I’m still travelling by train for longer journeys, travelling to and from holiday destinations, when I go away for a few days. However, since covid I have completely given up on day trips by train. Today is fantastic weather and pre covid I would have been up early and out on my travels. I don’t need reassuring that rail travel is safe and affordable but a few cheap tickets will not currently get me back on the train for days out.
The reason I am not travelling is that my local rail service is still operating at a much reduced frequency resulting in hour long waits for connections near the beginning and end of my journeys. There are still some cancellations and short formed trains, very bad overcrowding with passengers being left behind, especially on Saturdays. There may be some areas of the country where trains are running around carrying fresh air and reduced fares may encourage some people to travel. However, in many parts of the East Midlands and the North, the reduced services that are running are full and often seriously overcrowded. Reduced fares, without pre covid timetables restored, or longer trains, will only make this worse.