Transport: London Fares 4x Those of Europe

There is one thing that always arrives exactly on time for London’s rail commuters – the increases in fares.

While the fare hikes come around as regularly as the annual tax bill, Passenger Focus, the national rail watchdog, has revealed that passengers in London and the south-east of England – the vast majority of whom commute into the capital – believe they suffer the worst services in the country.

A spokesman for Passenger Focus told Felix Magazine that the passengers grim assessments are sadly accurate. “Yes, it is true only the price rises can be relied on,” he said.

“We have measured things on a lot of different metrics and when it comes to value for money London and the south-east is the worst part of the UK. When it comes to things like satisfaction, reliability, over-crowding, satisfaction with facilities as well as the way the rail companies handle delays as well, they are not good.”

As well as the general dissatisfaction of London’s rail commuters, they also have the financial burden of having to pay up to FOUR times as much for their fares as commuters using transport networks in other European cities such as Brussels, Berlin and Rome, according to new research.

The data was produced by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT).

RMT leader Mick Cash said that anger is mounting “over the Government’s indifference to the plight of commuters and rightly so. The way this minority administration turns a blind eye to the great British rail rip-off is an absolute disgrace.”

“It is a national scandal that UK passengers pay the largest proportion of their salaries in the EU just for travelling to and from work and are forced to endure unreliable and rammed-out trains as part of the deal.”

The research shows thatthe most common complaints made to the rail franchises are sparked by delays or failure of trains to arrive at all, over-crowding, a failure to keep passengers informed of sudden changes, having to stand the entire length of journeys, go-slows, lack of adequate facilities both on the trains and on stations and unhelpful or ill-informed staff.

At the bottom of Passenger Focus’s list of poorest-performing operators across the country are Southern Rail, which has been beset by 16 months of strikes, Thameslink, Southeastern and Great Northern.

The price of train fares remains a key issue with 53% of all passengers saying they did not believe they received value for money. The Transport Focus survey also found that eight of the 10 most overcrowded train services are on London commuter routes. Heading the list of shame is the 7.16 am (Southern) East Grinstead to London Bridge train which regularly carries 1366 passengers, more than twice the official “capacity” of 640.

Commuters on the 48.5 mile journey from Milton Keynes to London Euston pay London Midland £482.70 a month for the privilege. Passengers in Italy travelling the 50 miles from Orte to Rome pay just £116 (€130) a month. That means that fares to the Italian capital cost less than a quarter of the price of getting into London.

Similarly, commuters on the 35-mile Southeastern service from Maidstone to Charing Cross pay £412.50 a month, compared with commuters in Germany travelling the 36 miles from Luckenwalde to Berlin at monthly fares of £99.80 (€111.67). The 27-mile trip from Basildon to Fenchurch Street aboard c2c costs £264.60 a month but Belgian commuters travelling from Antwerp to Brussels pay just £127.80 (143 Euros).

The dark judgments of the London commuters about the value they are receiving turn out to be much more valid than just the inaccurate mutterings of some uninformed passengers. Their grim analysis is spot on and is a classic case of the wisdom of crowds. Increasingly unhappy crowds.

by Bob Graham

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