Rail fare increases

territt

territt

territt

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Joined
6 Jan 2009
Posts
1,332
Location
Ramsgate, Kent
So anyone here going to effected by the fare increases? mine is going up by 12.8% which is a joke as they cant even get the things to run on time..
 
i've not looked to how much my fare is going up but since its probably a regulated one it'll "only" be 6% or so. That means it'll probably now go up to £8.40 for my fare from Croydon into London. On the other hand my trains are the First Capital Connect ones on the Thameslink route and soon they'll be running more carriages with newer trains so it doesnt bother me as much.

The worry is that apparently our rail fares barely cover HALF the cost of running the networks and that the taxpayer coughs up the rest. This suggests that someone is doing it wrong.
 
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Bennie-Mac said:
Any more info on this? First im hearing just.
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There's something going on about them lifting the cap on how much rail fares can be increased by.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11818904

Not looking forward to that... This morning my train arrived 15 minutes late, and two of the four carriages weren't in use, while the other two were rammed. I couldn't get on, so had to wait. Well done, Northern Rail, great use of funds to push around two empty carriages.
 
Wouldn't be too bothered if I believed the overcrowding would be addressed and scheduling. Every morning, I should arrive just before 9am at work. Every morning, one component of my journey doesn't arrive on time (usually spending 5-10 minutes just sitting outside London Bridge before we can go in). Why is it I always find myself being on the train that has to wait for another to go by? Never the other way round :mad::p. All signs seem to show it is only going to get worse.
 
Problem is more people are moving out of London. Flats and houses have been purposely built in and around Chelmsford to attract people from London suburbs but the local infra structure isn't the same and it can't cope. They move home yet they still work in London.. Chelmsford station looks more like a mass exodus between 6am and 9am. I recall 15 years ago getting a seat easily, on any train and any time. Now you have to pick very carefully and hope there's a seat before it gets to Chelmsford. Problem is people are expanding further outwards to wards Colchester and even Ipswich.

The only way round this really is stop companies hugging into one mass area of employment and encourage them to move to towns outside London, but it's not going to happen. The "Square Mile" continues to head sky wards, quite literally attracting more commuters who choose to live further afield to combat high house prices.. It's a vicious circle.
 
territt said:
I think im going to start driving into work, going to work out cheaper getting into london that way.
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I do when working nights and would on days if I wasn't in the CC zone. On nights it costs me a fiver in fuel to drive or £8 on the train.

Bear in mind that on the train for nights I can get a carriage to myself both ways because of the time i'm travelling yet it still costs the same.

The most laughable point i saw made was that competition would keep prices at a reasonable level. The reality is that there are no other networks operating on the line i use. How is that competition?
 
I'm just going to start driving, trains just arnt worth the hastle when you factor in constant lateness, and having to put up with crowding, the prices are edging dangerously close to the point where the cost/hastle benefit is simply not worth it.

There is something very wrong with this picture, there seems to be a large void between the amount of cash revenue from tickets, and the quality of the service provided.
 
I'm looking at spending over 4k a year soon on a train pass to London.

It's not exactly a long way away either. If I was to drive there it's just over 35 miles. It's taking the widdle for a service thats normally late, unreliable and filthy.
 
Read this today in the paper, I am glad that I am moving to a place I can walk to work. My train fare of £200+ a month is already stupid, especially when wages are not rising.
 
I agree train services are rubbish, but I recall a chart on the bbc website (so perhaps take with a pinch of salt) that the train companies make 3p profit in £1, so they're not exactly raking it in. I suspect they could ultimately be run more efficiently, but the sheer number of train companies that are slated would suggest the problem is not entirely down to them - one would expect someone knows how to run such. More likely it's down to long-term underinvestment in rail infrastructure which makes it very difficult to run an efficient railway. Again I would take the figures with a pinch of salt but the press suggests a significant cost of rail travel is covered by the taxpayer. Should non-rail users be subsidising those who commute?
 
what drives me barmy is the overcrowding.

I went from paddington to reading on sunday, and there were about 15-20 of us between the carriages..... and this is a service that leaves pretty frequently. Yet, there were 4 empty first class carriages....

oh, and the lights weren't working so we had to stand in the dark.
 
kiteloopy said:
what drives me barmy is the overcrowding.

I went from paddington to reading on sunday, and there were about 15-20 of us between the carriages..... and this is a service that leaves pretty frequently. Yet, there were 4 empty first class carriages....

oh, and the lights weren't working so we had to stand in the dark.
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Never mind - it is in these times of difficulties and austerity that the Great British public rally.

I bet you chatted, laughed and came out from experience having made some good chums.
 
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