeys on almost every service. My usual morning train now takes an extra 10 minutes to get to Charing Cross - 35 minutes for 8 miles - Stephenson's Rocket was probably faster.
- John Denman, Eltham, London
All commuters should refuse to buy tickets, get a passenger union going, and when we want to go on strike, we will with our wallets...come on people let's take some action for ourselves!
- Daveb, London
Monthly travelcards from Sundridge Park and Grove Park into London have increased by an unjustifiable 13.6%.
The increase was not advertised by Southeastern with the other rises last year, presumably to avoid the backlash and to stop people buying tarvelcards early and at the old prices. Ticket machines were not allowing monthly tickets to be bought today due to a 'technical failure' and station staff were unable to say what the percentage increase was, probably from the fear of embarrasment.
Since general rises were announced last year, our morning train has not arrived on time into Charing Cross once!
- Derek Attman, Bromley, Kent
So with the price rise we can expect more new train carriages? - terrific - now I can't get a seat when getting on the Hayes line at London Bridge in Rush hour - but before they introduced the new carriages I could - where's the better service?
- Gail Wells, Beckenham, Kent
