Rail companies have hit passengers hard by imposing some of the highest fare rises since privatisation this week under the cover of claiming to have kept the increase to the minimum, Tribune has discovered.
Off-peak fares for some London and Birmingham commuters have risen by 30 per cent, while Conservative London Mayor Boris Johnson has allowed a staggering 710 per cent rise – from £1 to £8.10 – for some off-peak children’s fares using London Overground if they travel at certain times.
The privatised rail companies have got away with the changes through a mixture of hiding details on their websites, issuing misleading information and rarely highlighting the changes in press releases to the media.
For the first time, individual companies have withheld information concerning the average unregulated fare rises from their parent body, the Association of Train Operating Companies, making it difficult to make comparisons.
Labour has attacked Mr Johnson for not taking a tougher line in negotiations with the rail companies on fare levels when he extended the Oyster card to over Greater London commuter routes.
However, there is evidence that Transport Secretary Lord Adonis “connived”, in the words of the TSSA transport union, to allow companies a free hand to raise unregulated fares to recoup losses from having to introduce marginal cuts to regulated season tickets.
The companies have secured the huge hidden increases by raising unregulated fares by more than inflation and introducing restrictions on off-peak travel times, particularly a new early evening peak fare in London and Birmingham.
Transport for London, South West Trains and London Midland are the worst offenders. Both Transport for London and South West Trains now charge peak rates between 4pm and 7pm and London Midland between 4.45pm and 6.45pm.
Any one travelling after 10am can only travel back outside these times or have to pay a peak fare – as if they had gone into the capital or Birmingham during the rush hour. Pensioners, families outside the Greater London area and children are particularly affected.
Those using Oyster cards will have the money automatically deducted at the barrier.
Websites are misleading, with London Midland still saying off-peak fares apply after 10am, while Transport for London boasts of freezing the £1 off-peak fare for children on overground trains. A check on the fares table reveals that a £1 off-peak children’s fare rises to £8.10 for a zone one to nine ticket in the new peak times.
Other companies, such as Virgin, have reduced the availability of off-peak fares so people will have to pay much more.
Passenger Focus, the independent consumer watchdog, says thousands of fares have changed and it has been unable to check them all.
http://www.tribunemagazine.co.uk/2010/01/07/rail-firms-try-to-hide-real-cost-of-rocketing-fares
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