Rail fares go up so why doesn’t the service get better?
RAIL commuters returning to work after the festive break have been greeted with a price hike – even if their train service continues to be dogged by delays. The cost of travelling by train has risen by up to 2.5 per cent due to yearly fare increases introduced last Friday.
Annual season ticket holders will be hit the hardest with some forced to pay more than £5,000 a year for the first time. For example, a yearly weekday season ticket from Ashford, Kent, to London is rising from £4,928 to £5,048.
Pressure group Campaign for Better Transport believes the fare increases are unfair because they do not result in a better rail service. Andy Allen, spokesman for the campaign, says: ‘Trains are already overcrowded. Surely all the extra money generated from greater customer usage should be used to improve the service rather than fares being pushed ever higher.’
He says that last year 1.6 billion train journeys were made in Britain compared to 1.5 billion in 2013. Between April and June last year, rail companies raked in an estimated £2.2billion extra from ticket sales compared to the same three months in 2013.
Punctuality remains an issue. For the year ending December 6, 2014, the number of trains that arrived ‘on time’ was 89 per cent. But the figure is misleading. This is because the measure used by industry watchdog the Office of Rail Regulation allows trains to be ‘on time’ even if they arrive five minutes late.
Rail companies save more than £100 million a year because longsuffering passengers fail to claim compensation they are due because of delays and cancellations.
Rebecca Perfect, 31, from Streatham, South-West London, regularly travels into London Victoria using Southern Railway. The oneway trip, costing £4.10, should take just 18 minutes but Rebecca, a TV and radio presenter, always gives herself double this time to ensure she is not late for appointments.
She says: ‘Trains are always delayed without satisfactory explanation. Excuses such as a driver shortage are simply unacceptable. If fare increases resulted in a better service I could just about stomach them, but the extra money the rail operators obtain seems to just disappear into a black hole.’
Mark Carne, chief executive of Network Rail, the company in charge of the creaking railway infrastructure, turned down a £135,000 bonus last week on top of his £675,000 annual salary. He was forced into this decision following travel chaos over Christmas caused by overrunning engineering works leading to station closures, such as at London King’s Cross and long queues at nearby Finsbury Park.
The Rail Delivery Group, repre- senting train companies, says that taking into account all rail journeys – from peak time to those booked in advance – the average fare increase this year is 2.2 per cent.
Train users should contact National Rail Enquiries to find the price hikes for their particular commute.
This year fare increases have been capped at the level of inflation in July 2014 – 2.5 per cent.
Previously, fares were pegged at 1 per cent above inflation with a ‘flexible’ average used that allowed some operators to charge more than this rate for specific journeys – in some cases raising prices by more than 4 per cent.
Consumer group Passenger Focus says only 34 per cent of passengers are currently satisfied with how train companies deal with delays and cancellations. Such dissatisfaction is unlikely to be helped by the latest fare hikes.
David Sidebottom, director of Passenger Focus, says: ‘It is time the industry looked at offering real value for money. We need a consistent day-to-day service that customers can trust – plus flexible fares which are competitively priced.’
A Rail Delivery Group spokes- woman says: ‘Price increases are required to improve the rail network and service for customers. The fare increases are lower than in previous years.’