So my train ticket went up 10% how about you?

Biohazard said:
Ahh, true market economics hits the transports systems.

Well, this is what happens when England votes in Tories.

You get a bunch of uncaring money dominated freaks.
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What have above inflation fare rises have to do with the current government?

The main problem is that we're kind of split between a subsidised system and a privatised system - getting the worst of both.
 
Biohazard said:
At some point they have to stop foisting it all on the customer and act like a business not a racket.
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They are acting like a business.

Rule 1 in business: Optimum price is the point at which supply and demand meet. Therefore as long as there is undercapacity, price is not high enough.

Obviously I don't think that's right for a public service, but it isnt a public service, it is a business. Therefore it is acting exactly LIKE a business.

If you didnt want any of this, we should never have passed The Railways Act of 1994.
 
Backslick said:
The problem is that demand massively outstrips supply on the London commuter routes.
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Exactly. So faced with an inability to increase supply, the next answer is to increase price until eventually supply and demand meet.

This is economics 101.

The problem therefore is not the companies - after all, they have a duty to maximise shareholder value, but the process in the first place, almost 20 years ago.
 
Heh, my journey to town is up a hill and down a hill, costing £1.90.... 1 mile, yep, 1 mile! I walk it to be honest, takes 15 mins.

As for a taxi back, £3!! And that is with 4 of us in it... lol

Public transport is a joke.

ags
 
[TW]Fox;18104892 said:
So faced with an inability to increase supply, the next answer is to increase price until eventually supply and demand meet.
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I'm not sure it is an inability to increase supply. There are token efforts to increase capacity on various lines - but they have no desire or requirement to invest vast sums of capital because of the state granted monopoly each company has been given to run their lines and their right to increase fares past inflation without any corresponding increase in capital investment.
 
For context: I am very anti rail privatisation. However its done, so blaming the private companies is not really fair - they are acting as they should.

Blame the Conservative government of the early 90s.
 
Mine has gone from £130 a month to £145...

kinda Stupid considering its only £70 a month from the station 5 mins down the line....

Train fairs are very unfair to be honist, they dont seem to be worked out by distance...

Over the year this will be costing me close to £1200....
Thats 1/4 of my student loan gone :P
 
Janesy B said:
Tube prices have been going up for years, nothing to do with the tories.
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Yes Janesy, things go up in price.

What I was talking about is cutting all subsidies, and applying true market economics to the lines.

(While having hammered everyone for years to pay for these improvements that fail to materialise.)

Janesy B said:
New Metropolitan line trains have been put into service recently, I'm pretty sure they've reduced seating capacity to further increase standing capacity.
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Because that = + £££
 
I am in agreement with [TW]Fox and Backslick on this one - they have to ramp up the prices because theres not enough seats/standing on the Trains to fulfill the demand required.

What I also believe is that they can't add more trains because their schedules are tight enough as it is and the Railways are quite old, so high speed trains are not really an option, (unless I am mistaken of course) imagine the trouble that will be caused if the whole of the underground and overground had to be closed so that the Railways can be renewed and upgraded so that higher-speed trains can be used!
 
[TW]Fox;18104879 said:
They are acting like a business.
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Well, I suppose they are. You know what I mean though, try to treat it as a business and not a cash cow.

Re-invest, think of your customers etc.

[TW]Fox;18104879 said:
Rule 1 in business: Optimum price is the point at which supply and demand meet. Therefore as long as there is undercapacity, price is not high enough.

Obviously I don't think that's right for a public service, but it isnt a public service, it is a business. Therefore it is acting exactly LIKE a business.
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Trains are a public service though, and people rely on them.

The economy relies on them.

They've had the investment they needed for years, and failed to do much good with it. We've the most expensive fairs in Europe, but nearly the worst performing network?

Why?

Why is that acceptable, while continue to hammer travellers with above inflation increases?

[TW]Fox;18104879 said:
If you didnt want any of this, we should never have passed The Railways Act of 1994.
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I didn't realise I was in charge of passing the acts? ;) :p

My boss is seeing a annual rise of hundreds of pounds, for actually less potential services this year.

I'm glad I don't have to rely on anything rail connected to be truthful with you.
 
daz said:
What have above inflation fare rises have to do with the current government?
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The government set the caps.

Above inflation rises this year will make the previous years look tiny in comparison because of the removal of subsidies.

This isn't economy growing, it's gambling it.

daz said:
The main problem is that we're kind of split between a subsidised system and a privatised system - getting the worst of both.
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Agreed, with the only two solutions both looking rather ropey...
 
They may be private companies now but it's not really fair to look at the rail companies as if they were any other private company. (As an aside, FGP's share value has been pretty flat over the past five years but they're still managing to increase the dividend year on year despite declining profits...)

As this is a computing forum let's take an ISP as an example. If you're currently paying £30/month for a highly congested, slow and unreliable service, how would you react when the ISP increases their prices to £40/month with no improvement in service?

You'd probably change ISP.

Except most people can't simply change their rail company when they disagree with the service:price structure.

Obviously there's not a lot that can be done since privatisation but perhaps targets should be higher and removal of franchises easier (although that opens the 'better the devil you know' can of worms).
 
If i remember correctly theres a fair few aluminium welder jobs up for grabs at a rail companys sight down in Derby, so they might just be making new carriages etc.

But yeh it is an arse ache being on a full train for more than say 40 minutes especially when driving is cheaper and a lot more comfortable.
 
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