Campaign for Better Transport - Campaign for lower fares

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From my mailbox

It's time to fix fares for good

Hello Graham

Expensive fares are putting people off taking the train. A survey we just commissioned found that 71% of people would travel more by train if fares were cheaper.

You probably aren't surprised by that result - I wasn't. Rail is a brilliant, sustainable way to travel but expensive fares have been a big problem for a long time.

Another thing that won't surprise you: rail fares are due to rise again next month. Meanwhile, fuel duty for car drivers remains frozen, as it has been for the past 14 years. This - alongside the terrible decision to back a third runway at Heathrow - suggests the Government isn't taking the need to tackle climate change anywhere near seriously enough.

But something is different this year. Because this year, the way the railways are run is going to change significantly.

As our new report, Fix fares for good, explains, the upcoming rail reforms can clear the way for fares to be made affordable, clear and fair. And this is vital. While 66% of Brits support nationalisation in principle, this falls to only 6% if rail fares were to continue to increase.

Ask your MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) to help fix fares for good

Fix fares for good calls on the Government to fully review rail fares with a view to making them simpler and more affordable. For instance, it should cap long-distance fares, and give walk-up passengers a better deal. Until the review is complete, rail fares should be frozen.

If you agree, please email your MP using our quick form.

Email your MP

High fares are harming our pockets and our planet. Let's make sure the Government doesn't miss this unique chance to fix fares for good.

Best wishes

Michael
- Michael Solomon Williams, Head of Campaigns
- Campaign for Better Transport

Link in the email is to https://bettertransport.org.uk/campaigns/fix-fares-for-good/ which tells you more about the campaign and then links onwards to your MP

[grahame]

The Standard has picked this up too

Cap long-distance train fares to avoid ‘punitive pricing’ – campaigners

and indeed from the St Ives ticket machine last week, where my friend was fingerpoken unt buttonpushin

[John D]

The Standard has picked this up too

Cap long-distance train fares to avoid ‘punitive pricing’ – campaigners

and indeed from the St Ives ticket machine last week, where my friend was fingerpoken unt buttonpushin

Not only are the fares ridiculous, but pricing options are bonkers, why is there a fare via London that is more than any permitted (its name suggests it's valid any route including London).  What is purpose of a more restricted ticket at a premium over an any ticket.

Unless I am missing something, someone has gone to the trouble of adding a fare that is pointless, as it is a subset of another fare.  Am I being dumb, or is this just crazy.

[grahame]

Not only are the fares ridiculous, but pricing options are bonkers, why is there a fare via London that is more than any permitted (its name suggests it's valid any route including London).  What is purpose of a more restricted ticket at a premium over an any ticket.

Unless I am missing something, someone has gone to the trouble of adding a fare that is pointless, as it is a subset of another fare.  Am I being dumb, or is this just crazy.

I think that the "Any Permitted" fares may be anything which is permitted by the normal routing guide rules - which if you manage to work it out does not permit via London.

The "Any Permitted" fare is set by Cross Country - £306.70 ... and LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) have set a more expensive fare at £322.00 if you want to go outside the normally permitted route according to the routing guide - the £306.70 is probably the regulated fare which they cannot undercut.  However, they can off a lower fare with time restrictions in commercial competition and have chosen  to do so at £169.40,  "Not valid on trains timed to arrive: London Paddington after 04:29 and before 11:35" - as the first train off St Ives wouldn't get you to London that early, the time restriction is almost academic - just stops you using the Night Riviera.

[RichardB]

Just to add, this is St Ives to Thurso.  If you did take CrossCountry and go via Birmingham, you'd risk an excess fare as there is no Super Off Peak Single to go that way.  Seems strange since it is of course a good deal shorter route than via London. 

Amazingly (well, I was amazed, anyway) the Std Class Off Peak Single from St Ives to Birmingham is £197.70!

Given that, you'd definitely be excessed with a cheaper Super Off Peak Single to Thurso.

[grahame]

Just to add, this is St Ives to Thurso. ...

Ah yes - the "choose your fare" screen doesn't actually echo back the destination you've selected which might be a good idea to  help ensure you're reminded of the chosen destination station.   Can't imagine there are many sales of this ticket ... in fact the national database shows none for the last six years - https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/SIV.html?limit=2000 - none to Inverness either though some St Ives to Aberdeen tickets have been sold.   Whether from the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) I doubt.

[ChrisB]

Got this initially

Sorry - we cannot meet this request
02 Feb 2025, 19:24 - www.firstgreatwestern.info
502

Response code number 502 ( Official description - " Bad Gateway " )
Description
You have asked for /coffeeshop/index.php?topic=29842.new;topicseen
You have asked of (our server) www.firstgreatwestern.info [213.165.84.74] on port 443
You have asked from (client) 86.143.107.222
You have asked using the GET method and HTTP/1.1 protocol
Your browser is Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/132.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 Edg/132.0.0.0
You were referred here from https://email.bt.com/
You received response code 502 ( Bad Gateway ) at 19:24 on 2 Feb 25

If you think you should have received a real page - please contact me - graham/at/sn12/dot/net
Please copy and paste the description (above) in your email so I can resolve any problem.
Thank You.

When being directed here from an email notification about this thread