Price of cheap fares

tHe reason for the overcrowding on London’s commuter trains (Mail) isn’t too few trains, but a failure to apply market forces to fares.

Peak fares are set significantly below the optimum market level (in effect, they’re subsidised), leading to demand above the natural economic level.

Railways are still being treated as a social service rather than being run as a business. It may not feel like it, but commuters are getting a ‘free ride’.

the answer to congestion is to charge the true market rate for fares — the point of optimum profitability (or minimum loss). Many passengers could not afford to commute and their jobs would, of necessity, be relocated outside the capital. STEVE AINSWORTH,

Halifax, W. Yorks.