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COULD 2009 be the year when rail passengers finally decide enough is enough? Season tickets and off-peak returns (formerly called "savers"), which are regulated by the Department for Transport, have gone up by a whopping six per cent, because according to the Government's formula, the private operators were allowed to plan in July a rise of one per cent above inflation which was then far higher than it is now.
Other tickets are rising by even more, an average of seven per cent, as the operators are free to set those without reference to the Government.
But the train operators may be making a big mistake in thinking that passengers will just accept these rises and cough up their money anyway. These unregulated fares are for journeys which are deemed "discretionary" - in other words, that trip up to town or the visit to friends which people may well not make if the train fare is too high.
And even on the regulated fares, the operators may have overplayed their hand. The reason why fares are regulated is because the train companies effectively have a monopoly. Try driving from, say, Guildford or Gillingham at 8am in the morning, and then finding a place to park in central London, and it is clear that most commuters have no choice.
However, more and more people are discovering that they do have an alternative. For example, with fuel prices now lower, commuters living far out of town may choose to drive part of their way to London and park cheaply near a closer station. This may well happen in Kent where the train operator, SouthEastern, is being allowed to increase season tickets by eight per cent, because of investment in new trains that will use the high-speed line to get into London but which do not even start until December. Coaches may also be an alternative option for commuters.
Most worrying for the train companies, though, is the possibility that they no longer have a captive market because with flexible working arrangements, passengers may decide to come in later, using cheaper tickets, or decide to work from home two or three days per week. All these options will mean fewer season tickets being sold, and these are the bedrock of the operators' income.
The train operators are already preparing to go begging to the government for more money. The most outspoken of their bosses, Keith Ludeman of Go-Ahead, let the cat out of the bag when he said that his company would go to the Department for Transport to renegotiate the contract if passenger numbers began to tail off. He said: "There is nothing to stop us, if demand falls off, going to the Department and asking to take services out."
He warned that operators would cut the length of trains in order to save on charges they have to pay to Network Rail for access to the tracks. Mr Ludeman also warned that operators may well cut the length of peak-service trains if passenger numbers decline.
The fiasco of this year's fare rises should lead to a rethink of the whole decision-making process on fare levels. Yet ministers must look to their own policy for the root cause of this problem: it was they who decided that they want to reduce the subsidy to the railways in the first place.
By pushing up fares so sharply, the operators have compounded the problem they face from the recession. But although it is easy for them to blame the Government, they signed their franchise contracts knowing that difficult times might lie ahead. If they come begging for more subsidy or ask to put fares up even more sharply, Geoff Hoon, the Transport Secretary, must tell them where to go.
Reader views (4)
The answer is to let TFL bid for the franchises as they did when removing Silverlink now london overground.
Oyster cards would be accepted, more importantly fares would be decreased, services run in an integrated manor as more of the network would be in the same hands. Investment would happen and would be value for money as it would be long term.
Don't bash the rail franchises they are a business, they have to think of their shareholders and cannot invest long term because they might lose the franchise.
Ken was looking into bidding for the Southern franchise.
Boris has toyed with a bike scheme and a new bus, which is never going to see the light of day as it would be far too expensive to run. He has given money to boroughs directly for tranpsort a very inefficent strategy as was shown in the years between the GLC and Mayor.
The silver lining is that, Boris' leaving the franchises alone will probably get them to accept oysters quicker than if Ken were in charge - they know which side their bread is buttered. So its not all bad news.
- Bob, london
Well said Tim Liidiard.
- Minnie Ovens, London, UK
In a period of belt tightening, when supermarkets slash prices to keep you shopping and every shop in the high street was in sale mode before as well as after Christmas, it's incredulous to think that Train companies have handed commuters such a huge fare increase. It's even more difficult to swallow when you realise we are funding improvements (high speed channel trains) we will never use. What should not be left unsaid however is the cut in funding yet again by a goverment who are arrogant enough to think themselves better than their European counterparts, who it must be said invest heavily in their transport networks, and whose only legacy is one of nuturing a society of must have's and don't care's. Is it any wonder there is such a lack of national pride in a country whose grandparents gave their lives for our liberty, and a succession of both labour and tory goverments have given away all of our national assets, stripped its citizens of any power to teach respect through discipline first at school and then at home, and bought into the farce that is a free European Union. I mean really, how many of us speak a second language compared to our freinds accross the channel? How many of us, if we wanted to, could get jobs in Poland, France, Spain?
How have we as British people, once so proud and strong allowed this complacency to fester and why do we put up with it? The French would go on strike, and yes people would complain, but they would also listen. Wake up Great Britain!
- Tim Liddiard, Meopham Kent
I don't agree with the fare rises (who would) but I would ask you to investigate and comment on one other item.
Just how much money is the government getting from rail companies in franchise fee's each year??
We see a lot of comment about Government investment and cost but nothing on the actual amount the government receives from the rail companies to let them run the services?
- John Whitby, Peterborough, Cambs
