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It’s January 2nd, and for lucky rail commuters across the country, that means our annual dose of fare hikes. Yippee! Take a close look at the numbers, though, and it’s clear that we’re getting totally, utterly, unashamedly ripped off.
Across the board, us lucky commuter drones are seeing above-inflation rises of 4.3 per cent on season tickets, and average 3.9 per cent increases across the whole of the UK. Here in London, prices have gone up by 4.2 per cent, continuing the trend of Transport for London raiding our pockets on a yearly basis.
A breakdown we did showing fare prices from 2004 (the year Oyster properly rolled out); what prices should be if they followed inflation, and what prices actually are today, shows the stark truth: Transport for London are raping and pillaging their way across people’s wage packets, with all the prices across the board rising significantly above inflation.
Yes, some of the fare increases might not look dramatic, but honestly, why the hell should prices go up at all over inflation? It’s not like we’re seeing a better service for our money; we’re still besieged by chronic overcrowding and a pathetic excuse for timely service. This is the capital city of the world’s third-richest country; a city that managed to pull off the Olympics six months ago, but still we’re incapable of providing an efficient and cost-effective tube system; the sort of infrastructure that should be a basic staple underpinning the smooth running of London. But no. We’re still stuck with gummed-up seats, faces shoved in strangers armpits and a bloody gap between “the train and the platform edge”.
So here’s a tip for the bosses of TfL: Sort out the Tube; make it run properly, smoothly, efficiently and then, maybe, possibly, we can talk about giving you some more of our money. Jacking up fares while you’re failing miserably at all of the above is just barefaced cheek.
Hat-tip to @hwallop!
Image credit: Man with money from Shutterstock
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I spend about 200 quid a month on travel fare. It’s shameful.
‘Transport for London are raping and pillaging their way across people’s wage packets…’
Okay, it’s bad, but it’s not THAT bad. Overblown rent in the capital is a far bigger deal to my mind anyway.
Considering how much costs have increased this is really no surprise- between fuel prices skyrocketing and the RMT holding TFL over a barrel at every opportunity we’re lucky prices are still so relatively cheap.
I’m not saying there aren’t inefficiencies, but seriously, tube prices are the last thing most Londoners worry about.
I’m seriously going to miss my student discount when it goes though – 30% off travelcards is a serious benefit!
I’m in the same situation.. However if you’re in London or the South East you can still get a Network Rail Card which is a 1/3 of as well.
http://www.railcard.co.uk/network
“So here’s a tip for the bosses of TfL: sort out the Tube, make it run properly, smoothly, efficiently and then, maybe, possibly, we can talk about giving you some more of our money. Jacking up fares while you’re failing miserably at all of the above is just barefaced cheek.”
Pretty sure they don’t care about your opinion! They’ll continue to take your money and raise the price… cos unfortunately they have a tight death grip on our Capital. Buy a bike! Get places quickly and get fitter! Plus never pay for the bullshit service and sardine like conditions of the tube. WINNING!
I watched some clown being interviewed this morning backing the increases with the same bs mantra ‘we need this investment’.
The Sky news muppet asked “Why not have, like with air travel, a lower tier section on trains?” Obviously he’s never been on a transpennine train then has there is only one tier and it certainly ain’t upper…
Not a first world problem to be seen here, I can tell you.
The fact of the matter is if you have a profit element in any organisation (NHS, schools, trains, old folks homes etc) you will have this problem.
Profits, directors, shareholders, customers, staff, ‘consumers’…
You’re suggesting that non-profit organisations are better run?
You’ll notice I put ‘consumers’.
When institutions stopped treating people as ‘patients’, ‘customers’, ‘pupils’, ‘victims’ that in my mind is when you’ve got a this additional problem. They imployed an accountants business costing model to everything.
Either they are publically owned and hemorrhage money and have to be subsidised by the tax payer or (as is happening) they are in the private hands and still subsidsed by the tax payer…
Yes, run them as business but as a non-profit organisation. Unfortunately this statement, in my mind is rather oxymoronic. And will never be workable with such large organisation that are now expected to show value for money.
Edit needed here…
‘They apply an accounts business costing model to everything’.
Makes a little more sense!
Price of everything, value of nothing etc…
The fact is that all decisions have to be seen in economic terms. In the case of patients, some people like to say that you can’t put a price on a human life but that’s something that all hospitals, both public and private, do on a daily basis.
As an accountant, I agree with you.
The problem is, it how badly it’s all (mis)managed.
Everyone is aware of the NHS drugs fiasco, yet nothing is done about it. In schools, why does a photocopier cost 20 times more than anywhere else? And (back OT) the trains, do you really thing this inflation busting increase is for investment purposes and not to boost revenues?
At the end of the day it’s always easier to spend someone elses money.
Hell, look at how amazingly well the MPs do it!
And if you think Transpennine trains are bad you want to try the commuter trains that Northern run. God knows what tier they’d be.
But surely the cost of fuel has also gone up well above inflation? Isn’t that what their prices should be linked to – their costs?
A Storm is coming. We are underpaid and overcharged on just about every basic the government can give. Energy, travel fare, rent costs, etc.
One day soon there’s going to be a reckoning. The Government and its friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits they’re all going to wonder how they ever thought they could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us…
How many times have you watched the dark knight rises this week then?
None, last weekend about twice and the weekend before was about five times
“So here’s a tip for the bosses of TfL: sort out the Tube, make it run properly, smoothly, efficiently and then, maybe, possibly, we can talk about giving you some more of our money”
Since the Tube’s performance has improved since 2004, I assume you’ll be editing the article to highlight your support for the fare rises: goo.gl/XRB25
I work in London but commute in from outside. Been living with family to try to save money but now that my train fare has risen by just shy of 10% suddenly it’d be cheaper to move back into London. This is in spite of exorbitant rents for a room in a shared flat (around £800 near my work). Guess I’ll take comfort in the fact that it’s normal to be 35 or above by the time I have saved enough deposit for my own place as I’ll be that age by the time I have enough too at this rate!!
Also, just as a smack in the face for the extra £60 odd per month I’m paying, I was reminded this morning of what I’m paying for. My regular train cancelled and the next train reduced from 5 to 3 carriages due to mechanical failure meaning barely standing room! Joy.
so live in the suburbs in a house share and bike in. around £450 all in for a half decent place adn you’ll get to work quicker than using the tube.
As someone who has lived in a lot of places around the UK I can assure you TFLs pricing (and service) is actually the best I’ve experienced.
I pay out about £30 p/w for a service that:
Gives me unlimited travel within Zones 1 & 2, this allows me to travel to work, home, friends, nights out, centre of London, when I want, as often as I want, with buses running 24 hours a day, pretty regular (is 10 mins wait for a night bus THAT much of a hassle?), and an underground service that, at the most, I probably have to wait 4 mins for the next train to come along.
About £30 a week, which is about £4.20 per day really is NOT that bad for a service which really isn’t as bad as people make out!
I’ll just leave this here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UymKurTBdhw
As a Civil Engineering student, may I point out a few things? The issues that TFL has with its underground infrastructure are not small whatsoever. Indeed, comparing the London Underground to many other underground systems, such as the New York Subway, would be completely unfair. This is partly because very few ‘subway’ systems are truly underground, as the underground is. The Underground was designed with small narrow tunnels, which makes adding newer trains extremely difficult. Everything has to be custom designed. Many of the tunnels are far too small to add air-conditioning systems to the trains. The Underground also runs through a horrific place to actually do tunnelling in terms of geology, making expansions to the existing tunnels insanely expensive. Whenever they do try and make improvements, people moan about closures. Add to this that the entire workforce is heavily unionised and resists any changes to its existing setup. I would not want to be the person in charge of improving London Underground.
Agreed. I remember being told that to installation lift at Waterloo cost a few million due to moving pipes and underground wiring around. A lot of people seem to forget that we have the oldest subway system but a very old city that has sewer pipes and God knows what else underneath.
I’m just waiting for Crossrail to bring down some offices.
A lot of people also go on about how good the New York subway is because it runs all night. Not really true. It doesn’t go to all stations so if it doesn’t go to your stop what’s the point.
I’ve been to a few stations in NY and I found the safety/lighting very bad but like LU in the past there was no investment. I found a lot of station lacking in escalators and lifts.
But I did find their trains a lot better. It was so hot on the streets that I found that the trains were cooler.
So? It’s a business and its only goal is profit. If you want socialism, vote for it. If you only like capitalism before it starts to sting, beware comrade, it’s gonna go from sting to hurt in the coming years.
You want to try getting a train ‘oop North’ at some point. Whenever I’ve been down in London I’ve been fairly impressed by the public transport. Even if something is cancelled they’re so regular that you don’t have to wait that long for the next one.
Compare that to the commuter train I get up here near Manchester… No train into Manchester between 7.30am and 8am, the train we do get has only recently been lengthened to accomodate the number of people who get it (there was a standoff once when it arrived half an hour late and already too full to let people on. Police were called), regularly delayed… The trains out in the evening are slightly more regular, but not much. And the last train in the evening is at 11pm. Unless it’s a Sunday, when it’s about 9pm. Great service, I’m sure you’ll agree.
The London Underground isn’t too bad, either for service or cost. Try commuting into London and see how reliable and expensive that is. Before leaving the country, it was getting to the point where it would almost be cheaper to rent a room in London during the week rather than commute.
For a comparison of cost, in Düsseldorf a single journey is around £2. The ticket is valid for 90 minutes though and allows you to use the buses, trams and trains in that period. A monthly travel card is less than £60 and also allows allows you to take a friend for free at night and weekends.
By the looks of the above photo TfL looks like they get their money in dollars!
I like you put “gummed up seats”, see, that’s your fellow passengers. Not the Underground.
I work at London Underground and we might be more “efficient” if you would stop wasting our time with things not to do with us.
A few examples I can give you.
“I have lost my phone on a train, can you call the police because my supplier needs a crime reference number”. You losing your phone is not a crime as such.
“I’ve cut myself in Burger King and they have told me to come to you so you can get me an ambulance”
“My phone and wallet were stolen from the Starbucks on the other side of town and I have gone home and cancelled my cards. I have come here to report my lost phone”
” I’ve left 5 iPhone 5′s on a train. What are you going to do to find them?”
” I was walking down the street and I have a pain in my chest. Can you get me an ambulance”
Getting someone an ambulance requires up to 3 members of staff. Sometimes when you are looking for staff. That’s what we might be doing! And if you are wondering why 3? One to stay with the patient, one to go to the ambulance meeting point and one to make the call, get all details and chase it up if it doesn’t arrive quickly.
I’ve no doubt that you receive some odd requests and enquiries, but if your job is to deal with the public, then you have to expect it. You should also remember that, when dealing with people in London, some may not have English as a first language, so their enquiries may be a little garbled. Also, a phone that’s lost may have been lost on a train when somebody’s pocket was picked. When people are packed into cramped trains and barely able to move, it’s easy to fall victim to a pickpocket, even an unskilled done. That being the case, for insurance purposes, you need a crime number.
Perhaps, I thought, all you require is a little understanding and an ability to empathise. However, by the time I got to your last point I realised that you beyond redemption. Sorry if somebody’s imminent heart attack is causing you a little disruption. Seriously, if potentially saving somebody’s life is too much trouble for you, perhaps you might be better of working somewhere where you don’t have to deal with the public. Forget about being a London Transport worker, how about just trying to be a decent human being? Or is that outside of your job description?
It strikes me that if all your fellow co-workers have similar attitudes towards the “inconvenience” that members of the public cause and a callous disregard for the sanctity of life, then Londoners have every reason to complain about the levels of service that they receive, especially considering the money they’re paying (much of which is clearly going towards paying the ridiculous salaries the TFL pay. The sooner all trains are fully automated the better).
I still can’t quite work out why you need three people in your example. Surely the person who meets the ambulance could get details and chase up the ambulance too.
In regards to the lost phone. He did lose it. I asked him if it was stolen and he said no. If you ever look at you fellow passengers on train you will see alot of them put their phone and wallet/purse on the seat next to them or on the seat they are on between their legs and then jump up when they get to their stop and forget them.I know why crime numbers exists.
BTW, I mentioned nothing about language so I not quite sure why that was brought up?
In regards to having no empathy or not being “a human being”, i’m pointing out things that’ve noticed with my eyes and experience.
“It strikes me that if all your fellow co-workers have similar attitudes towards the “inconvenience” that members of the public cause and a callous disregard for the sanctity of life”, seems abit over the top!
To give you an example of how “callous” we are I had a woman last wednesday have one of her Parkinsons attacks. We sent 2 members of staff to assist her to walk down from the platform. Due to her form of Parkinsons she actually seizes up and not shake so she could not get to her mediacation.
We got her to my control room where we called her husband to collect her and make her a cup of tea to warm her up.
Ain’t we gits?
I work in the control room at a major station. I have been on the job for over 13 years and lost only 9 days to sickness (thus saving money in someone not covering me on overtime). I do not belong to any union (I beleive they pick the wrong fights and when your union rep is off more then their members I don’t really want them to fight in my corner).
I received a commendation by the end of the first week for stopping a train hitting 2 drunks who were walking down the track and recently received another commendation for my Oylmpic work where I worked all gamesdays apart for 4 and my overall teamwork and leadership.
In regards to having driverless trains, one of the ways that we are alerted to someone having a medical emergency is by a fellow passenger stopping a closing door and calling for help. I’m sure a driverless train would know what to do in that situation.It makes sense to drivers on trains. I hate to say it, They are the quickest way to get help on a train.
In regards to the ambulance thing. Like I said earlier I work in the control room. This is where the phone calls for emergencies come from. Passengers interupt staff on the gateline when they are on the telephone because their question is always more important then say, me telling staff about a lost child or suicidal person. I get the details and call the ambulance as me telling them that someone who is having a heart attack and their personal details is normally done privately as opposed to making the call in front of people looking at the distressed person.
Sorry for the long reply.
Like with most things I suppose we get our opinions from life. When I have questioned someone about taking a leak behind a lift their response was “well, your toilets are closed!”.
Somehow I don’t think you would be doing that in Asda if the same thing was to happen.
Also, if we are talking about odd requests. about 7 years ago I had some tourists ask me what time sunset was.
I assumed it was so they could take some nice pictures of the area.
No, you mentioned nothing about language barriers, but I felt that it was a relevant point that might go some way towards providing an explanation as to why some communication might be garbled. Even foreign language speakers whose grasp of English might seem to be impeccable will, from time to time, make errors that garble the meaning of whatever it is they’re trying to say. I was merely suggesting a possible reason why customers might make odd requests.
I could only respond to the things that you said which seemed to indicate that you don’t really care about people unless they’re using the London Underground, hence my “Or is that outside your job description?” comment. As you have mentioned, you have no doubt assisted customers at times of distress. However, given that they were, in fact, customers and therefore the need to provide them with care was covered by the terms of your job description, I think my comment on the matter regarding the passer-by, non-customer, still stands. That said, I only say that because you haven’t given an example of a life or death situation with a non-customer (and I’m not going to ask you to). In that instance I can’t honestly believe that you would simply ignore them, even though your previous comment suggested that you found them to be a bit of a pain.
I’m definitely not convinced by your argument about drivers. In the example you gave, drivers didn’t really seem to play a part, or at least they don’t have to. If the passenger is alerting someone of an emergency, presumably by pushing an emergency button or, as you say, stopping a door from closing and shouting, wouldn’t platform staff be more able than the driver to provide assistance? Trains, even automated ones, are unlikely to be able to pull away if a door is open after all. If all the drivers were sacked then TFL could no doubt afford to pay for more platform staff, something which would actually improve passenger safety. After all, if a problem does arise between stations, I believe that its standard practice for a train to continue to the next station to seek help anyway.
I would obviously have to agree with your comments about unions, especially given that, as you allude, many of the heads are most certainly not bright, shining examples to their members and seem more concerned with lining their pockets than truly looking out for their member’s interests. Let’s face it, were it not for the exorbitantly high salaries that drivers command and their propensity to strike over the most minor of issues, it’s doubtful that anyone, myself included, would want them to be replaced.
As I said before, members of the public can make some odd requests. They can be quite selfish and inconsiderate too and I certainly couldn’t condone taking someone away from dealing with matters of urgency such as the examples you’ve given.
Finally, back to the situation where an ambulance is required. Why do you need exhaustive personal details of someone who needs an ambulance? Their name and a very brief medical history (“I had a heart bypass last year. Now I’ve got shooting pains up my arm and my chest is in agony, so I think I’m having a heart attack”) would no doubt be all that is required to treat them, so I can only assume that the need for any other details is purely administrative and not altogether urgent (to fill in an accident report book perhaps?).
I’ll pick a few points DD as I quite like this discussion (i’m not being sarcastic BTW).
The example of the non-customer wanting an ambulance should have been explained better. My point was more of what would they have done if a tube station wasn’t there? Alot of people don’t really have a plan. I didn’t refuse him an ambulance.
One of the reasons station staff exist is for an emergency. We get a refresher course every year and have to carry a certificate with us at all times.
When someone comes up and says “How do I get to Thorpe Park?” does seem a very easy to question to find out at home. Do you see my point?
It’s a bit like when an emergency happens very quickly. Do you remember the flooding at Mile End last year? I was invovled in that. The water was nearly as high as the top of the train, as from Stratford you go down the tunnel. We had approx 10 staff, 15 police and ambulance at Stratford and the LFB at Mile End.
As there was more 4 million gallons of water and Thames Water were not cutting off the water straight there was gonna be a long service suspension. Do you know what one of the first customer questions was? “where are the replacement buses then?”
I imagine people think there is a field on the outskirts of London with 100 buses and 100 drivers waiting for the call like the pilots in the Battle of Britain!
In regards to driverless trains. I was wondering what would happen to the passengers in a situation like above. The driver is responsable for the clearing of that train safely. When people complain of how long it got to get off a stalled train it takes time because you don’t do everyone at the same time. You do them in managable numbers. We may do them in numbers of 10. 10 off, 10 out. Then you have to do their suitcases or worst case, push or wheelchairs.
As i’m not quite sure how driverless trains stop in emergency I’m intriged how they deal with people on track. Recently at West Ham and Stratford we had a customer in an electric wheelchair drive onto the DLR track (still not quite sure if its the same guy on both occasions yet). DLR may be driverless but they still have a captain that can override the computer.
Back to the ambulance thing. We do need brief details, age, name, address, any medication they are on, pregnancy or any recent operations. Also a phone number if they want me to call a partner or work. When I book an ambulance I have to give them as much as possible as that determines the urgency of the patient. This is why we always keep a member of staff with them as if it gets worst we update the LAS to see if we can get moved up the list. Sometimes we do a station PA for any nurses or doctors for extra assistance.
The person we send to meet the ambulance doesn’t go there until I see the ambulance on my cameras. The response from LAS lately is really bad lately as they are so stretched. It’s not uncommen to wait for nearly 90 minutes for a “non serious” response. Therefor I have lost that member of staff for 90 minutes.
“why the hell should prices go up at all over inflation?”
Because someone has to fund the system (and Bob Crow’s increasingly-outrageous demands), and if you’re saying the service isn’t better than 2004 you’re travelling in a different London to me.
Of the six fares you highlight, the two most often paid by commuters (1-4 weekly and PAYG tube single are pretty close to where they should be with inflation. Of the others, the cash singles are deliberately increased by well over inflation to discourage their use; similarly the day travelcard has become supplanted by PAYG price caps. That just leaves the bus PAYG single, which was reduced by Livingstone in 2004 as a pre-election measure and increased in 2005 by 14.3% (inflation at the time being 3.2%).
I’d be intrigued to see this re-calculated for the 2005 fares as that wasn’t an election year.
Before complaining about transport in London, I would really suggest trying public transport where I live. To go east – west there is an hourly service, which we think is amazing, but theyre talking about cutting it back. To travel north however, there is a twice – daily service…
Now recalculate using RPI. You may not like it, but that’s the more appropriate measure of prices.