Rail campaigners say potential 5.5% fares rise would be ‘ripping off’ passengers

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/79260ceba9154cbab416c0c867ff64bb-5Hjd9gy_2/

by tylerthe-theatre

40 comments

  1. How have they got to 5.5% with inflation running at 3% and interest rates being lower? Oh, because all the rail workers have went crying asking for massive pay rises again, and get them, but no one else in civil service is allowed them.

  2. Rail fares need to go down to the railcard or advance fares. Obviously, i’m aware there’s capacity constraints on some services, but fares like Cheltenham – Birmingham being £25 walk up is absurd.

  4. Absolute ripping off. However trains getting worse too. And I managed to keep my monthly ticket price the same for the last couple of years by claiming for every delay and cancellation I experienced;)

  5. I’m honestly very confused about all of this. I’ve seen before that train tickets on average make pretty slim profits because the rolling stock costs are very high. But how have fare prices then outpaced inflation when the rolling stock isn’t being replaced? The other costs for wages etc are obviously going to be related to inflation but if rolling stock is the real killer then why is that not part of the nationalisation discussion?

  6. They’re already ripping off passengers. Trains shouldn’t be this expensive to travel on. It’s affordable enough for short distances where travel passes exist.

    If you need to travel a larger distance like say Newcastle to Bristol or Edinburgh to London, it’s cheaper driving or in some cases cheaper flying.

  7. Rail fare rises have been ripping passengers off for over a decade. The service just doesn’t improve, the carriages are increasingly aging.

    It became cheaper to get a car to go to work than catch the train and walk for me.

  8. I dunno how I can keep justifying commuting when my pay rise is under 3%

  9. When we have the most expensive trains in Europe, it’s not a sign they need to go up

  10. The current prices are ALREADY ripping off passengers

  11. Fuck rail and everyone associated with it in this country. Their greed is only matched by their complete and utter incompetence

  13. Privatisation has been a disaster for every consumer / citizen.

  14. Rail companies have the “don’t have a choice” market. People get trains because they don’t have a choice and therefore can charge as much as they want because people will have to pay it

  15. I managed to take 2 trains on a 3-4 hour journey from Amsterdam Schipol airport all the way to the very south of the Netherlands, and it only cost me around maybe €30 at most. Insanely comfortable, very clean, modern, and no issues at all. I get part of it is different infrastructure and culture, but I really don’t get it

    What are they doing that we’re not??

  16. It’s already ripping off customers. It has been for 10+ years

  17. Cost of EVERYTHING is too much. Tax reforms and nationalising industries and railways are needed. This is getting ridiculous now. Sick of the rich thinking they’re victims when they have to pay more tax. They’re still rich!

  18. Public transport is in a horrible position in this country. It’s been poorly managed for so long that it’s expensive and unreliable.

    To fix it you would have to invest and subsidise heavily. However, because it’s currently expensive and unreliable a lot of people don’t use it. You’d have a hard time convincing people that the spending is worthwhile until service and prices improve. It all creates an impasse and we’re stuck with a shit system.

  19. they are already ripping passengers off, have been for years

  20. I don’t drive, and every time I have to go somewhere 2 hours away, I always think about how I could get a plane ticket to another country for less. It is, and has been extortionate for years.

  21. This happens every time the prices go up. I agree that it’s ripping off, but there has to be a tipping point for this.

    I can’t even see train travel as a viable alternative these days – used to be a first choice for going to one of the bigger towns/cities near me. Now – cheaper to drive there.

  22. Lol it’s already a rip off. Even if prices were halved, it would still be a rip off.

  23. Recently went to Ireland. Train from Dublin to Cork was 6 euro for a 3 hour journey
    Costs me £30 a day to get into my office from Essex into London…

  24. Needs nationalising and a complete overhaul of the fares.

    Public transport should be cheap and easily accessible. Most of the world is able to make it work, so why can’t we?

  25. They say it every year and every year it goes up anyway and every year the government ignores it.

  27. Abolish the fucking SCAM of return tickets not being double a single ticket.

  28. The whole country needs to go on a train strike, it is a disgrace how much they charge us.

  29. I drive into London when I have to, as it’s cheaper to pay to park all day and drive + you can take multiple people. It’s also faster.

    There’s something wrong with the public transit system when that is the case.

  30. There’s a lot of routes with multiple tocs which have wildly different prices for one stop

    The problem shouldn’t exist

  31. The insane prices of train tickets do nothing but empty trains that still run, and push people towards cars and inefficient, climate change gas producing vehicles.

  32. I’ve been to many countries and literally all of them have a train service which makes ours look shameful.

    The older I get the less I seem to like this country. Of course we do some good things, but train prices we are shameful on.

  33. The only reason I’ve taken train is if driving was around double the time on weekends due to road closures.

  34. Currently in Japan. Shinkansen cost about 7 quid to go 100 miles today…

  35. Why are they allowed to use RPI, the higher measure, for Rail Fares, but insist on pay rises being measured against CPI.

  36. Of course fares are going up – everything is. That’s Brexit Britain for you. We were told we would take back control but all we’ve done is take back higher bills, higher taxes and higher costs for basic things like food, energy and now rail. The rail companies will hide behind inflation but half the reason inflation’s been so bad here compared to Europe is because we cut ourselves off from the biggest market on our doorstep.

    We trashed supply chains, shoved red tape everywhere, scared off investment, and now the public is expected to foot the bill while the government pretends this is just “the global economy.” Funny how France and Germany don’t have rail fares spiralling the same way, isn’t it?

    It’s the story of the whole country since Brexit – pay more, get less. Whether it’s your weekly shop, your mortgage, your heating bill, or now your ticket to work, the cost of that great independence is being dumped on normal people while the politicians who pushed it swan off to their cushy jobs.

    These rises are the logical consequence of the biggest self-inflicted wound this country’s ever made. And we’ll be paying for it for decades.

  37. Rail fares should be decreased and work on the rail infrastructure increased dramatically, urban area bus stations should be placed next to rail hubs/stations by law and better luggage provision be made.

  39. Costs me around £100 and takes around five hours for me to get from Cornwall to Dorset by train. Its 10 hours (via Heathrow) and £70 on the coach.

    Public transport, yet another victim of privatisation. Simply nationalise it? Yeah, sure but we still have to pay to upgrade and fix the decades of neglect, and nobody wants to pay for it.

    Edit:

    Just checked the flights, Newquay to Bournemouth around £500 and its a 24hr+ flight via Dubai…

  40. Only 5.5%? Rail fares in the UK are already a huge rip off.

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