Rail fare prices - the basis of increases (merged ongoing discussion)

[whole diary]

[SDS]

Seem to some minor changes to ticket restrictions from the west country.

YC/YU has added some stations to the restrictions. (tickets from london to west)
Dawlish
Frome
and Teignmouth

YU has the same stations added  and a new easement.
Tickets to Pewsey (only) are also valid on the 1506 service from London Paddington (1532 from Reading).


Your new fares BNM (screen shot from NFM^▸ (National Fares Manual)

[Chris from Nailsea]

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

First Capital Connect 46% rail fare hike criticised

A union is urging the government to intervene after it emerged rail fares on some First Capital Connect services will rise by up to 46% next month.

Rail travellers are facing an average rail fare rise of 6.2% in the new year, according to industry figures.

Gerry Doherty, leader of the TSSA^» (Transport Salaried Staffs' Association - about) rail union, said the rise was "simply outrageous".

First Capital Connect said the majority of its fares were rising by less than the national average.

Regulated fares, which include season tickets, will go up by an average of 5.8% from January. Some of these fares could rise by as much as 10.8%.

Some unregulated fares, typically short distance off-peak ones, will rise by more than the 6.2% overall average, but the industry is not giving a figure. There is no price cap on these so rail firms could raise them by much more.

BBC transport correspondent Richard Scott said: "Train companies are bound by competition. If they think they can increase it by 10% then they will but they don't want to drive people off the railways."

The Campaign for Better Transport warned the rises would price people off trains

Passenger groups expressed disappointment that the Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc) had not provided figures for individual train companies.

But Atoc, which supplied the figures, said the above-inflation rises were a response to recent government policy changes, which meant passengers having to pay more towards railway investment.

Michael Roberts, chief executive of Atoc, said: "We know times are tough for many people but next year's fare increases will ensure that Britain can continue investing in its railways. Even with these fare increases, the money passengers spend on fares covers only half the cost of running the railways - taxpayers make up the difference."

Campaign for Better Transport campaigner Alexandra Woodsworth said the rises made a mockery of the government's commitment to fair pricing for rail travel. "Increasing rail fares is not smart, not fair and not green. It's high time that the government started keeping some of its promises," she said.

Mr Doherty said: "It is simply outrageous that hard-pressed commuters are being forced to pay fare hikes of up to 10% when they are themselves facing pay freezes and job cuts. Passengers will regard that as a sick joke seeing as we have the most expensive and overcrowded railway in Europe."

Regulated fares are tied to an annual price cap formula meaning fares can increase each January only by the previous July's RPI^▸ (Revenue Protection Inspector (or Retail Price Index, depending on the context)) inflation rate plus 1%. This means a 5.8% average rise for 2011.

However, companies are able to put up some fares by more than 5% as long as other fares decrease at the same rate.

In January 2012, passengers will have to dig even deeper into their pockets when the annual price rise formula changes to RPI plus 3% across the network.

Our correspondent said rail travel dipped during the recession but, as the economy recovered, passenger journeys rose 10% over the past year. Demand, he said, was expected to double over the coming decade.

On Thursday, the government is expected to make an announcement about long-term rail projects.

A First Capital Connect spokesman said: "The tickets quoted are used by less than 0.3% of our customers. The overwhelming vast majority of customers will see fares rise by an average of 5.5% which is less than the national average of 6.2%. All of our fares are set at levels to encourage growth and it is not in our interest to price people off the railway."

[devon_metro]

Where did they get the figure 46%?

[Super Guard]

And I see they didn't even specify what the 46% fare increase was 

[brizzlechris]

Commuters face an increase in rail fares of more than 46 per cent in the new year.

First Capital Connect is to scrap ^flexi^ off-peak monthly tickets, with the result that the Hornsey to Stevenage fare will rise by 46.2 per cent from ^194.40 to ^284.20, while a Hornsey to Welwyn Garden City monthly ticket will go up 39.2 per cent. The rises are the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)'s biggest.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23906331-rail-passengers-facing-a-46-percent-new-year-increase-in-fares.do

[Timmer]

A First Capital Connect spokesman said: "The tickets quoted are used by less than 0.3% of our customers

But they are used by someone otherwise you wouldn't be putting them up!

[grahame]

A First Capital Connect spokesman said: "The tickets quoted are used by less than 0.3% of our customers

But they are used by someone otherwise you wouldn't be putting them up!

When the price of an on-the-day return ticket, Monday to Friday, from Melksham to Paddington rose from under 50 pounds to over 100 pounds in less than 2 months (November 2006 to January 2007), I recall a similar lack of sympathy from First ... something along the lines of "well - you don't have any offpeak trains any more, so that's how it is ... tough!"

First are a business, and whilst it's usually not in their interest to impose huge price increases, there will be times that it suits them to build up a user base at a good price and then raise the bar to generate more income ... of course, they need to be careful, but they have clearly concluded in the 46% "reverse ticket" case that now that they have the business, they will get some grouching but probably a lot more money too (nearly 46%) if they hike the fares.  And my understanding is that the are perfectly at liberty to make such an increase; it's not a controlled fare, rather it's the removal of a special deal.

Third example ... I paid 25 pounds for a Melksham to Chester return in November (book on the day, unlimited number of tickets available, almost any train);  a quote for midJanuary comes in at 74 pounds and that looks like a much more restricted ticket ... again, withdrawl of special deal which (??) was designed to encourage people who don't often use the train to do so ....

[SDS]

The 'flexi time' tickets were a wagn offer (to keep the reverse commuters happy) if I remember rightly.
Same as a while ago FCC^▸ (First Capital Connect) withdrew the scholars 75% off season tickets and changed it to "student connect" with a 34% discount. Again this was another wagn offer.

I just suspect FCC are withdrawing the wagn offers.

[Lee]

From ITN:

Campaign against rail fares hike underway

A campaign against rail fare rises which are "holding travellers to ransom" has been unveiled ahead of planned increases to train ticket prices on Sunday.

The Campaign for Better Transport (CBT^‡(resolve)) will launch its Fair Fares Now petition next week as millions of commuters return to work after the festive break.

The campaign, which is backed by Monty Python star Michael Palin, was formed in protest at New Year fare rises, which mean some passengers will have to pay more than ^5,000 for season tickets, according to the CBT.

From Sunday, annual season tickets for main line rail travellers will rise by an average of 5.8 per cent, with Tube and bus fares in London rising by an average of 6.8 per cent.

The CBT said some commuters would see their season tickets increase in price by 13 per cent.

It said the new cost of season tickets would equate to around 20 per cent of the average UK^▸ (United Kingdom) salary and was the equivalent of Transport Secretary Philip Hammond paying more than ^27,000 for a season ticket.

CBT chief executive Stephen Joseph said: "Commuters feel like they are being pick-pocketed by the Government, expected to pay more year on year for the same poor quality service.

"Even with the promised extra investment, many passengers will see no actual improvement to their daily commute.

"Politicians need to start living in the real world and understand that people simply cannot afford to pay a fifth of their income just to do a day's work. The Government pledged to create fair fares and we all expect them to keep that promise."

The Association of Train Operating Companies said any fare rising by more than 5.8 per cent would have to be balanced by another going up by less and that some fares would be going up by less than 1 per cent.

[StuartStIves]

Not all bad news.

Liskeard to Plymouth

Standard Day Return was ^8 now ^7.90
Seven Day Season was ^23.90 now ^19 - a 20% reduction!

See my message earlier below - but I don't know why Liskeard to Plymouth has been singled out for these reductions when the rest of Cornwall is facing increases nearer to 6%

[JayMac]

...but I don't know why Liskeard to Plymouth has been singled out for these reductions when the rest of Cornwall is facing increases nearer to 6%

Because the 'basket fares' rules have returned allowing TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) to have above average fares increases across a range of popular flows and to ameliorate those increases by having relatively large decreases on a couple of (often, less used) flows. A shady bit of practice that Andrew Adonis stopped, but which has now be allowed again by the new brooms at the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about).

If the different 'fares baskets' were made public and we could see exactly what increases were 'basketed' with what decreases then I may say the practice isn't shady. But, like so many things when it comes to UK^▸ (United Kingdom) rail fares, too much is hidden from us the passengers and that gives the impression (whether true or not) that the TOCs are really not that interested in Customer Service, and the only thing that matters to them is what the shareholders will think.

[Timmer]

We have a government that is completely one track minded on getting the deficit down and wants the railways to pay their way more so it's pretty much giving license to the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) to print money by using as bignosemac says the fares basket system. All ligit but a bit shady by hiding behind the headline fares rise. But lets balance things here. Look whats happening on the petrol station forecourt. You are going to get hit whether you travel by rail or car to get to work.

Still, could be worse, we could have Southeastern as our regional TOC:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/8232321/Rail-season-tickets-burst-through-the-5000-a-year-barrier.html

The cost of commuting to work in the South East is to pass ^5,000 a year for the first time from Sunday, as sharp season ticket hikes come into force.

Rail passengers across the country ^ including those using popular Home Counties routes ^ are facing the highest increases in a generation, at a time when many people's salaries are failing to keep pace with inflation.

The biggest season ticket hikes are being imposed by Southeastern, which carries 120,000 commuters a day into central London from East Sussex and Kent. Commuters travelling to St Pancras from Hastings, Rye and Tonbridge will have to find ^5,192 a year ^ equivalent to a fifth of the national average salary.

This is the first time that any standard class season tickets in the South East have broken through the ^5,000 milestone. The Government allowed Southeastern to push up fares by an average of 7.8 per cent ^ three per cent above July^s Retail Price Index. But this masked higher increases approaching 13 per cent on some routes.

[Lee]

A 7.82% Bristol-Bath season ticket price increase features in this BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) article - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12104087

[Timmer]

A 7.82% Bristol-Bath season ticket price increase features in this BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) article - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12104087

That doesn't surprise me as there are many who travel by train from Bath to Bristol as the alternative of taking the car or a bus into Bristol from Bath isn't a great option.

[JayMac]

A 7.82% Bristol-Bath season ticket price increase.....

Probably one of the most heavily used commuter flows in the 'west' part of FGW^▸ (First Great Western) land. So I guess it was obvious that it would get an above average increase in its particular fares basket.