McNulty Report - ticket office closures, increased fares? (merged topics)

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Rail passengers in England and Wales face "substantial increases in already unacceptable overcrowding levels" by 2014 and beyond, a report by MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) says.

Department for Transport plans suggest targets for increasing passenger places will be missed.

It was "not clear to passengers" where money from fare rises went and firms should be made to tackle overcrowding and not rely on subsidies, it added.

The government said plans to improve the situation would be unveiled soon.

Public Accounts Committee chairwoman Margaret Hodge said MPs were concerned that the "already unacceptable levels of overcrowding will simply get worse and ever more intolerable". She added: "At present there is no incentive for the rail industry to supply extra capacity without additional public subsidy. The DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) should, for future franchises, require operators to take measures themselves to avoid overcrowding and to meet the costs of doing so."

Smart ticketing

The Department for Transport is 18 months into a five-year, ^9bn investment programme to improve rail travel.

Under the plans longer platforms are being built and there will be more carriages on services coming into London and other major cities during peak hours.

But the Public Accounts Committee report says "this approach cannot go on indefinitely" and "alternatives must be found to meet the capacity challenge in the future".

It recommends that the DfT should require all new train carriages to be fitted with automatic passenger counting equipment to show how many people are travelling and when.

It also believes if more tickets were contained on smart cards, operators would be able to use the information about passenger numbers to target overcrowding.

The government should "pursue and promote smart ticketing and other demand management techniques to reduce the inefficiencies of overcrowding in peak hours and underused rolling stock at other times", the committee added.

According to the report by 2014 there will be 15% fewer extra places delivered in London in the morning peak and 33% fewer into other major cities. This compares to the numbers the DfT stated would be needed just to hold overcrowding at current levels.

The cross-party group of MPs highlighted parts of the South-eastern franchise, where passengers paid paying premium fares to support the new high-speed Javelin services "which do not stop at their stations and do little to alleviate overcrowding on the trains they use".

They added there was concerned that the Office of Rail Regulation had been in place for more than a decade but "had not succeeded in getting a grip on the railway industry's efficiency".

'Wholesale review'

Anthony Smith, chief executive of rail customer watchdog Passenger Focus, said: "We welcome the importance this report places on getting a seat as it recognises the daily struggle faced by some passengers."

Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) union, described the report as a "shocking indictment of the total failure of rail privatisation. Passengers are forced to pay through the nose to travel in obsolete and overcrowded carriages while private train operating companies are laughing all the way to the bank."

Gerry Doherty, leader of the TSSA^» (Transport Salaried Staffs' Association - about) rail union, said: "Passengers face the worst of all possible worlds - ever-rising fares on an overcrowded service with no relief in sight." He said coalition's plans to raise fares over the next five years would "force many families off the railway".

In the government's Spending Review, it was announced that caps on regulated rail fares - essentially those within peak hours - will rise to 3% above the RPI^▸ (Revenue Protection Inspector (or Retail Price Index, depending on the context)) rate of inflation for three years from 2012.

Responding to the Public Accounts Committee report, Transport Secretary Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said the increases would enable investment in capacity to continue and details of the plans to reduce overcrowding would be unveiled in the coming weeks.

But he added: "We currently have one of the most expensive railways in the world, which is unfair on both farepayers and taxpayers, reflecting poor incentives to control costs across the whole industry. As the committee rightly says, this situation is not sustainable. We have to reduce the costs of our railways, so that both taxpayers and farepayers get a better deal. That is why Sir Roy McNulty is leading a review into reducing rail industry costs and why we have begun a wholesale review of rail franchising."

(My highlighting. Chris.)

[simonw]

It is very sad that this issue has been on going for almost 10 years, with still no sign of resolution.

In the end they will probably just increase prices and extend peak time to reduce demand, instead of addressing capacity issues at peak time and busy locations.

[Tim]

In the end they will probably just increase prices

Surely it can't be beyond the wit of man to ringfence money raised from fare incraeses into capacity upgrades.  People migth be happier to pay them then.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Who, what, why: How to get off a busy train

Train overcrowding is unacceptable, and going to get worse, according to a report by MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament). But passengers often do themselves no favours by the way they crowd around doors when getting on and off.

Elbows at the ready and breathe in. You'll need to as a new report from MPs says overcrowding on trains in England and Wales will get substantially worse over the next four years, despite rises in ticket prices.

Plans to improve the situation will be unveiled soon, says the government. But could beleaguered passengers make the best of a bad lot by learning to get on and off trains more efficiently?

The following is an all too typical scene - a train stops, the doors slide open and anyone trying to get off is greeted by a wall of people. Alighting passengers must slowly funnel themselves through a small opening in the crowd.

For passengers trying to get on as quickly and easily as possible, this is exactly the wrong thing to do, says productivity consultant Eugene Chinal. Pushing gets you nowhere fast. It's all about creating - and maintaining - a steady flow, he says.

"The thing about efficiency is getting a consistent flow - if flow is impeded you get a build up. It's the same when driving on the motorway or trying to get into a football stadium."

Train companies realised this a long time ago, says Mr Chinal, who has worked with many transport companies on time and motion studies. Newer trains incorporate features to increase passenger flow.

Heavy doors that opened manually by turning a clunky handle have been replaced by electronic doors that open automatically, as soon as the train stops.

And speed is not always a solution, he adds. Too fast and people may stumble. Take it steady to keep things flowing.

"When it comes to flow, even the smallest action or impediment can have a snowballing affect, behind the person and in front of them," says Mr Chinal.

There is also a correct sequence to making embarking and disembarking as painless as possible. Firstly, all passengers who want to get off should be allowed to do so quickly - which means those eager to board the carriage ought to stand well back. Getting on as someone is getting off is a big no-no.

Once everyone is off new passengers should step on. It is very important that they continue moving down the carriage, this allows the flow to remain consistent. Stopping in the first clearing of free space slows everyone down, says Mr Chinal.

[tramway]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Who, what, why: How to get off a busy train

And speed is not always a solution, he adds. Too fast and people may stumble. Take it steady to keep things flowing.

"When it comes to flow, even the smallest action or impediment can have a snowballing affect, behind the person and in front of them," says Mr Chinal.

There is also a correct sequence to making embarking and disembarking as painless as possible. Firstly, all passengers who want to get off should be allowed to do so quickly - which means those eager to board the carriage ought to stand well back. Getting on as someone is getting off is a big no-no.

Not stopping the Pompey service at Oldfield is a good start.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Commuters 'priced off' overcrowded rail routes

With rail passengers facing significant fare rises, and fears growing that already "unacceptable" levels of overcrowding will worsen, one train operator says it is being forced to price customers off its peak time routes. What can the government do to tackle the problem?

Northern Rail says its hands are tied. The Department for Transport has taken over responsibility for procurement to deliver extra capacity.

Two years ago Northern Rail was told by the government that it would be getting 182 extra carriages. But so far it has only had 10, with another eight on the way. It is nowhere near enough.

"It would be impossible to get anybody else on this train!" says Bolton Liberal Democrat councillor David Wilkinson, as we stand pinned in the vestibule between carriages. If this was a cattle truck, it would be illegal! I have been on this line where the guard has told people to get off. It's not just on this route, it happens elsewhere in the Greater Manchester area."

"This is a common feature of every train," says Mr Wilkinson, who is also a member of the Greater Manchester Integrated Passenger Transport Authority, a regional strategic body.

A damning report published last week by the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, Increasing Passenger Rail Capacity confirmed the situation is set to get worse for peak time journeys.

The committee's chair, Labour MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) Margaret Hodge, says she was troubled by the findings that the Department for Transport has fallen behind on its procurement targets.

"It is very depressing that in London we think that there will be 15 per cent fewer extra places that had been planned by 2014, and in the rest of the country, mainly urban areas, where the congestion takes place, there will be a third fewer extra places than originally planned by 2014. That's a heck of lot less additional places than had been planned for ^9bn of investment".

Virgin chief executive Tony Collins says his company is already being effectively forced to price passengers off some of its peak time services. He says the company's trains now carry 28 million passenger journeys per year, up from 14 million six years ago.

But with only two years left to run of its franchise, he says he cannot justify investing in new rolling stock. This leaves few options to manage levels of overcrowding which he acknowledges are "unacceptable":

"We introduced 30 per cent more services two years ago, and our value for money rating went up because we were able to smooth the demand by offering much more attractive pricing. But obviously as services get busier, then the only way of controlling the busy service is through pricing. We'd much prefer to put more capacity in and attract even more people to travel rather than having to price people off the trains."

Train companies have control over their peak time fares and are able to set their charges according to what they think the market can bear. The government controls off peak prices and has already announced they will go up.

The Transport Secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC that he would soon set out government plans to address the overcrowding issue. He insisted that reform will ensure Britain's railways do more, for less.

"We need to look at the whole structure of the industry, how the franchises are let, we need to look at train operators' work, we need to look at how Network Rail does its work and delivers efficiency in its programme," he said. "We need to look at the role of my department. At the moment I have got civil servants here specifying which trains and which carriages have to be used at which times on which franchise. That does not seem to be the most obviously sensible way to run a railway.

He acknowledged that making the railway "fit for the future and affordable for passengers and taxpayers" was the "number one challenge" facing his department. He is expected to announce detailed proposals before the end of November.

[tramway]

From another thread.

http://railwayeye.blogspot.com/2010/11/thursday-is-cancelled.html

File on 4 is sounding good.

[super tm]

This is going to generate a lot of comment so though I would post it here.  Extract from report about ticket offices :-

Retail

Determining the retail offer is a matter for individual franchises and franchise agreements, but the Study is of the view that TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) and the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) should take into account:
^ the need for ticket office opening to better match trends in demand;
^ the capability of modern retail technology, building on the growth in self-service and internet purchases;
^ the societal trend for the automation of purchases, with human interfaces only being deployed for complex transactions;
^ the growth in Smartcards, e-tickets, m-tickets and electronic purse that will cater for short- and long-distance journeys; and
^ the fact that passenger security is not necessarily enhanced by the presence of a person in a ticket office. Taking all these factors into account, the Study recommends that TOCs should consider:
^ the closure of all Category E station ticket offices;
^ reducing the opening hours at Category D station ticket offices;



I dont know which FGW^▸ (First Great Western) stations are category D, E

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

i don't know but at a guess i would say the likes of barnstaple and exmouth

[paul7575]

There's a complete list of all stations and their categories in the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)'s 'Better Rail Stations' report - the one with all the top ten disaster areas etc, presented to Adonis by his 'Stations Champions', Green and Hall:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/stations/betterrailstations/pdf/report.pdf

Part D here has just the various annexes including the station category list:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/stations/betterrailstations/pdf/partd.pdf

Paul

[super tm]

Stonehouse, Charlbury, Kingham, Moreton - in - Marsh, Evesham,  Barnstaple, Bourne End, Bradford on Avon, Bridgwater, Burnham, Camborne,  Furze Platt, Goring & Streatly, Henley on Thames, Iver, Langley, North Camp, Pangbourne, Par, Reading West, Taplow, Thatcham, Theale, Tilehurst and Yatton are group E.

Thats a lot of ticket offices to close.  Interesting to see what happens next.

Keynsham is not on the list of staffed stations even though there is someone selling ticket in the morning.

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

hum Barnstable would not go down well

[jester]

Along with St.Erth and Camborne in the E catogory and Redruth a D, that means you have the choice of Truro or Penzance to go and see a real person do discuss your needs, some 30 odd miles apart.....! Also, St.erth being the 'changing' point for the branch line st St.ives, this would go down well with the passengers dont you think?
How would these 'knowledgeable' people feel if THEY were the ones were in this position??

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

how much money would be saved if these people were not employed to do such studies

[super tm]

I am always amazed that a place such as Hungerford has no ticket office.  Does not even have any station building.  If anyone wants to see what the future might be like take a trip in a DOO^▸ (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard)) turbo from Reading to Bedwyn.