Train mayhem sees rail trips fall by 23m in just one year
THE mass disruption on the railways has triggered the biggest fall in train travel since the dying days of British Rail, according to official figures.
A combination of surging fares, incessant engineering works and strikes has caused disruption and despair for millions of commuters.
The scale of passenger disillusionment with the state of the rail network was laid bare in a report by independent watchdog the Office of Rail and Road, which indicated that many have had to switch to other modes of transport.
It showed the number of passenger journeys has fallen for the first time since the height of the financial crisis in 2009/2010. A total of 1.729billion journeys were undertaken in 2016/17 and 1.706billion in 2017/18, to the end of March. In other words there were 23million fewer journeys, a fall of 1.4 per cent.
This is the largest decrease recorded since 1993/4 – when the lengthy process of re-privatising shambolic British Rail had begun. The fall was driven by a 9.2 per cent drop in the number of passenger journeys made using season tickets, and a record fall in rail journeys in London and the South East – which account for just over two thirds of the total.
The report suggests that increasingly passengers are refusing to pay thousands of pounds for a season ticket. They are either switching to other modes of transport or buying their tickets on the day or well in advance.
The figures emerge after a new timetable introduced across the network on May 20 unravelled, leaving thousands of commuters delayed and stranded. For many, this was the final straw.
They were hit with the biggest rise in the cost of their season tickets in five years in January. In the worst cases the 3.4 per cent increase added £100 to £200 or more to their annual travel bill. Season ticket journeys accounted for 37 per cent of journeys, down from 48 per cent a decade ago.
Over the same period the number of journeys on advanced, anytime and offpeak tickets has increased.
Grant Shapps, former Tory chairman and MP for Welwyn Hatfield said: ‘The unprecedented disruption on the railways is clearly having a knock-on effect on passenger confidence and leading many commuters to choose to use other forms of transport.’ Tim Farron, former Lib Dem leader and MP for South Lakes – where the service has been suspended following the timetable chaos – said: ‘I’m quite certain that rising fares, poor service and lack of reliability is behind this.’
The rail industry insisted the fall in train journeys shows more people are choosing to work from home.
Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, representing operators and Network Rail, said rail companies were ‘working together to deliver record investment’ to meet demand.
‘Unprecedented disruption’