UK rail travellers brace for season-ticket rises, though pain is modified

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/dec/23/rail-travellers-season-ticket-increases

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UK commuters will learn on Tuesday how much more they will have to fork out for their rail season tickets in the new year, with some travellers facing rises as high as 5.1%.

Recent government announcements have meant the annual rise in regulated fares, which include season tickets, will not be as severe as in previous years.

But the new price-rise formula, which kicks in on 2 January, still allows for average regulated fare increases of 3.1%, with the rise linked to the RPI inflation figure rather than the CPI inflation used for government benefits, which is usually lower.

And train companies can use a 2% "flex" regulation which lets them put some regulated fares up by 5.1%, as long as their average does not exceed 3.1%.

January increases are calculated from the RPI rate of inflation figure for the previous July. In July this year the RPI figure was 3.1%.

The chief executive of Campaign for Better Transport, Stephen Joseph, said: "Passengers will see season tickets going up three times faster than their wages.

"The government needs to do more to stop the squeeze on commuters and avoid pricing people off the railways. We need a permanent end to inflation-busting fare rises calculated using an out-of-date formula.

"The government should stop using RPI to calculate ticket prices. It over-estimates real inflation so consistently that the Office for National Statistics has dropped it as an official measure.

"The government has already switched to CPI for most things. Doing the same for train fares would have little impact on railway revenues, but it would save passengers money and bring fares into line with things like public sector pensions."

The announcement of the rise has been delayed this year after the chancellor, George Osborne, announced in his autumn statement earlier this month that the formula for increasing regulated fares was changing from RPI plus 1% to RPI plus 0%.

Earlier, the government announced that the "flex" rule, which originally allowed companies to put up some fares by up to 5% above the RPI plus 1% figure, would be limited to 2% above.

Before these changes, some passengers could have faced season ticket rises of as much as 9%. Even with the new formula, many passengers will be finding their fare rise far outstripping their wage rise.

Fares on London Underground would have gone up on 2 January as well, but the rise for tube travellers has been delayed to take into account the formula changing.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the transport union RMT, said: "2014 is all set to be another year of racketeering and greed on Britain's privatised railways.

"Passengers will continue to pay the highest fares in Europe to travel on creaking, overcrowded trains where even raw sewage is dumped on the tracks because the private operators will not stump up for tanks and the staff to empty them. That is a sickening indictment on our privatised railways as we head towards the new year.

"The only solution, and one that's opposed by all our main political parties, is total renationalisation and the return of our railways to the ethos of public service under complete public control."

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