Train fares going up 5%, does it make you angry?

Question

The government bang on about wanting people to take public transport but it is shocking, cars are so much more convenient and work out cheaper.

Recently my car was in the garage and I had to get the train to work, which is a 20 mile trip each way. In the car it cost me £4 a day in petrol and took half an hour from my doorstep to work. To use public transport took 2 buses to get to the train station and then 25 mins on the train.

I was gobsmacked when for a daily return ticket on the train I had to pay £8, this is just miles more expensive than a car.

And now train fares are going up yet again. It makes me so mad when I hear all these plans to charge motorists more road tax or plans to make motorists pay per mile in the future for how far they drive, yet they continually let rail companies take customers to the cleaners.
They are never even on time either!

I am fed up with it, its about time the government did something to make public transport competitive to the car!

Answer 1

When the train costs more than a car with only one person in, there is something drastically wrong with the system.
Car is not any longer a commodity but has become a way to save money.
Even flying has become chipper than travelling on a train.
Lobbing has gone behind the joke.

Answer 2

Lets face it whether you use a car a bus a train or a tram, the government will make your life hell by putting the price of everything and anything up.
They go on about pollution, getting us on public transport, they make you pay for roads you drive on or block the roads so you have a longer way to drive.
the bus services are diabolical and the trains are not much better because they always get held up due to leaves on the tracks or snow or ice, the bus drivers take long tea breaks between each designation and the trams do the same as the trains with the leaves, now and ice. and of course the prices will keep on getting higher and the service will get worse and then there will be strikes and maintenance to slow things down even more!!!
petrol keeps being put up and the price of car insurance, mot's and road tax goes up. and obviously the price of cars is getting higher and higher.
I think I have actually sussed out what they want us all to do!!!
we are suppose to go shankses pony, ride a bicycle or use a horse and cart.
You will soon find out that you cannot fly in an aeroplane because of pollution and the flights will cost so much money you wont be able to afford it any way and if you want to visit someone or go on holiday abroad you will have to go by boat!!!
We will all be back living in the dark ages where travelling took ages and you could only work in your own area because it would take too long to get to anywhere else!!

Answer 3

You are luck that is only 5%. The trains from Hayes (in Kent) to London which is about 20 miles is going up by 14.5%!

I will be honest and say that the Train operating Companies are charging a bomb for their fares & making bigger profits for their share holders.

I think that the goverment should stop this and do something simular to what they did with railtrack and the set up a company to replace the Train operating company where if they do make a profit then it should be reinvested into the railway rather than to the share holders.

Unfortantly the way that the railways was privatised was rushed and not planned properly now its going to take some working to fix it!

Answer 4

£8 your lucky. If I had to pay for My rail travel to London in the peak times I would be looking at a £28 return ticket per day.
However in Fuel, Parking, Congestion Charge it would cost almost £35 so I feel better off.
An average rise of 5%, is the round up version, dont forget that this covers a lot of fares and when you think of the closer in fares for a few stops they are going up by 10 - 20% the longer distance ones are going up by only 1 or 2% and some season tickets will be static and some fall in price depending on the service etc.
Unfortunatley the cost of the railway is not always cheap especially when the cost of maintenance, wages, power supply and demand, wear and tear etc all rise, plus covering for those who will not pay for their journeys because a couple of pound never hurt anyone, or the commuters who think they can try and fiddle the system by travelling on an expired season ticket, etc.
As for never on time, I dont know where your local train service runs from, but unless there is an unforseen problem, 98% of the trains I travel on arrive within 1 - 2 minutes late at most. When you consider that the train does 10-20 trips per day of approx 50-100miles per trip, that's not bad.
How often can you say you always arrive on time by Car??

Answer 5

I bet that in your £4 a day for car travel you have not included depreciation on the cost of your car, or interest on any loan you took out to buy it with - or your insurance and road tax. Car users do not pay anything like the economic cost of using the roads - construction and maintenance has to be paid for. then there are the 100 accidents every day on the roads which clogs up the NHS but which is never charged to the motorist.

Answer 6

Yes, the government need to subsidies the railways more to encourage less car use. Hopefully they will use some of the money from road pricing for this when it comes in.
Another problem is is that the train companies are greedy and just because they are allowed to put up fairs above inflation hey feel obliged to do so to get their share holders profits. Renationalized the network Gordon.

Answer 7

It doesn't suprise me at all what really Pi$$e$ me off is the fact that the taxpayers are paying BILLIONS into a Railway service that was privatised the service gets worse and worse continually.Then they have the audacity to charge car owners more and more because they won't use this utter $hite service and three letter word do they use to collect CO2 more corrupt than the mafia

Answer 8

I completely agree. I'm dreading to think how much my season ticket will go up by next year. I fork out around £152 every month to travel to work - over £1,000 a year.

It's all very well implementing quick fixes like the congestion charge etc, but if the Government really wants people to ditch their cars in favour of public transport they need to make it fit for purpose.

That means efficient, well run, on time, good value for money services.

Answer 9

So stop whinging and do something about it.

Everyone keeps moaning about fare rises yet year on year more people are using the trains. The railways have a product for which demand is largely unrelated to price, and in such circumstances any business would keep raising it's prices.

Answer 10

I feel exactly the same! I used to get the bus to uni which took an 1 hour & I had to get two buses...in my car? 20 mins! I don't want to use my car but I feel I have to, bus services are poor and don't go anywhere you actually want to go, they're expensive unless you are a child or 90. Trains are just as bad, they are so expensive!

I'm giving you a star aswell because I'm glad someone feels the same as me!