How things change, yet also stay the same

[D6700]

Looking at some old haulage records this evening, I noticed that I used to include how much I'd paid for my tickets.

On Tuesday the 14th of July 1998, I bought a Super Saver return from York to Birmingham, which cost me £21.80 with a Young Persons Railcard. That would make the full adult fare £33.00.

This enabled me to travel on the 07:42 from York, which was due into Birmingham New Street at 09:48.

Today, the 07:44 from York to Birmingham gets you there at 10:07 and an Anytime Return costs £95!

You need one of these tickets to arrive in the morning. Being a short train these days, you may wish to travel first class, which is now £227. i.e. more than 10 times what I paid for the standard class journey just 12 years ago.

In the interest of fairness, the 1998 07:42 was via Doncaster, whilst the current 07:44 is via Leeds, but there is now also an 07:27 that runs via Doncaster and is due into Birmingham at 09:27, so is 6 minutes quicker than the 1998 equivalent. However, it is worth noting that the operator would like all the services to take the slower Leeds route!

On my return journey, I travelled on the 18:44 from Birmingham, which was via Leeds and was due into York at 21:14. On the day, it departed Birmingham at 18:52 and arrived into York at 21:10, highlighting the slack that existed in the timetable. Currently, the 18:03 from Birmingham, which also runs via Leeds, is due into York at 20:31, so is just 2 minutes quicker than the demonstrably slack 1998 timetable!

As such, it really does beg the question "was Cinderella worth it?"

For the record, I had 43092 and 43067 in the morning and 43103 with 43084 in the evening. 43103 is now numbered 43303 and has returned to working Cross Country services between York and Birmingham!

 

[Oswyntail]

IMHO, the timings don't matter - they are roughly comparable with roughly the same stock, and speed is less important than reliability (usually, IMHO). To take the Leeds route makes sense as it benefits more customers.
What is illuminating is the fares. Privatisation has added so many layers of costs, many of which are unnecessary. There is no hint of a level playing field with other transport modes.

 

[D6700]

The reason for including the timings was simply to illustrate how journey times haven't really changed despite large-scale investment in infrastructure and new stock. After all, this is what the huge rise in fares is paying for. The 1998 fare of £33 is £43.29 at today's prices, so has more than doubled in real terms.

This is why I asked if it was actually worth it? One thing's for sure - I won't be making that journey in 2010!

Regarding the routeing of all Cross Country trains via Leeds, despite having been a commuter between York and Leeds over 8 years of my life, I am deeply opposed to this.

I fully agree that Leeds is one of the nation's key hubs, but I believe the number of people who would benefit from all trains serving Leeds (rather than half of them), is not as large as the number of people who would suffer from it.

Those travelling between Edinburgh/Newcastle/York (etc) and Sheffield/Derby/Birmingham (etc), who would all suffer a 20-30 minute longer journey than is available at present.

Additionally, by removing Doncaster from the route, a number of locations would cease to be one sensible connection away from trains to the Midlands, which makes travelling by train less attractive and is also likely to reduce the reliability of those journeys.

Many journeys would still be able possible with one connection, but by spending longer on slower local services, which would undoubtedly add to journey time. Of course, spending an extra 40 minutes on a pacer is hardly an attractive proposition - especially when you are paying such highly inflated prices for the journey!

Finally, as a general point relating to the value of the fares, I could question the suitability of the stock now used on these expensive long distance Cross Country routes - tilting profile trains that don't tilt, lack of toilets, lack of catering and so on, but maybe that's for another debate?!

 

[Greenback]

That's a very interesting and thought provoking post D6700. I have a feeling that the increased fares are actually to pay for the consultants, lawyers, shareholders and regulators that are an inherent part of the muddled system we currently have.

 

[yorkie]

Thanks for posting this. Interestingly someone we both know was telling me almost the exact same thing and he may even have travelled on those same trains.

Not only have the fares increased faster than the rate of inflation (while the cost of motoring has dropped) - the fare you quote is now around £49 - but the biggest problem is that the former 'Saver' (SVR) fares were unrestricted (except to London and stations just outside London e.g. Reading, Stevenage, Milton Keynes etc) in effect customers were rewarded simply for buying before boarding. Now many of these tickets have been given draconian restrictions and been re-named Off Peak, despite the fact that under BR they could be used at any time. It's utterly disgraceful and the TOCs have used legal loopholes to implement their huge, unfair, price rises.

Now that journey has to be broken down into chunks in order to be brought down to an acceptable price. Now you'd have to let the 07.44 go and get the 08.25 (which isn't too bad as it goes via Donny so does not get you there a lot later) and split at Sheffield and Derby. If you are returning the same day this is £37.50 with no railcard discount compared to the through fare of £95.00.

These types of 'anomaly' are NOT because the individual fares are too low - far from it - they are because the through fare is artificially too high due to TOCs implementing ludicrous restrictions on long distance tickets.