Huge Rises In Travel Costs For 2007

[Realistbear]

http://www.londontravelwatch.org.uk/news.php?id=431

Passengers face yet another exorbitant New Year

Passengers face yet another exorbitant New Year A huge rise in cash fares on tubes and buses, and above-inflation rises on rail fares means that it will not be a happy new year for passengers in the capital, says London TravelWatch, the transport users watchdog for transport users' in and around London.

[THE BALD MAN]

http://www.londontravelwatch.org.uk/news.php?id=431

Passengers face yet another exorbitant New Year

Passengers face yet another exorbitant New Year A huge rise in cash fares on tubes and buses, and above-inflation rises on rail fares means that it will not be a happy new year for passengers in the capital, says London TravelWatch, the transport users watchdog for transport users' in and around London.

We must have some of the highest public transport costs in Europe! Possibly another first for Tony and Crash Gordan?

[Realistbear]

We must have some of the highest public transport costs in Europe! Possibly another first for Tony and Crash Gordan?

Not to worry house prices are going up!

[dnd]

With wages supressed and 'cost of living' @ 10%+ the only way out for many people is MEW

Those that don't MEW or don't own property will continue to experience a drop in their living standards

Expect mortgage approvals to continue to rise in 2007...

Edited December 29, 2006 by dnd

[Rave]

I'm a London bus driver, and albeit that a flat fare is great value if you're going a long way and crap value if you're going two stops, I still think the service we provide is (overall) good value for the passengers. It bloody well should be with the subsidies we recieve!

Still, meant to post about this myself, since there's been sod all about in the papers as far as I can see. On Jan 2nd, cash fares are going up from £1.50 to £2- an increase of 25% . Clearly, this is the stick to beat people into getting themselves a prepay Oyster card- and fair enough, because taking cash, printing the ticket and giving change really is a hell of a lot slower than a passenger jumping on and scanning their Oyster card. A 'cashless' bus really would be much more efficient. I reckon they should do away with the £3 'deposit' on Oyster cards- I can't believe they cost that much, and it puts off people who only get a bus once in a while. If they all had an oyster in their wallet for free, they might be much more tempted.

Thing is though, Prepay Oyster fares are going up to £1 at all times- previously they were £1 from 7.30am to 9.30am and 80p at all other times- that's an inflation busting 20% increase in off peak fares. Yes buses are subsidised, but equally they a) can and do reduce the amount of traffic on the roads and b ) give the poorest people in society basically their only option to travel any distance.

They haven't told us drivers how much a weekly bus pass or travelcard is going up- I guess we don't need to know . We all get free travel anyway- as do our partners, which since my wife commutes by bus saves us about £35 a month. Since I work 10 miles from home and often start at 4-5 am, I have little choice but to commute by motorcycle.

Edited December 29, 2006 by Rave

[ParticleMan]

Interesting that none of these articles flagged the demise of the Zone 1 (only) season ticket, which happened last year.

Must be a nice little earner, between that little tweak, and the more insidious tweak made on 20061119 charging maximum cash fare for incomplete journeys.

That Ken, he doesn't miss a trick.

[SpewLabour]

Just calculated my increases for the new year -

Standard return train ticket going from up from £5.50 to £6.00 - an increase of 9%

Zone 1-4 peak ticket rising from £8.40 to £9.00 (7.1%) - as I use an oyster, I get 50p less capping rate - actually rises from £7.90 to £8.50 (7.6%)

Zone 1-4 off peak ticket rising from £5.40 to £5.70 (5.5%) - as I use an oyster, I get 50p less capping rate - actually rises from £4.90 to £5.20 (6.1%)

How kind of TFL and One Railway.

I'm also seeing an increase in the number of people who dodge fares - nearly decked someone a while back for following me through an underground barrier on my ticket. His two friends did the same to a couple of other passengers. I complained loudly and all the station attendant did was to just stand there and watch.

Got a pay review this month - I'll get 3% if I'm lucky.

[deano]

I'm a London bus driver, and albeit that a flat fare is great value if you're going a long way and crap value if you're going two stops, I still think the service we provide is (overall) good value for the passengers. It bloody well should be with the subsidies we recieve!

Still, meant to post about this myself, since there's been sod all about in the papers as far as I can see. On Jan 2nd, cash fares are going up from £1.50 to £2- an increase of 25% . Clearly, this is the stick to beat people into getting themselves a prepay Oyster card- and fair enough, because taking cash, printing the ticket and giving change really is a hell of a lot slower than a passenger jumping on and scanning their Oyster card. A 'cashless' bus really would be much more efficient. I reckon they should do away with the £3 'deposit' on Oyster cards- I can't believe they cost that much, and it puts off people who only get a bus once in a while. If they all had an oyster in their wallet for free, they might be much more tempted.

Thing is though, Prepay Oyster fares are going up to £1 at all times- previously they were £1 from 7.30am to 9.30am and 80p at all other times- that's an inflation busting 20% increase in off peak fares. Yes buses are subsidised, but equally they a) can and do reduce the amount of traffic on the roads and b ) give the poorest people in society basically their only option to travel any distance.

They haven't told us drivers how much a weekly bus pass or travelcard is going up- I guess we don't need to know . We all get free travel anyway- as do our partners, which since my wife commutes by bus saves us about £35 a month. Since I work 10 miles from home and often start at 4-5 am, I have little choice but to commute by motorcycle.

I think they should sack you and employ a hard working honest Polish person with a rudementary understanding of english. They are cheaper and would reduce labour costs thereby making fare rises unescesary. This would in turn keep inflation down. I bet you don't even know the first word in Polish. How do you communicate with your passegers, do you expect them all to learn English, much easier that you speak Polish. I like Polish people, brits take the p***, they should go and live somewhere else. Brits are so damn lazy and greedy the UK goverment has gone to Romania looking for people without attitude. I hope the Poles like them. Well they won't be working with Brits they will be at home scrounging off the state.

Home address withheld for safety reasons.

[Guest pioneer31]

Cheap return to Bolton-Manchester was £2.45, now £2.90

An 18% rise.

Yet if you watch the NuLabour mouthpiece BBC News, you'll believe that rises are much less than this.

I don't really buy the argument that rises are needed to improve the service. They say that every year and I've yet to see an improvement. Trains have been cancelled/late/overcrowded since Adam was a lad, plus that excuse could be used by anybody. Price of fish going up at the chip shop, so that they can 'improve the service'

perhaps more money does not necessarily mean better service

perhaps more INTELLIGENCE does equal better service.

I also don't know how the hell we are going to reduce congestion on the roads when there is NO INCENTIVE WHATSOEVER to travel any other way.

Isn't it funny how the products/services that we have to pay by law/cannot live without, are the ones that are inflation busting.

Edited January 2, 2007 by pioneer31

[BoredTrainBuilder]

I'm also seeing an increase in the number of people who dodge fares - nearly decked someone a while back for following me through an underground barrier on my ticket. His two friends did the same to a couple of other passengers. I complained loudly and all the station attendant did was to just stand there and watch.

Count yourself lucky you don't live in Paris where this happens nearly every day.

[Europa]

Cheap return to Bolton-Manchester was £2.45, now £2.90

An 18% rise.

Yet if you watch the NuLabour mouthpiece BBC News, you'll believe that rises are much less than this.

I don't really buy the argument that rises are needed to improve the service. They say that every year and I've yet to see an improvement. Trains have been cancelled/late/overcrowded since Adam was a lad, plus that excuse could be used by anybody. Price of fish going up at the chip shop, so that they can 'improve the service'

perhaps more money does not necessarily mean better service

perhaps more INTELLIGENCE does equal better service.

I also don't know how the hell we are going to reduce congestion on the roads when there is NO INCENTIVE WHATSOEVER to travel any other way.

Got a bit of a shock going to work this morning. My return train ticket used to cost £3.20 - now gone up 25 per cent to a nice round £4 :angry:

Fortunately the goon in the ticket office is 25 per cent less thick, the trains are 25 per cent more comfortable, and the service is 25 per cent more reliable, so naturally I don't mind

[MrNobody]

Does anyone know if this is included in the CPI?

[SpewLabour]

Does anyone know if this is included in the CPI?

Transport costs are included in the CPI. Does anyone have an average % figure, and does anyone know the % increase from last year ?

From my knowledge of the CPI, it compares relative price increases from a year ago. Hence if the increase is 5% this year, but, say, 8% last year, would this actually have the effect of lowering the transport basket ? Could someone correct me if I'm mistaken here....!

[Guest pioneer31]

deleted

Edited January 2, 2007 by pioneer31

[AteMoose]

currently get free bus travel and free coach travel as a perk of my job. Grrrr wish i got free train travel too. Public transport really is quite good when you dont have to pay for it, as you forget about the length of time it takes to get anywhere...

Edited January 2, 2007 by moosetea

[history repeats]

Went home last night and travelled along the M6 toll to avoid the jams, wasnt happy to find it had risen from £3.50 to £4. I make that a 14.5% increase. Mirracle economy my ar$e.

[MrNobody]

From my knowledge of the CPI, it compares relative price increases from a year ago. Hence if the increase is 5% this year, but, say, 8% last year, would this actually have the effect of lowering the transport basket ? Could someone correct me if I'm mistaken here....!

Are you sure? Thats an interesting but unwelcome concept.

Got a link?

[SpewLabour]

Are you sure? Thats an interesting but unwelcome concept.

Got a link?

I'm not sure of this myself. I was hoping somebody who understood the ins and outs of the CPI could reassure me that this wasn't true.

ONS CPI

If you read the second paragraph it states :

"The largest upward effect on the CPI annual rate came from transport costs. Prices of fuels and lubricants fell by less than a year ago with the average price of petrol decreasing by 0.4p per litre between October and November this year, to stand at 85.5p on collection day, compared with a fall of 3.6p a year ago. There was an additional large upward effect from air travel, where fares for long haul and, to a lesser extent, European routes fell by less than a year ago. "

This seems to me that they compare relative increases and decreases, not the actual price. That would be a really great way of fudging the figures.

I hope this isn't the case.

[ImA20SomethingGetMeOutOfHere]

Transport costs are included in the CPI. Does anyone have an average % figure, and does anyone know the % increase from last year ?

From my knowledge of the CPI, it compares relative price increases from a year ago. Hence if the increase is 5% this year, but, say, 8% last year, would this actually have the effect of lowering the transport basket ? Could someone correct me if I'm mistaken here....!

CPI works by comparing the price of various items in a basket of goods with their price a year ago. Each item in the basket is given a weighting as a fraction of 1000 then the total CPI is worked out by multiplying each item's weight and increase and adding the whole lot together (and presumably dividing by 1000 again).

All the data on CPI is available from the ONS and can be accessed here:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/TSDT...k=1&Rank=-1

Transport in general accounts for 155/1000 or about 15% of the basket. Of that rail costs amount to 8/1000 of the total basket or about 0.8% of the total CPI measure. Fuel and lubricants make up 35/1000 or 3.5% of the total CPI figure which is just as well as they were rising like crazy for the first half of 2006.

[BoredTrainBuilder]

Went home last night and travelled along the M6 toll to avoid the jams, wasnt happy to find it had risen from £3.50 to £4. I make that a 14.5% increase. Mirracle economy my ar$e.

Car commuters in West London will find an even more substantial increase in their tolls come 17 Feb. Ha.

[Guest Yeahbutnocrash]

http://www.londontravelwatch.org.uk/news.php?id=431

Passengers face yet another exorbitant New Year

Passengers face yet another exorbitant New Year A huge rise in cash fares on tubes and buses, and above-inflation rises on rail fares means that it will not be a happy new year for passengers in the capital, says London TravelWatch, the transport users watchdog for transport users' in and around London.

I guess that especially in London this is partly to meet the cost of combating crime and potential terrorism and preparation for hosting the Olympic games

The high Tube charges on normal tickets are probably to coerce people into buying Oyster cards where ones personal details must be provided

It's a fact of life anyhow that travel fares only ever go up!

[Guest Charlie The Tramp]

Well I must say I saw an amazing thing lunchtime. A young woman got on my bus and paid the £2 to travel one stop the grand distance of 200yds.

I refused to pay 70p a couple of years ago and walked the mile to town rather than pay the 70p and buy the bus.

[MrNobody]

CPI works by comparing the price of various items in a basket of goods with their price a year ago. Each item in the basket is given a weighting as a fraction of 1000 then the total CPI is worked out by multiplying each item's weight and increase and adding the whole lot together (and presumably dividing by 1000 again).

All the data on CPI is available from the ONS and can be accessed here:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/TSDT...k=1&Rank=-1

Transport in general accounts for 155/1000 or about 15% of the basket. Of that rail costs amount to 8/1000 of the total basket or about 0.8% of the total CPI measure. Fuel and lubricants make up 35/1000 or 3.5% of the total CPI figure which is just as well as they were rising like crazy for the first half of 2006.

That would indicate that the actual price now is compared with the actual price a year ago, rather than the increase in price now with that of a year ago. If you see what I mean.

Thus an increase rail costs does mean an increased CPI, even if the increase is less than the increase a year ago.

Good good good a higher CPI = higher interest rates. Well hopefully anyway.

[HAL]

CPI works by comparing the price of various items in a basket of goods with their price a year ago. Each item in the basket is given a weighting as a fraction of 1000 then the total CPI is worked out by multiplying each item's weight and increase and adding the whole lot together (and presumably dividing by 1000 again).

All the data on CPI is available from the ONS and can be accessed here:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/TSDT...k=1&Rank=-1

Transport in general accounts for 155/1000 or about 15% of the basket. Of that rail costs amount to 8/1000 of the total basket or about 0.8% of the total CPI measure. Fuel and lubricants make up 35/1000 or 3.5% of the total CPI figure which is just as well as they were rising like crazy for the first half of 2006.

I am afraid that is the con that is CPI - once this years mega increases have worn off its as if nothing has ever happened - unfortunatley it leaves the cost base at a high level which eats into everyones cost of living for years to come.

CPI and all others rolling meaures are a confidence trick - it would be yetter to have 1, 3, 5 and 10 year measures - that would show what is really happening.

HAL

[darksky]

Its not just rail - the Midlands M6 toll road has gone from £3.50 to £4.00 - 15% it started at 2.50 when it opened.

Welcome to the future of travel in the UK - too expensive by rail, too expensive by road!

Next were are going to have nation wide toll roads run by private companies - guess what will happen then.

But think of all the tax the government wil have to waste.