jan 2nd
Passenger groups condemn rail fare rises
Staff and agencies
Monday January 2, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Rail passenger groups have criticised the above-inflation fare rises that come into effect across the UK today.
The increases see the price of some tickets increasing by almost 9%, with regulated fares - which cover season and saver tickets - going up by 3.9%. Unregulated fares, which include cheap day returns, rise by an average of 4.5%.
The east coast main line, run by the GNER train company, is putting its unregulated fares up by an average of 8.8%, while unregulated fares on Central Trains are going up by an average of 6.4%.
The smallest rises are on Merseyrail, where both regulated and unregulated fares are increasing by an average of 2.9%.
"The rail industry is going to have to work hard to demonstrate that these rises represent value for money," Anthony Smith, the chief executive of the Rail Passengers' Council, said.
Bob Crow, the general secretary of the RMT rail union, accused rail companies of "shamelessly using their route monopolies to maximise revenues and profits on premium routes".
However, operators said the increases were needed to pay for improvements being made to the rail network, and season ticket holders will get discounts of around 5% if their operating company has performed badly.
"Our railways are the fastest growing in Europe, and operators will continue to introduce new trains, better passenger facilities and improved travel information," George Muir, the director general of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said.
The transport secretary, Alistair Darling, said passengers had to bear their share of the costs of improvements.
"Nobody can be happy about putting fares up at all, but there are improvements to the railways in terms of the infrastructure - nearly a third of the rolling stock is new in the last few years," Mr Darling told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"It has all got to be paid for, and we've got to strike a balance between the amount of money that the taxpayer puts in and the amount that the fare payer puts in as well."
However, the Liberal Democrat transport spokesman, Tom Brake, said the increases were a "slap in the face" for commuters. "These fare rises send out the wrong signal at a time when the government is seeking to get more people on to trains and out of their cars," he said.
The shadow transport secretary Chris Grayling said: "My fear is that we are going back to the days of British Rail where when they had a problem they put the fares up and tried to price people off the trains."
Fares on London's bus and underground systems will also increase from today, with the minimum cash fare on the underground rising to £3.
Brian Cooke, the chairman of passenger group London TravelWatch, said people who used public transport in London infrequently were being penalised by the move towards cashless Oyster cards to pay fares on the network.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
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it is great to see private monopolies making all this extra cash, and then saying that they need it to make investments in the services that they run. it is cheaper now to fly to new york than it is to catch a train to newcastle.
of course it is new labour's fault that it is like this, even though they have inherited a stupid system from the conservatives that just meant that this was going to happen. but like all good things where the government is going to bail out private concerns that have control over important national infrastructure the private companies get what they want both ways - subsidies from the state and also get to hike the prices up.
the reason i blame new labour is that they should have renationalised the whole thing from the moment they got back into power.
now it is far too late and the system is probably never going to get better or be much cheaper for the users.
in london i have seen my annual pass rise by £100. since i have had the pass it has gone up about £150. there has been no improvement of the service. in fact the 25 has gotten worse.
Staff and agencies
Monday January 2, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Rail passenger groups have criticised the above-inflation fare rises that come into effect across the UK today.
The increases see the price of some tickets increasing by almost 9%, with regulated fares - which cover season and saver tickets - going up by 3.9%. Unregulated fares, which include cheap day returns, rise by an average of 4.5%.
The east coast main line, run by the GNER train company, is putting its unregulated fares up by an average of 8.8%, while unregulated fares on Central Trains are going up by an average of 6.4%.
The smallest rises are on Merseyrail, where both regulated and unregulated fares are increasing by an average of 2.9%.
"The rail industry is going to have to work hard to demonstrate that these rises represent value for money," Anthony Smith, the chief executive of the Rail Passengers' Council, said.
Bob Crow, the general secretary of the RMT rail union, accused rail companies of "shamelessly using their route monopolies to maximise revenues and profits on premium routes".
However, operators said the increases were needed to pay for improvements being made to the rail network, and season ticket holders will get discounts of around 5% if their operating company has performed badly.
"Our railways are the fastest growing in Europe, and operators will continue to introduce new trains, better passenger facilities and improved travel information," George Muir, the director general of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said.
The transport secretary, Alistair Darling, said passengers had to bear their share of the costs of improvements.
"Nobody can be happy about putting fares up at all, but there are improvements to the railways in terms of the infrastructure - nearly a third of the rolling stock is new in the last few years," Mr Darling told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"It has all got to be paid for, and we've got to strike a balance between the amount of money that the taxpayer puts in and the amount that the fare payer puts in as well."
However, the Liberal Democrat transport spokesman, Tom Brake, said the increases were a "slap in the face" for commuters. "These fare rises send out the wrong signal at a time when the government is seeking to get more people on to trains and out of their cars," he said.
The shadow transport secretary Chris Grayling said: "My fear is that we are going back to the days of British Rail where when they had a problem they put the fares up and tried to price people off the trains."
Fares on London's bus and underground systems will also increase from today, with the minimum cash fare on the underground rising to £3.
Brian Cooke, the chairman of passenger group London TravelWatch, said people who used public transport in London infrequently were being penalised by the move towards cashless Oyster cards to pay fares on the network.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
------
it is great to see private monopolies making all this extra cash, and then saying that they need it to make investments in the services that they run. it is cheaper now to fly to new york than it is to catch a train to newcastle.
of course it is new labour's fault that it is like this, even though they have inherited a stupid system from the conservatives that just meant that this was going to happen. but like all good things where the government is going to bail out private concerns that have control over important national infrastructure the private companies get what they want both ways - subsidies from the state and also get to hike the prices up.
the reason i blame new labour is that they should have renationalised the whole thing from the moment they got back into power.
now it is far too late and the system is probably never going to get better or be much cheaper for the users.
in london i have seen my annual pass rise by £100. since i have had the pass it has gone up about £150. there has been no improvement of the service. in fact the 25 has gotten worse.
posted by pat at 3:45 PM
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