2021 fare increases

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Two comparators I usually look at:

• The Anytime Return from London to Manchester (£95 in September 1996, which is equivalent to £184 today) has increased to £369.40, meaning it's now more than doubled since privatisation.
• The Anytime Returns from London to Sheffield - £78 via Chesterfield (£151), and £85 (£164) via Any Permitted route, have increased to £210.50 and £221.00 (increases of 39.4% and 34.8% since privatisation).

Those are eye-watering figures. You can get trans-atlantic flights for similar prices if you bag a deal.

 

[Starmill]

Some 'quick wins' that have been guessed at by other contributors, such as the removal of cheaper weekend tickets, cheaper TOC only tickets or Off Peak (Day) and Super Off Peak (Day) have not been widely implemented. Stockport to Manchester still has three different TOC only options. There are still TransPennine Express and Transport for Wales only fares here there and everywhere. Greater Anglia only fares from London to Cambridge at weekends are still remarkably cheap. There are still many other weekend only Off Peak and Super Off Peak tickets. There's still a day return from Preston to Glasgow. To put it another way there's little to set this rise apart from the last. Many fares that were until recently unregulated are in fact unchanged.

 

[Haywain]

Those are eye-watering figures. You can get trans-atlantic flights for similar prices if you bag a deal.

Really? A return fare, purchased right up to the time of departure with complete flexibility of operator, time of travel and route?

 

[Ianno87]

Greater Anglia only fares from London to Cambridge at weekends are still remarkably cheap.

I'd go as far as absurdly cheap; £8.60 Liverpool Street day return with a Railcard, £12.60 Day Travelcard (with Railcard).

Really? A return fare, purchased right up to the time of departure with complete flexibility of operator, time of travel and route?

And I do wonder what % of passengers actually buy these, compared with (say) an Advance single one way and a flexible return (for example), that often works out cheaper.

 

[JonathanH]

Today's novelty fare increase story in London appears to be a call for a flat fare for all journeys.

London zones 'should be scrapped' so people pay the same wherever they live

The call comes with Underground and bus fares going up on Monday.

metro.co.uk

Londoners will see an increase in tube and rail fares from Monday

There are calls for London to scrap its Tube zones and bring in a flat rate for all commuters, with the cost of travel in the capital rising again on Monday.

Londoners will see travel cards, tube, bus and tram fares increase as a condition of an emergency coronavirus bailout for the struggling Transport for London.

The changes, announced in January but coming into effect today, mean fares in the capital will rise by 2.6% on average across all services – though some single pay as you go Tube, DLR, London Overground and TfL rail fares remain unchanged.

But now a ‘single zone’ system is being suggested for the Underground, which would mean commuters pay a set price regardless of which Tube zones they travel between. It would be similar to the system currently used on the capital’s buses, which means commuters pay £1.50 (rising to £1.55 today) regardless of where they travel to or from.

There are also fears that the price hikes could impact those on lower incomes in the capital – though there is relief that bus fares did not rise by more.

It follows five years of ‘fare freezes’ on single journeys in London and comes as commuting in the capital has nosedived because of the pandemic.

But the London Mayoral candidate Sian Berry claims two workers in the same hospital should pay the same fare to get to work ‘no matter where they live’ – suggesting scrapping Underground zones would be a fairer system.

Ms Berry, who is also the Green Party leader and a London Assembly member, said it now costs more than £3,100 to travel into central London from Zone 6, compared to £1,700 from Zone 2, using a weekly travel card, and says the difference has increased over time.

Instead she wants all tube and rail journeys to cost the same, as has been the case on London buses since 2004.

Critics are likely to say that the plan would be costly and that it is fair to make those who travel further pay more.

Ms Berry said: ‘More and more people are being pushed to the edges of London because of housing costs in the centre, only to be punished by spiralling transport costs when they move.

‘This isn’t fair. Two workers in the same central London hospital should pay the same fare to get to work no matter where they live.’

The changes come on the same day that rail fare nationwide also increase.

In the capital, all current concessions – including free travel for young people under the age of 18 – will remain in place, with the Santander hire bikes also costing the same.

But the daily ‘cap’ on contactless and Oyster payment will rise between 1.9% and 3.3%.

On the Tube in Zones 1-6, fares will typically increase by 10p or 20p.

Travel cards rising by an average of 2.6%, while a one day cap for Zones 1-6 will now stand at £13.50.

Meanwhile on buses, the daily cap will increase by 15p to £4.65 – the same price as three single journeys – and passengers will still be able to ‘hop’ between buses within an hour for a single fare price.

London TravelWatch Director Emma Gibson said: ‘Londoners are not going to be happy about these fares rises, especially those suffering financially as a result of the pandemic.

‘But we are pleased to see that bus fares have been kept relatively low, as buses are most used by lower income Londoners including the many key workers who have been keeping the capital going.’

Mr Khan said: ‘Unfortunately this year Ministers insisted on a RPI+1 per cent fares increase in order for TfL to get the emergency Government support needed as a consequence of the global pandemic.

‘Public transport should be affordable to all, so I am pleased that I was able to fight off even worse Government proposals to scrap free travel for under 18’s and concessions for over 60’s as well as bigger fares increase.’

London Conservatives have accused the Mayor of losing control of the capital’s finances.

TfL’s Director of Strategy Shashi Verma said: ‘Through daily and weekly capping, as well as the Hopper fare, passengers can continue to get the best value fare by using pay as you go with contactless and Oyster.’

A full list of new prices is available here.

Whilst there are changes which might help in outer London for one day's travel, eg restoration of specific daily caps for outer zone travel not including zone 1, I'm not sure a flat fare for any distance is going to ever be feasible.

 

[Ianno87]

Today's novelty fare increase story in London appears to be a call for a flat fare for all journeys.

London zones 'should be scrapped' so people pay the same wherever they live

The call comes with Underground and bus fares going up on Monday.

metro.co.uk

Whilst there are changes which might help in outer London for one day's travel, eg restoration of specific daily caps for outer zone travel not including zone 1, I'm not sure a flat fare for any distance is going to ever be feasible.

The Tube/Overground/DLR fare for non-Zone 1 journeys is a bargain; you can travel from Upminster/Epping/etc. to Heathrow for £1.50 provided you don't go through Zone 1.

So a "flat fare" will probably have the consequence of putting the cost of non-Zone 1 journeys up quite considerably.

 

[JonathanH]

The Tube/Overground/DLR fare for non-Zone 1 journeys is a bargain; you can travel from Upminster/Epping/etc. to Heathrow for £1.50 provided you don't go through Zone 1.

£1.70 from today and more at peak times but, yes, that is a bargain.

The more pressing issue is that if you make three journeys in Zone 1 you reach the cap on the fourth. You don't reach the cap in the outer zones until you have made many more journeys because the cap is priced on the basis that all journeys go into Zone 1.

 

[Ianno87]

£1.70 from today and more at peak times but, yes, that is a bargain.

The more pressing issue is that if you make three journeys in Zone 1 you reach the cap on the fourth. You don't reach the cap in the outer zones until you have made many more journeys because the cap is priced on the basis that all journeys go into Zone 1.

Yes, some guy called Boris removed the former Z2-6 cap that used to exist. A weird quirk was that the Railcard cap for this actually undercut the Bus/Tram only daily cap!

 

[RT4038]

Really? A return fare, purchased right up to the time of departure with complete flexibility of operator, time of travel and route?

Or alternatively, what can you get a London to Sheffield or Manchester return if you 'bag a deal'?

 

[Starmill]

Or alternatively, what can you get a London to Sheffield or Manchester return if you 'bag a deal'?

As ever it depends on what one means by a deal. But if you just put Manchester to London into Trainline, National Rail Enquiries or Avanti West Coast you can find prices up to the booking horizon at £33.90. So not particularly a deal for a non-refundable ticket with limited availability that has to be booked in advance. A more typical price will be £40 - £45, and much more at "peak" times. Little saving over an off peak return at & £94.50. You can get a Super Off Peak Return for £35 still for West Midlands Trains and Transport for Wales only but you're extremely unlikely to be offered that if you don't already know about it.

 

[iharding]

5.9% rise in a Farnborough-London Terminals season. Ouch. At least my employer is in no hurry to bring remote working to an end.

 

[Ianno87]

5.9% rise in a Farnborough-London Terminals season. Ouch. At least my employer is in no hurry to bring remote working to an end.

Looks like the Season Ticket is already very good value compared to Anytime Day Returns - a weekly season is only 2.22x the price of an Anytime Day Return.

 

[Starmill]

Looks like the Season Ticket is already very good value compared to Anytime Day Returns - a weekly season is only 2.22x the price of an Anytime Day Return.

Well and good to say that, but at £35.20 for an Anytime Day Return for just 33 miles between Farnborough Main and London Waterloo the cost is already 53.3p / mile - remarkably expensive.

 

[alistairlees]

Well and good to say that, but at £35.20 for an Anytime Day Return for just 33 miles between Farnborough Main and London Waterloo the cost is already 53.3p / mile - remarkably expensive.

High Brooms to London Bridge
31.25 miles (each way)
Now £40.30 SDR
Nearly 64.5p / mile!

 

[swt_passenger]

Looks like the Season Ticket is already very good value compared to Anytime Day Returns - a weekly season is only 2.22x the price of an Anytime Day Return.

I’ve been pointing this out about the SWML for years. People in places like Southampton just don’t understand what a bargain they’re getting compared to an Anytime day return. It’s why proposed part time seasons on the wider SWR network are such a problem...

 

[Haywain]

Well and good to say that, but at £35.20 for an Anytime Day Return for just 33 miles between Farnborough Main and London Waterloo the cost is already 53.3p / mile - remarkably expensive.

The Anytime Day Return fare is comparable with others from similar distances around London, so not especially remarkable. In this case it's the season rate being remarkably cheap.

 

[Starmill]

The Anytime Day Return fare is comparable with others from similar distances around London, so not especially remarkable. In this case it's the season rate being remarkably cheap.

An unusually good season factor may be applied to a fare that starts out as very poor value for money and the result still be viewed by the customer as... very poor value for money. That's what I was getting at. The rate isn't the highest of course, as alistairlees points out! But there are lower rates for journeys inward of Farnborough and on other corridors such as the Essex Thameside route. On the other hand, one could say that it doesn't particularly matter that other travel options from a similar distance would also be viewed as... also very poor value for money. Finally, given the strong likelihood that a large proportion among Farnborough to London commuters was composed of office workers, any travel is overwhelmingly likely to be one or two days a week to begin with once working in offices is "permitted" or "encouraged" again, so a 7 Day offers no savings whatsoever, and considering the move into three and four days which a proportion of office workers might want to do or be encouraged to do later this year the savings it offers are not so very big anyway.

 

[clagmonster]

First fare I have looked up:
Goxhill - Barton on Humber
CDR was £2.70, now £3.10 14.8% increase
SDR was £3.20, now £3.70 15.6% increase
I know in monetary terms these are quite small increases, but in percentage terms they are whopping.

Ignore - I had an older set of fares. Still worrying to see the increase over a couple of years.

 

[Starmill]

I’ve been pointing this out about the SWML for years. People in places like Southampton just don’t understand what a bargain they’re getting compared to an Anytime day return. It’s why proposed part time seasons on the wider SWR network are such a problem...

On the other side of the same coin we could be questioning why one "peak time" round trip between Southampton and London was allowed to become just so expensive in the first place? Or indeed why it is that people were doing this journey every day. But these are questions for wider society now, not just the railway.

 

[trainophile]

Advance tickets on WMR that I bought the other day for 29th March have today gone up by 10p for the same dates. Not too big a shock I suppose.

Edit: And... my Devon & Cornwall 8/15 Rover for July has gone up by £1, so I got it just in time.

 

[swt_passenger]

On the other side of the same coin we could be questioning why one "peak time" round trip between Southampton and London was allowed to become just so expensive in the first place? Or indeed why it is that people were doing this journey every day. But these are questions for wider society now, not just the railway.

That’s the definite reason I believe, the Anytime day should really have been regulated the same as the season, with tons of hindsight. I suppose back in the day just too much focus was put on NSE area seasons to the exclusion of discretionary travel.

 

[Watershed]

People in places like Southampton just don’t understand what a bargain they’re getting compared to an Anytime day return

It's only a bargain if you consider the SDR to be a reasonable price.

Of course, the train can offers benefits including a virtually guaranteed journey time, but some of the pence per mile rates applicable to SOR/SDRs are half an order of magnitude more than driving. And that's after you've paid the 'distress purchase' cost of station parking.

That’s the definite reason I believe, the Anytime day should really have been regulated the same as the season, with tons of hindsight. I suppose back in the day just too much focus was put on NSE area seasons to the exclusion of discretionary travel.

Most SDRs (and the vast majority of those in the NSE area) are regulated. The issue stems from the way in which regulation applied in the earlier years of privatisation - whereby there was a cap on the total fares basket, but individual fares could be increased (up to a maximum of 10% or so) so long as others were frozen or cut to compensate.

 

[Haywain]

some of the pence per mile rates applicable to SOR/SDRs are half an order of magnitude more than driving

Really? For driving into central London where the congestion charge will be incurred?

 

[Hadders]

There must be very few season tickets sold between Stevenage and London Terminals these days as a weekly is 4.25 times the Anytime Day Return.

Anyone under the age of 30 is better off using railcard discounted daily tickets.

 

[Starmill]

Really? For driving into central London where the congestion charge will be incurred?

It's probably not a large scale activity, but I did once hear of someone driving every day from Hampshire, but instead of parking at the obvious station, Southampton Airport Parkway they went to Hounslow West because it was cheaper. And of course the fare is just slightly lower from there.

 

[Silver Cobra]

Seeing this makes me glad that I committed to getting my annual season ticket a fair bit sooner than I originally planned. While it is only an Arlesey to Biggleswade annual season, it saved me £12 getting it a week ago when I originally intended to get it at the end of March.

 

[Watershed]

Really? For driving into central London where the congestion charge will be incurred?

The Congestion Charge of £15, even with fuel and parking on top, is a lot less than £92 for an Anytime Day Return from Southampton to London.

Of course realistically speaking you'd park on the outskirts of London. That's the quickest option if you want to drive, plus it avoids the Congestion Charge.

There are even worse examples - Swindon to London SOR is now £145.60.

The railway is going to have to think long and hard about whether charging that much is the best way of attracting passengers and revenue in a post-Covid world...

 

[Starmill]

The railway is going to have to think long and hard about whether charging that much is the best way of attracting passengers and revenue in a post-Covid world...

It seems to me that, judging by this fares change, and the absence of any particular measures to cut costs or refocus the business, the Department simply intends to continue 'as is' in at least the first year of the post-Covid world. So far I can see almost no evidence of progress on reform of fares. Flexible season ticket proposals are very weak and still stuck in the trial, a year into a pandemic. The cost measures such as the future of the labour force and the pension scheme deficits are entirely untouched. Quite why they think that will work, and what they'll do when the Treasury cuts the money, I don't know.

We need to cut prices to keep the industry alive, and the only way to do that sustainably is to cut costs. And yet nothing is happening.

 

[JonathanH]

The cost measures such as the future of the labour force and the pension scheme deficits are entirely untouched.

Not really for discussion in this thread but it does look like the DfT are doing something about those issues.

There is an advert on Civil Service Jobs for someone to come along and sort out pensions and workforce issues on the Railway.

Civil Service Jobs - Civil Service Jobs - GOV.UK

Search and apply for jobs in the UK Civil Service

www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk

The DfT is looking for a part-time Director to job share with the existing part-time Director in leading and developing a newly formed team of circa 15 people which will bring together and strengthen the Department’s expertise on rail workforce, industrial relations and pensions policy. As a Director in the Senior Civil Service (SCS Pay Band 2), will play an important and influential role within DfT, leading in both a policy and delivery capacity in relation to workforce and pensions across the department and wider industry. The post-holder will work closely with their job share partner to lead and motivate team members across the Directorate, engage credibly across a broad stakeholder base, and develop policies which will shape and define the future of pensions and workforce in the rail sector.

 

[Starmill]

Not really for discussion in this thread but it does look like the DfT are doing something about those issues.

There is an advert on Civil Service Jobs for someone to come along and sort out pensions and workforce issues on the Railway.

Civil Service Jobs - Civil Service Jobs - GOV.UK

Search and apply for jobs in the UK Civil Service

www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk

Indeed, although by the time that person has been hired and settled in and plans have actually been made it will already be too late to do anything radical with the 2022 fares. Such changes will also have long consultations attached. The majority of the domestic economy is anticipated to reopen in less than ten weeks - the railway is ill prepared.