Passengers fume over rail fare rise

2:40pm Wednesday 18th August 2010 in Night Service

RAIL commuters face the prospect of at least a 5.8 per cent price rise in season tickets in the new year following yesterday’s inflation figures.

The increase could be more if, as some fear, the Government scraps the current price-rise formula.

Under the formula, train companies are allowed to raise regulated fares annually, which include season tickets, by 1 per cent above the previous July’s retail price index inflation figure. The RPI for July was 4.8 per ent, which would mean a 5.8 per cent fares rise in January, 2011.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond cannot say whether the RPI plus 1 per cent formula will remain, meaning fares could rise above 5.8 per cent.

Ashwin Kumar, rail director of train customer watchdog Passenger Focus, said: “Passengers continue to tell us their top priority for improvement on the railway is better value for money. Now is not the time for train companies to sweat passengers off the train.”

Passenger Focus said it would also like to see continued the policy of limiting the flexibility of train companies to increase fares on individual routes.

Mr Kumar added: “In the past, the average fare rise has masked increases on some routes of 10 or 11 per cent. We hope the Government continues to limit train companies’ flexibility so passengers don’t face double-digit rises.”

Comments(20)

VictoriaLS says...
3:23pm Wed 18 Aug 10

So I wonder how many of the passengers that use this service have received a 6% payrise in the last year - I know that my husband's firm have frozen salaries for the past two years. It's not fair - how can they expect people to carry on paying out and paying out when they are not receiving the extra income themselves. Thankfully we are lucky and we can take on these extra payments - but I bet there are plenty of others out there that cannot.

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Klaus Waugh says...
4:27pm Wed 18 Aug 10

The trains are run by privatised parasites. Put it back in public hands.

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Voter99 says...
5:02pm Wed 18 Aug 10

Gazette Headline states "Passengers fume over rail fare rise."
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The railway companies are laughing at the funing passengers.
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What will the passengers do other then fume?
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Nothing - just wallow in resentment which is why the rail companies can keep hiking up their fares.

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SUFC1906 says...
6:43pm Wed 18 Aug 10

The government want to supposedly encourage people to take work. However, faced with the ludicrous amounts allowed to be charged by these rail companies along with sky high fuel prices no unemployed person could risk getting a job involving travelling now, as inevitably a point would be reached where the travel cost became too much to carry on working. Still, no doubt Messrs Duddridge, Amess & co won't have to worry because there is no impact on them as MP's get free travel anyway.

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geezer, innit says...
8:47pm Wed 18 Aug 10

commuters -captive market - no chance

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Anna Key says...
9:14pm Wed 18 Aug 10

Wow! Amess is still about! I thought he'd died! There was a time when he seemed forever on the tele. Presumably he won back Basildon this year, so I look forward to him warning of the dangers of a fictitious drug again!
No, we wont get anyway moaning to Tory MPs about it. They were the ones who sold off the family silver in the first place.

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SUFC1906 says...
9:51pm Wed 18 Aug 10

No, Amess lost Basildon but escaped shortly after to win Southend West which is an easy seat as virtually everybody there votes him in.

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Boris says...
10:00pm Wed 18 Aug 10

The government can dictate fares if it wants to. If it doesn't want to, it will take the flak.
Commuters will carry on commuting because they know that jobs in London pay a lot better than jobs near where they live, if indeed there are any.

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Anna Key says...
10:14pm Wed 18 Aug 10

SUFC1906 - Thanks for that. I just wikipediad him and was amazed to see you've had to put up with him since '97. Still, what happened to all his publicity grabbing? Perhaps the Brass Eye programme made him realise he just looked very stupid when he was on the tele! Anyway, my commiserations. He really is an odious little creep.

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SUFC1906 says...
10:59pm Wed 18 Aug 10

No, I have'nt had to put up with him because I am in the other Southend East constituency, Duddridge territory.

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Anna Key says...
12:48am Thu 19 Aug 10

I'd still find that far too close for comfort. For anybody's who's not seen Amess being hilariously sent up by Chris Morris and Brass Eye, just put 'Brass Eye Cake' into Youtube, there are several clips available. Among the others deservedly pranked in this particular episode were Noel Edmonds, Bernard Ingham, and Bernard Manning.

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Trainman says...
1:15am Thu 19 Aug 10

I honestly feel that if TOC's REDUCED fares, there would Still be complaints, because of any restrictions placed upon them, all the time while all other companies continue to Increase their charges, just to make Astronomical profits, of money they will NEVER spend in a century and Much like the Petroleum Companies, who, will increase the cost of Pump prices for the least little reason, yet STILL never be able to spend their £BILLIONS of profit on anything other than Extortionate Bonuses for Managers, etc..

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SARFENDMAN says...
7:09am Thu 19 Aug 10

While we see all things wonderful growing around Stratford Rail Station for 2012, the line that serves is sad and tired and passengers held to ransome over fares. Wouldn't be so bad if investment was more in evidence in the rail service. Why Pay more and get less?

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geezer, innit says...
10:20am Thu 19 Aug 10

Anna Key wrote:
Wow! Amess is still about! I thought he'd died! There was a time when he seemed forever on the tele. Presumably he won back Basildon this year, so I look forward to him warning of the dangers of a fictitious drug again! No, we wont get anyway moaning to Tory MPs about it. They were the ones who sold off the family silver in the first place.
Anna Key wrote:
Wow! Amess is still about! I thought he'd died!


that's just the putrid, smell of his rotten, decaying political career that makes you think that

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Baker_Boy says...
11:19am Thu 19 Aug 10

can i say i will be happy about paying more no.

but thats life i earn more by going to london so understand the price to pay i could not do my job where i live

most companies offer season ticket loans which help a lot

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GSXR750 says...
1:33pm Thu 19 Aug 10

It's cheaper to get caught without a ticket and pay a fine for the amount of times inspectors check tickets. I suspect that's what will happen, and I'd consider the same if they put fares up that much! I've not had a pay increase for 3 years and my wife recently had a 5% pay cut.

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Audioman says...
5:33pm Thu 19 Aug 10

Here we go again!!
Bring back BRITISH RAIL!!or the old L.N.E.R. if people can remember the good old days before 1948 !!!

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Anna Key says...
6:13pm Thu 19 Aug 10

L.N.E.R, aka 'The Late & Never Early Railway'. Though a privatisation along the lines of the old big 4 system certainly made more practical sense than one company owning the tracks, another the stations, another the trains etc. Unfortunately BR took over a run-down system from the old big 4 and limped on for years without the necessary government investment. But when the Tories chose to sell it off they then put in a huge public investment. That should have happened when we all owned the railways, rather than it going into the pockets of fat cat rail bosses.

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Leigh-on-Snob says...
5:49pm Fri 20 Aug 10

It's only a couple of hundred quid extra. I won't even notice the difference. My 911 does that in petrol in a weekend.

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Baker_Boy says...
12:12pm Sat 21 Aug 10

GSXR750 wrote:
It's cheaper to get caught without a ticket and pay a fine for the amount of times inspectors check tickets. I suspect that's what will happen, and I'd consider the same if they put fares up that much! I've not had a pay increase for 3 years and my wife recently had a 5% pay cut.
In other words you want to be a criminal

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