UK: Fare increases give commuters a 'frosty return'

[John Ashworth]

Fare increases give commuters a 'frosty return', says passenger watchdog

Christmas break ends with price rises of up to 11%, branded by Bob Crow as 'daylight robbery' on part of rail operators

Matthew Taylor and Patrick Wintour
guardian.co.uk, Monday 2 January 2012 19.07 GMT

Commuters returning to work on Tuesday after the Christmas break face fare rises of up to 11% amid growing anger at what one passenger watchdog described as a "fractured, inefficient industry".

Under an annual price-rise formula, regulated fares, which include season tickets, increased by an average of 6% from Monday. Prices on some routes have gone up by almost 11%.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of rail customer watchdog Passenger Focus, said it would mean a "frosty return to work" for tens of thousands of commuters. "2011 saw the industry's inefficiencies highlighted in a number of reports. The current policy of moving costs from the taxpayer on to the farepayer will go totally sour if the whole industry and government does not wring better value for money out of its spending. Why should passengers go on paying for a fractured, inefficient industry?"

Campaign groups and transport unions criticised the increases, which come when rail regulators have warned Network Rail about poor punctuality on some long-distance routes.

Last week, the Campaign for Better Transport released figures showing that passengers in Europe can pay between 3.5 and nearly 10 times less for their annual season tickets than their British counterparts on journeys of about 23 miles.

Bob Crow, the general secretary of the transport union RMT, said the latest fare increases amounted to "daylight robbery" that would increase profits for private train operators. "This is the scandal of rail privatisation writ large: fat profits for the train companies while the public pay through the nose to travel on creaking and overcrowded cattle trucks," he said.

Prices rose by an average of 5.9% but the cost of some tickets has risen by twice that figure. A Chester to Crewe annual season ticket goes up by 10.6%, as does a season ticket for travel between Llandudno and Bangor in Gwynedd. Some of the Northern train company's West Yorkshire Metro season tickets are also rising by well above the national average, with a Leeds to Wakefield season up by 8%.

There will also be above-average increases for some London commuters, with a season ticket between Northampton and the capital rising 6.9% to £4,756.

The government, train companies and London mayor Boris Johnson have all said fare rises are necessary to sustain investment on London Underground and main lines as the burden is moved from the taxpayer to the farepayer. Labour's candidate for London mayor, Ken Livingstone, will make the rising cost of public transport a "key battleground" in his election campaign against Johnson. He said: "At a time when millions of people are feeling the pinch, I believe putting money back into the pockets of people through fare cuts is the right and responsible thing to do."

The price rise formula allows train companies to put some regulated fares up by more than the average as long as the mean remains 6%. In its last year of power Labour scrapped this flexible scheme and insisted companies not exceed the annual formula figure on any ticket. The coalition government has reverted to the old plan.

The shadow transport secretary, Maria Eagle, said: "Commuters finding that their rail fares have rocketed by up to 11% will want to know why the chancellor gave the clear impression in his autumn statement that he had limited ticket price hikes to just 1% above inflation. The reality is that the government chose to quietly reverse the decision of the last Labour government to enforce the fare cap and instead gave back to train companies the right to hike fares by much more.

"The fact that David Cameron has chosen to side with the powerful private train operator lobby against commuters and passengers shows he is desperately out of touch with the spiralling cost-of-living crisis facing so many hard-working families. If this year's 11% fare hikes were not bad enough, the government has told the train companies they can increase fares by up to a staggering 13% in 2013 and 2014, meaning three years in a row of eyewatering price hikes."

The cost of rail theft

Material worth more than £13m has been stolen from the railways in the past three years, British Transport police have said. One in two of the 6,000 thefts had jeopardised the safe and efficient running of trains.

Rotherham Central, in South Yorkshire, was the worst-hit station, with 107 incidents costing £100,000. Nearby Doncaster had 24 fewer but its losses cost £200,000, boosted by half-a-mile of track worth £88,000 stolen in 2010.

Deputy chief constable Paul Crowther said the force made more than 1,000 arrests last year, but added: "It's easy to convert this stolen property into cash, and that's why we continue to focus our attention on dealers."

The force and Network Rail wants legislation to make it harder for thieves to sell scrap to dealers.

[John Ashworth]

They STILL don't get it: As train fares rocket, MPs enjoy first-class travel at our expense

Claims for upper-class flights and rail journeys to top £1million a year
Comes despite pledge to ban the practice after expenses scandal

Daily Mail
By JASON GROVES
Last updated at 12:10 AM on 3rd January 2012


MPs are on course to claim more than £1million a year for first-class travel – despite a promised ban on the practice in the wake of the expenses scandal.

The claims have more than doubled in a year as they exploit a loophole in the latest ‘tough’ expenses regime, figures show.

They highlight the extent to which the system cossets MPs from the crippling rises in the cost of living that are squeezing the incomes of ordinary families.

While commuters are facing a rise in ticket prices of up to 11 per cent, MPs can simply bill the taxpayer and continue to travel first class.

Figures released by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, covering the months of June and July last year, show that MPs claimed for 1,334 first-class rail journeys at a total cost of £136,800 – a 155 per cent increase on the same period the previous year.

During the same two months, they also took 115 business class flights, claiming £35,722 from the taxpayer.

The combined claims for upper class rail and air fares are now on course to top £1million a year.

Emma Boon, campaign director of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, called for a clampdown on the practice.

‘It beggars belief that some politicians think they can live the high life at taxpayers’ expense,’ she said. ‘If they want to sit in first class, they can pay the extra themselves.’

MPs’ claims for taxis have also doubled in the past year, despite a supposed ban in all but exceptional circumstances.

In June and July, they claimed £13,681 in taxi fares – up from £6,384 in the same period the previous year.

MPs reacted with fury to proposals for a ban on first-class travel in the wake of the expenses scandal.

The backlash resulted in watered-down proposals that allowed MPs to travel first class if they could find a more expensive standard class ticket.

Because of the expensive prices charged for flexible ‘Anytime’ tickets, this means MPs are often able to travel first class.

MPs exploiting the loophole include Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, and Energy Secretary Chris Huhne.

Tory ministers appear to have made an unspoken agreement to avoid claiming for first-class travel.These tickets are never the cheapest and are often several times the price of a walk-on fare.

For example, Labour MP Phil Wilson claimed £382.50 for a first-class ticket from Darlington to London.

A walk-on standard return costs £106.20, while those booking just a day in advance can pick up two single tickets for a total of £87.

Fellow Labour MP Tony Cunningham claimed three tickets to his Cumbrian constituency at a cost of £291.50 each.
A walk-on standard return costs just £91.20.