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Rail fares set for 3.2% increase

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PR1Berske

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Rail fares will go up by another 3.2% in January, the government has confirmed, with the cost of some season tickets to rise by hundreds of pounds.

The figure is below the 3.6% hike in January this year, which was the steepest rise in five years, but continues the trend of fare increases far outstripping any rise in wages.

Rail industry leaders said the fares were “underpinning once-in-a-generation investment” in the railways.
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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/aug/15/uk-rail-fares-to-rise-commuters-call-freeze



This is of course more "routine" than news, I suppose. Will there ever be a "breaking point' at which passengers say enough is enough?

What solutions from Europe could the UK learn about fares?
 
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Chester1

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This already has its own thread. My two cents is that at some point, maybe next year, the government will accept the cost of altering franchise agreements to switch regulated fare rises to CPI. The political cost of RPI rises has become too high and now that the franchise system generates a surpless for the taxpayer the government can justify the cost of a change. Public sector workers have a tendency to think everyone has the same wage change as them (I am a civil servant). We did better than the private sector during the crash and aftermath but worse in the last 5 years. Expecting fare freezes is unrealistic and most peoples pay changes have been a bit above or below CPI for the last 5 years so its a much more politically sustainable measure to use. If the measure is changed to CPI the usual suspects will whinge but most people will tolerate CPI increases as long as the current timetable mess is sorted out.
 
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