Furious commuters slap angry notes on train seats in protest at rising rail fares
Many long-distance commuters will see the annual cost of getting to work rise by as much as £280 when the new fares come in on January 2
FURIOUS commuters have hit back at train companies this morning for dramatically increasing their fares by leaving angry notes on their seats.
They were reacting after it emerged that rail fares will shoot up by an average of 3.1 per cent from January next year.
This means that many long-distance commuters will see the annual cost of getting to work rise by as much as £280 when the new fares come in on January 2.
It will be the largest rise since January 2013, according to Office of Rail and Road data.
And with commuters reading about the news on their way into work this morning, some left post-it notes on their seats while travelling with Northern Rail letting rail companies know what they make of the rise.
One note read: "Your late cancelled, no lights, striking, 2 carriages in rush hour trains aren’t worth the ticket price. [sic]"
The service on which commuters wrote the notes, from Buxton to Manchester, is consistently hit with delays and cancellations in the morning.
Another one of the notes read: "I love paying Northern £60 to go get my education."
"Your anxiety inducing trains aren’t worth the ticket price," a further note said.
The price hike will affect regulated fares, which includes most annual season tickets, some off-peak return tickets on long-distance journeys and flexible Anytime tickets around major cities. Other fares are set by train companies.
About 40 per cent of fares will rise by 3.1 per cent in England and Wales, while in Scotland ticket prices will increase by 2.2 per cent as the Scottish Government has capped them at 1 per cent below inflation.
On social media customers also let their feelings be known, with one saying she did not want to pay more for “the privilege of standing on overcrowded trains that are already too expensive”.
Rail bosses are trying to sweeten the deal with today’s other announcement that the millennial railcard will finally be available to buy for all 26 to 30-year-olds from January 2.
Critics have slammed the price hike as adding to passengers’ misery after new timetables brought in last May caused chaos for thousands of commuters.
Alex Hayman, Which? managing director of public markets, said: “Passengers have suffered horrifically this year from timetable chaos and experienced rail punctuality hitting its lowest level in 12 years and these price hikes will only add to their misery.
“If the rail system is going to start working for passengers, not just train companies, then value for money needs to be a key part of the upcoming Government review and passengers must receive automatic compensation for delays and cancellations.”
Anthony Smith, chief executive of watchdog Transport Focus, added: “Many passengers, still reeling from summer timetable chaos and frustrated by ‘autumn’ disruption, won’t believe fares are going up again.
“Until day-to-day reliability returns – with fewer significant delays and cancellations – passenger trust won’t begin to recover.”
The price hike is 0.1 per cent lower than the predicted 3.2 per cent rise that would be in line with the rate of inflation set in July.
How are train fares calculated?
TRAIN fares are calculated using the RPI rate of inflation measure which is announced in August each year.
- RPI stands for Retail Price Index which is the rate of inflation for July. It is used to determine how much train companies can raise the price of regulated rail fares.
- The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is typically lower than the RPI
- Research by Campaign for Better Transport previously found that replacing RPI rail fare rises with the much more widely used CPI would have helped tackle soaring ticket prices in recent years.
- Around half of regulated train tickets are regulated fares, these include season tickets
Paul Plummer, chief executive of industry body the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which announced the hike, said: “Nobody wants to pay more to travel, especially those who experienced significant disruption earlier this year.
“Money from fares is underpinning the improvements to the railway that passengers want and which ultimately help boost the wider economy.
“That means more seats, extra services and better connections right across the country.”
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There have been calls for prices to be frozen following chaos caused by new timetables brought in last May.
Fewer than half of passengers are satisfied with the value for money of train tickets, according to a survey by watchdog Transport Focus.
Industry body the Rail Delivery Group says profit margins for rail firms are around 2 per cent, with the rest going on running the railway.
The Department for Transport says it is investing in the biggest modernisation of the network since Victorian times, with major projects to provide faster and better trains with more seats.
