Rail commuters face fare rise
Hundreds of thousands of mainline rail commuters face a huge increase in fares from January under plans being considered today.
Under mounting pressure from rail companies, ministers admit regulations that link fares to inflation may have to be scrapped. That would infuriate commuters, who may now have to pay "substantially" more for an already appalling service.
Rail operators, many of which have seen profits plunge, say the fare cap must be lifted to allow more spending on improving services.
The Tories imposed a seven-year cap as a sop to the public when they sold off the railways in the mid-Nineties. That limit ends in January. Labour had intended to extend it but is now reconsidering.
Cynthia Hay of passenger pressure group Capital Transport warned today: "The odds are stacked against retention of the fare-capping system, which protected rail commuters by linking fare increases on season tickets to the retail price index."
Thousands of off-peak passengers in the South-East have already faced fare rises of up to 50 per cent this year as train firms increased profits by cutting discounted tickets. Offpeak tickets are not governed by the fares cap.
Under the hugely complex regulations, capped fares are set at inflation minus one per cent. On top of this is a two per cent leeway either way depending whether the service during the year has been good or bad.
South West Trains (SWT), Connex and South Central, which together carry more than half the 500,000 rail users who travel into London every day, say fares must rise.
In June, Stagecoach-owned SWT was fined a record £12.5 million for late, cancelled and overcrowded services. SWT laid much of the blame on Railtrack, saying many delays were caused by track and signal failures for which it was not responsible.
Transport Minister David Jamieson has told MPs the rail industry "cannot proceed on a blind assumption that existing policies in areas such as fares, which are key to the further development of the railways, can continue indefinitely".
Ms Hay said: "The minister's disparaging reference to fares regulation as a 'blind assumption' strongly suggests the Government intends to require commuters to make substantially increased contributions from next January."
The Government asked the Strategic Rail Authority to review fares after the public outcry over rises this and last year. SRA chairman Richard Bowker, who has power to decide whether fares should rise, should report later this week.
Responsibility for fares policy, however, lies with the Government, recently criticised by a Commons committee for failing "to tackle the deteriorating relative costs of public and private transport".
