Better Transport

Let's clear up some myths about rail:

• Myth: It’s really easy to get a cheap advance ticket
• Myth: Rail passenger journeys are at the highest level in decades. Surely this means rail is affordable
• Myth: Trains are overcrowded; that must suggest they’re affordable
• Myth: The government spends too much money on rail

Myth: It’s really easy to get a cheap advance ticket

Facts: We can’t always predict when we’ll need to travel. What is more, the number of cheap advance tickets is limited and therefore they may be hard to come by, especially on popular routes. This is a problem because passengers who don’t book in advance have to pay much more. Walk-on single rail fares are, on average, almost five times more expensive than advance fares. For example a single ticket from Manchester to Bristol would cost £53 if purchased on the day of travel however, if the ticket was purchased four weeks in advance it could have cost as little as £10.50.

Myth: Rail passenger journeys are at the highest level in decades. Surely this means rail is affordable

Fact: While rail travel has been growing it still makes up only a small percentage of the total travel undertaken in the UK. In 2005, 80% of the distance travelled by the average individual in the UK was done by car while only 6.4% was travelled by over ground rail (Transport Statistics Great Britian 2006, page 20). The statistics for number of trips made annually by the average person in the UK also paint a grim picture. Out of a total number of 1044 trips in 2005 only 23 were taken using either over/underground rail while 671 trips were taken by car (either as a driver or passenger) (Transport Statistics Great Britian 2006). Clearly the majority of people are choosing their car as their primary mode of transport. The UK Commission for Integrated Transport reports that ‘overall using a car compared to public transport remains relatively cheap in UK cities when compared to cities elsewhere in Europe’ (European Best Practice Report for the Commission for Integrated Transport, page 121).

Myth: Trains are overcrowded; that must suggest they’re affordable

Fact: The overcrowding that is experienced by so many people on a day-to-day basis, especially on busy commuter lines, does not suggest that rail travel is affordable. Overcrowding on trains instead indicates there aren’t enough rail carriages in use. Some rail operators increased rail fares in the past to reduce overcrowding (Passenger Focus press release), which clearly (and intentionally) makes some journeys unaffordable.

What is needed is a reduction in train fares and greater investment in capacity in order to comfortably accommodate the numbers of people that use the railways today and in the future. According to the Office of Rail Regulation rail ticket prices increased by 11.8% in real terms between 1995 and 2007 (National Rail Trends Yearbook, page 56) and continue to rise at about 2-3% a year (National Rail Trends Yearbook, page 56). According to Passenger Focus only 45% of people surveyed in the autumn of 2007 believed that the price of their rail ticket represented value for money (National Passenger Survey, autumn 2007, page 7).

Rail ticket prices are higher than those in comparable European countries. A monthly public transport pass in London is twice that in Paris, Barcelona and Madrid’ (Commission for Integrated Transport).

Myth: The government spends too much money on rail

Fact: The Government's investment in railways was £4.5 billion in 2006/7 (Parliamentary answer, July 2008)  but the Rail White Paper (page 128, table 12.1) makes clear that Government investment will drop to about £3 billion annually over the next few years.

Meanwhile, the aviation industry receives a ‘hidden’ subsidy from the government of around £10 billion annually because it does not pay fuel duty or VAT on the fuel for its planes (Independent news story). The Government spends £8 billion a year just to maintain roads, never mind the billions it spends to build new ones.