January Fare Increases

It hardly seems a year since I was last updating the website to let readers know about above inflation fare increases on National Rail. Last year (Jan 2008 increase) the government used the higher inflation measure (retail price index) plus 1% as the guide for increasing regulated rail fares. Other fares went up by as much as the rail companies wanted which meant from 0 - 7%. It is unfair that the government uses the lower inflation figure for pay increases but the higher for rail fare increases. Last year's increase was in my view not only unfair but unjustified. Unfortunately this years will be worse. If you would like to compare the forthcoming increase to last years, check out my comparison table on the main website. The green or light coloured numbers show were they are up to the level of inflation, while red represents above inflation. You can see how last year quite a few were neutral or green while this year the board is red. Unregulated fares are going up by up to 11% with the average being 7. While inflation is higher this year we have now entered a recession. A lot has changed since the summer inflation figure which is being used.

But are these increases justified? The Association of Train Operating Companies sound like a mouthpiece for the government with their talk of the increases being used for investment. The investment is happening anyway and some of the examples they quite are a little hard to believe. Lets have a quick look at the reasons for the increases. One is the London Midland refurbishment of their class 158 trains for £10 Million. However London Midland is not increasing their off peak fares. Another example is the new trains for Wrexham and Shropshire. This is a new railway company just started this year so you can't use that as a reason for a fare increase next year! Also they aren't even listed in the ATOC table of increases. Finally they mention the refurbishment of Scotrail sleepers and trains. That was completed earlier this year and was paid for by the Scottish government...not fare increases.

As BBC news correctly pointed out these fare increases are to reduce government subsidy, they have nothing to do with investment. However even worse, these increases are actually an alternative to investment. They are designed to discourage rail travel. Let's say a train is running at capacity, and many are. To add carriages takes money for trains and longer platforms etc. So rather than spend money on this the government simply increases fares to discourage travel. So much for cutting our carbon footprint. It is because they do not want to invest, not for investment that these fares are increasing.

One final point. Should the government decide to change their minds and invest they will find that carrying more passengers, in the long term, will bring in far more revenue than increasing fares for those already travelling. Unfortunately there is very little you can do about it as a passenger. However, I'll be keeping the site updated with special offers. At least one piece of good news is that if you have a railcard you will now get 1/3 off all rail fares, even advance tickets and that's one real discount that's not to be missed next year.