Why is public transport in England so expensive, when in the rest of Europe it is very cheap?

Question

Public transport in Britain is a joke. To take a 10 minute bus ride it cancost a staggering 2.50 and to take the train....well forget it, you need a mortgage! I wouldn't mind if it was a pleasant and enjoyable experience but usually it is not.
I watched a programme recently about the train service and the inspectors did a one night inspection on one station and 50% of the travellers did not have the right ticket. The inspectors collected over 1000 pounds in extra fares!! If the train was cheaper then people would pay the correct fare.

Answer 1

PROFIT first customers last.

Answer 2

It's to keep people OFF the buses and trains.

Our infrastructure has been starved of funds for so long it wouldn't be able to cope with the demand if fares were affordable the way they used to be.

No matter what people say on here, they wouldn't vote for any party who promised to put up taxes by the amount needed to improve the railways. Privatisation is just a way of getting the monkey off the government's back, because everyone now blames the operators (with some justification too), so the taxpayer ends up bunging them more money to make sure they will bid when the franchises are up for renewal.

Train operators aren't going to pay for track improvements - Why should they? They only have a franchise for x years - the improvements won't even be finished by then. They can just point to the "lack of investment" like it's nothing to do with them and use the money to pay director's bonuses and shareholders dividends.

Many operators don't even own the rolling stock, and the firms it is leased from are mostly controlled by major banks - Which means there's yet another group dipping their bread in the yolk of taxpayer's money, while also providing the operators with another excuse for failure when the trains break down for lack of maintenance.

When the railways were state-owned there was a lot of "waste" in having too many workers, being paid too much for doing too little. Now the lion's share of the money goes to a few executives, shareholders and middle men which I am sure everyone agrees is a totally different kettle of fish.. ... ... er... Isn't it?

And if anybody's in the least interested, my annual season ticket costs £8000 - Yes, you read that right.. 3 zeros - and that is AFTER the 5% deduction for having put up with such a lousy service for the previous 12 months.

Answer 3

How about cheaper car insurance and lower road taxes in exchange for more expensive public transportation? That would be equally unfair. Those who use should be the ones who pay. If money is tight and you don't have a car, look for other ways to save money. If you use the bus, train, or subway everyday for work, take advantage of a commuter pass. If money is still tight, cut in other areas. I find that some used items work just as well as new items. I found a guitar at the Salvation Army at a bargain price of $40.00. It needed one new string, but was otherwise in good condition. Garage sales are another place for bargains. I price auto insurance every couple of years or so to be sure I pay the lowest rate possible. Sometimes it means switching companies and letting the old company know why I'm switching. If everyone did that, rates would go down. Taking the defensive driver course knocks 10 off the comprehensive and collision portion of your insurance premium for 3 years, lowering the rate even further. There's a fee for the course, but you've recuped the cost of the course within the first 6 months or so.

Answer 4

Ha! you want to try living in Ireland;
at least you HAVE a public transport system in England;
My job is only 30 miles from where I live; but there is no public transport system to take me there. If I were relying on public transport, I would have to walk 20 minutes to get a train, then take a journey of 45 minutes to Dublin city centre, which would cost me 12 euro for a return ticket; get a bus back out to the hospital where I work; get off and walk another 20 minutes.

Which is why I have a car.

but I agree with you; it's very cheap to take a bus or a train elsewhere in Europe. We have a tram system running through the city centre for the last two years; it has been hugely successful, so the operators decided to INCREASE the rush hour fares, "to stop people using it "

Eh?

and you guys think it's bad over there?

Answer 5

Perhaps if all people paid the fare instead of trying to bunk the train. If the Private companies did not have to keep paying each other to use the rails etc. If the cost of living was not so high in the UK. If the rail infrastructure had been bombed to bits in the WW2 like most of Europes. If People got out of there cars and onto the transport. If the transport went to all places. If the Goverment did not keep mucking around with the transport. If the Goverment took the bullet and scraped the private sector and payed instead all the subsidies to all these companies into the infrastructure. If the companies did not treat the employees like dirt and the customers did not treat the staff even worse at times. Maybe at the end of the day there could be a better system.
But we are stuck with what we have got.

Answer 6

Bus fares depend largely on the operator. I remember moving from Suffolk to where I am now in the North West. A 6 mile bus journey into town in 1990 used to cost me 65p, when we moved up north the comparable journey cost £1.50. Now it is £3.25 for a single. The really bizarre thing is that a "day rider" costs 10p less!! It's all a question of working through the bizarre ticketing strategy.

The same goes for the trains - turn up on the day and buy a ticket at the station and you'll pay a fortune, travel after 9am and you can get a cheap day return, book well in advance and you can get 'apex' tickets, 'saver' tickets and 'super saver' tickets. You can get the fares down to something more reasonable, but it takes some understanding of the system. I'd rather there was just one price fits all, but there isn't. I tried booking a ticket to Inverness and there were so many pricing options as to be unreal, but none of them would have been cheaper than a car or even the coach.

The biggest rip-off of all though has to be taxis!

Answer 7

Personally, I think it's a lie when 'our government' tells us to use public transport more. They obviously want us to use cars more, or they'd insist on lower prices for public transport.
Buying new buses and using the money on them, then hiking up the price so I can't afford to take a bus any longer is outrageous. I'd be fine with the old buses that were working and the low prices. I detest driving anywhere now since the congestion is so bad. Driving anywhere takes a very long time, and is stressful. Petrol prices are so high they are limiting. Are we all supposed to stay at home and watch the tv and go on the internet and that's it?
I suppose the money went to the people who make the buses, and now we have to pay. So I'm guessing that some people in our government have a huge amount of shares in certain companies. In the car industry, and petrol industry.
Or they are just completely incompetent middle management people who can't see the big picture.

Answer 8

Problem: Train carriages are overcrowded.
Solution: Raise fares to discourage people from taking trains, also hide train timetables and departure information.
Problem: not enough people are taking public transport to make a profit.
Solution: Raise fares to make more money, reduce numbers of train carriages.
Problem: Now even less people, priced off the buses and trains, are taking public transport.
Solution: Raise fares of those who ARE still riding.
Problem: The only people who can afford to take public transport are driving their cars, because it's cheaper.
Solution: Find as many ways as possible to tax or emotionally blackmail people out of their cars.


The problem is that in the UK, public transport(thanks to PFI) is run as a business, not a service. Therefore the companies in charge don't give a **** about the passengers, the only thing that matters is making as much money as possible and meeting government targets to get 'incentives'. If they can meet these targets without spending money to provide a service for the public, so much the better.

Answer 9

Because for years the European countries such as France have invested public money wisely in creating an efficient transport system. During the early nineties I could travel from London to Manchester at what I considered an affordable price by just turning up at the station and buying a ticket. Now I am relatively better off but the cost of the same journey means I don't even consider it.
And its no use saying that cheap fares are available if you book in advance - that's only practical in a limited number of cases. I book my holidays abroad months in advance, I shouldn't have to plan a trip to Manchester in the same way.

Answer 10

Because other countries kept public transport in public hands, while the dogma-driven Thatcherite rush to privatisation in the 80s left our public transport in private hands, and with inadequate regulation to ensure those companies re-invested a percentage of profits in the infrastructure.

The result 20+ years on is that the private companies didn't invest enough in maintaining that infrastructure - surprise! - preferring to cream off the profits year on year. Now the current government has been forced by public opinion to crack down a little on those companies for safety reasons, so the companies have held the government to ransom, insisting they need subsidies from general taxation to pay for the improvements - or they put up the fares to stupid levels.

It's a complete dog's breakfast, but not unique. Have a look at the activities of water companies, electric companies, gas companies, and you see a similar pattern. Why are there hosepipe bans on this little green island in May? Because the same profiteering took place, there was minimal investment in maintaining the reservoirs and pipelines, and now it's hugely expensive to try to fix, leading to massive price hikes and huge wastage.

In the end it stems from the idiotic notion that markets should control public services without any regulation. But that horse is long bolted.

Answer 11

Prices of public transport are insane!!, I have been living in London 6 years and can't afford to go anywhere. Transport is so expensive I had to look for work in the local area and use bicycle and same time got offered low salary. 6 years and still haven't seen any of London's attractions ' cause I don't earn enough to use public transport. This is a joke if the prices were cheaper I'd travef further to work and get more paid...:( sad life