FGW Rover and Ranger price increases from May 19th 2013

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

I feel I'm justified in complaining when a product I regularly use sees a large price increase. Particularly when the company offering that product had made a commitment just 4 months previously to increase its unregulated products by the same amount as its regulated ones. Of course FGW^▸ (First Great Western) made no claim about how long that commitment would be in place, but when they are positively spinning unregulated fares price increases linked to a formula that is only applied once every twelve months, then I feel it is disingenuous to ignore that commitment 4 months later simply because they can.

I think you're being just as disingeneous. Nowhere did FGW state that the rises on unregulated fares were being tied to RPI^▸ (Revenue Protection Inspector, or Retail Price Index, depending on context)+1% for any more than that one fare round in January.
Just because the regulated fares only go up once a year (but they don't have to - the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) *choose* to use the whole rise in January, but *could* easily spread it out across the other two rise dates if they wished), doesn't say anywhere that unregulated fares only go up once a year. But that's the only indication you've seen. If it isn't show me please?

[grahame]

I think you're being just as disingeneous. Nowhere did FGW^▸ (First Great Western) state that the rises on unregulated fares were being tied to RPI^▸ (Revenue Protection Inspector, or Retail Price Index, depending on context)+1% for any more than that one fare round in January.

I think a number of people may have assumed that because the RPI is an annual inflation figure, we were talking about an annual fare rise.  To talk about RPI as a basis for a rise and then put in more than one in a year is - err - disingeneous 

[ChrisB]

Sorry - but we're referencing rises in the cost of fares, not the annual rate of inflation.

Yes, the RPI^▸ (Revenue Protection Inspector, or Retail Price Index, depending on context) represents the rise in costs over a year, but when referring to ticket price rises, they can rise up to three times a year. There is no correlation between the two, except that one is being used as a basis for ONE rise.

[grahame]

In the strange world of railways, an rise in fare linked to the annual inflation rate (and actually in excess of that rate) isn't actually the annual rise.  You'll be telling me that it's often cheaper to buy a ticket from A to B and once from B to C than a ticket from A to C next ... or that a train like the 19:30 from Paddington is called "super off peak" because not many people use it

[ChrisB]

indeed, its a rise equal to (or in excess of!) the inflation rate at the time.