new year misery as rail fares rise again to the 5k mark.. the AA grumpy column

[AA grumpy]

hi sir grumpy here on his white charger righting the wrongs of a corrupt government ( the only charger you ride grumps is the battery charger ED)

i,ll ignore that last remark mr editor just finish your drink anyway wasnt you thinking of joining A.A after the new year ? and not the breakdown club either touche !!! anyway enough bickering on with the column

while im government bashing its time to turn to the tories who in privatising the railways have created more new year misery for commuters with season tickets hitting an eye watering £5,000 a time.

CASH-STRAPPED commuters are set for more misery in the New Year, after the rail industry announced average fares will rise by an infation-busting 2.2 per cent in January.

The price hike means many more Britons will be pushed into paying more than £5,000-a-year for their season ticket, it was announced today.

The January 2015 rise for regulated fares, including season tickets, has been limited to no more than 2.5 per cent.

However unregulated fares, such as off-peak leisure tickets, could soar after price increases were left to train companies' discretion.

The Rail Delivery Group said the average rise for all fares to take effect from January 2, 2015 would be 2.2 per cent - the lowest average rise for five years.

Yet it still means many season ticket holders will find their average rise will be not only well above the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation figure but also in excess of most annual pay rises.

Commuters, passenger groups and transport units have voiced anger at the increases, branding it the "scandal of Britain's great rail fares rip off".

Most expressed their frustration at the price hikes, with some questioning whether the increases would lead to improved rail services.

While Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT transport union, said: "The scandal of Britain's great rail fares rip off is that today's hike is far outstripping average pay increases and it will once again hit those at the sharp end of the austerity clampdown the hardest.

"After two decades of privatisation the British people pay some of the highest fares in Europe to travel on clapped-out, understaffed and overcrowded services while the private train companies are laughing all the way to the bank. Today's fares announcement just fuels that scandal.

"We say fares should be cut and not staff, and public ownership would allow us to do just that."

Chancellor George Osborne confirmed during Wednesday's Autumn Statement that regulated fares will rise by July's higher Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation figure of 2.5 per cent.

Until now, regulated fares have increased by more than the rate of inflation in most years since 2004.

Michael Roberts, director general of the Rail Delivery Group, recently announced that over the next five years, Network Rail would spend on average £27million a day on improving rail lines.

He said: "For every pound spent on fares, 97p goes on track, train, staff and other costs, while 3p goes in profits earned by train companies for running services on Europe's fastest-growing railway.

"The industry is continuing to work together to get more for every pound we invest to enable government to make fares decisions which work best for passengers."

EXAMPLES OF PRICE INCREASE

Those travelling to Canterbury East to London will see their season tickets rising from the January 2014 price of £4,960 to a point beyond £5,000.

Folkestone Central to London season tickets, which were £4,984 in January 2014, will also pass the £5,000 mark.

The season ticket from West Malling in Kent to London will rise from the January 2014 figure of £3,996 to a point beyond £4,000.

Those commuting to London from Woking in Surrey will see their January 2014 season ticket price of £2,980 rising past the £3,000 mark.

Commuters heading to Birmingham from Manchester will see their season tickets rising from the January 2014 figure of £2,960 to over £3,000.

While season tickets from Norwich to Cambridge will increase from the January 2014 price of £2,437 to over £2,500.

Average rail fares rise by inflation-busting 2.2 per cent | UK | News | Daily Express

AAG

my last experience of traveling by train was it was more expensive than national express which i personally prefer to use i was shut into an diabolicallyu overcrowded train so overcrowded the gauard could not walk through and i had to find myself a space on the floor and sit down or stand for the entire journey and to make matters worse i and my fellow passengers were rattled around like a marble in a can.

i prefer to take the coach these days and only use the train as a last resort if the journey requires me to be somewhere quicker.

this is the legacy of the tories privatisation programme or the selling off of the family silver if you prefer the rich tories lining the pockets of their fellow rich but get richer quicker greedy investor pals who probably bung a few quid their way as a backhander for the contract.

so its the poor old commuter who has to stand this eye watering increase

just to get to work and try and make an honest living as the greedy companies and government laugh quaff the old moet and salmon sandwiches thinking of the extra money to come.

they talk of 97p in every £1 being invested back into the network

maybe in london and the south east but north of the watford commuter belt we,re still waiting.

you only have to look out of the window to see miles of derelict former sidings and freight yards or rusting unused wagons that were once busy under british rail now empty as the tories trimmed off what the investors wouldnt make a profit on before the big blue cross rail sale.

train services like goole to leeds cut by northern rail to one evening train to goole and a morning and evening service to leeds per day

or sheffield to cleethorpes via brigg which sees 3 trains each way on saturdays only the line mostly unused the rest of the time apart from the odd freight twice a week.

the biggest oddity has to be teeside airport station again northern rail

this has one train each way on sundays and unused the rest of the time

meaning to do the same journey you have to go a different way around covering twice the distance as a direct train or its quicker by bus

boarded up derelict station buildings weeds growing between the tracks, bridges and track needing repair basic bus shelter type stations

our national railway system has become a third world system in some parts.

then you have the train operating companies or TOC,S as they are called who run the services and if you are unlucky enough to have to change operators its pot luck if you will catch the connection if your train is late as each company has no allegience to its rivals services.

you can even travel by vintage steam train between whitby and pickering by north yorkshire moors railway the journey is probably delightfull but these are museum pieces driven by volunteer unpaid drivers and staff who may not command the same kind of high level training a national railway driver may have although they may only travel at 25mph would they know how to deal with a real emergency and should these museum pieces perfectly fine on their own private railway systems be traveling on the national network alongside modern trains ?

it seems the great railway sell off has turned into the national travel lottery ..come back BR all is forgiven

have the

[FourPart]

I know a return ticket (with Disabled Person's Railcard) for Southampton - London cost £52 this time last year, and the DWP tried telling me that I should try for jobs in London as it came within the required 90 minute traveling time. On the other hand, with a few weeks advanced booknig you can get a return coach ticket for £5.

[Oscar Namechange]

I went to Blackpool two weeks ago by National Express Coach which turned Into a nightmare because of Black Friday but the return trip was a dream.

I have to go to London In the new year and Manchester... and I'll be going by coach.

[FG-administator]

I'll bite - go on, tell me whether "many more Britons will be pushed into paying more than £5,000-a-year for their season ticket" is actually true or not. It looks like utterly bogus exaggeration to me.

It looks to me that there are a few routes fast enough to allow commuting into London if you're prepared to travel 20 hours a week on the train as well as getting to and fro at each end, and that the season ticket for anyone that daft can exceed £5000 a year. I bet it could exceed £5,000 a year last year too. Does this really qualify as "many more Britons", or is it cobblers.

At a guess it might be one Briton in every million whose season ticket will go from below £5,000 a year to over £5,000 a year or, to look at it in perspective, a hundredth as many as will die in traffic accidents this year or a tenth as many as will be murdered. We're meant to call this infinitesimal fraction "many more Britons"? Bosh, that's what I say.

I bet these wallies who do all the commuting get paid at least £5,000 a year more than they would if they worked locally, too. They do choose to commute, after all. They could live in London instead if they wanted to, rather than in extreme-outer-metroland. I'd be very surprised if even one of these £5,000+ a year commuters doesn't work in London.

[FG-administator]

Nobody?

Point made, then.