Travellers braced for 7% rise in train fares

Nov 29 2007 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

NORTH-EAST commuters are bracing themselves for a rise in train fares while the prospect of road pricing increases.

In January, train prices will increase for every journey, with some tickets increasing by more than 7%.

The rise was announced as the RAC Foundation produced a report yesterday which urged the Government to start a new motorway-widening programme ahead of any road-pricing scheme.

The report’s authors said the average cost of driving on a Northern road subject to congestion charging could eventually be set at 9p per kilometre, with this increasing at rush hour.

But the RAC said it would only back road pricing if the money raised went back into transport improvements.

The Government is known to favour road pricing, but has insisted any schemes must be introduced by local councils.

Transport bosses at Newcastle Council are currently looking at ways of reducing congestion – with road pricing one option available.

Last night passenger groups warned the Government to “join up its thinking” to avoid forcing motorists off the roads and on to over-priced trains.

North-East Railfuture chairman Martin Murphy said the Government had to stop thinking of private and public transport as separate issues.

He said: “This is not good enough. Passengers face another increase for using a service the Government wants them to use. Why say you want to get people off the road and then price them off the trains? While the regulated fare increases are to be expected, the unregulated increases are a concern.”

Cat Hobbs, public transport campaigner at the motorist group Campaign for Better Transport, said road pricing and widening was an extreme option.

She said: “The RAC Foundation is out of touch with what people want and what the country needs. And so is the Government, if it allows rail fares to skyrocket. We want money spent on public transport, as a recent poll showed.”

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “Regulated fares are no higher now in real terms than they were at privatisation, even after these rises. Where fares do rise, they are helping to pay for record investment in a growing railway.”

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We’re facing gridlock

THE RAC has warned that North-East roads face gridlock unless the Government acts now.

A report by the RAC Foundation called for the Government to build 600 kilometres of extra motorway lanes each year – and introduce road pricing to unblock congested roads.

The A1 and A19 are among the routes most at risk of gridlock by 2041, the report said, adding that road pricing without road building will just drive poorer people off the roads.

Author Stephen Glaister said: “The Government cannot use the possible future introduction of road pricing as a reason to ignore the need to improve the road network.”

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It’s so much cheaper in France

THE new train fares are set to come into force from January 2 – continuing a tradition of above-inflation rail increases that makes the UK the train ticket disgrace of Europe.

Season tickets, saver and standard day returns will rise by 4.8% on average, says the Association of Train Operating Companies.

And an even bigger increase will hit all unregulated ticket purchases – meaning standard open return tickets will rise by up to 7%.

Newcastle to London routes operated by GNER, a service soon to be handed over to National Express, will see an increased standard open return, now priced at £236, rise to £251.50.

Yet other European rail operators can provide a similar service for less than half that price.

An internet search yesterday revealed return tickets from Paris to Strasbourg – only a little longer than the 290-mile GNER route – cost just £42.

On tickets to Manchester, UK customers again appear to be paying too much.

FirstGroup’s Transpennine Express has increased its unregulated tickets by 5%.

A standard open return ticket from Newcastle to Manchester will rise from £64.20 to at least £67.40.

To travel a similar 147-mile journey from Paris to Lille would cost just £27 return.

Arriva’s CrossCountry service is set to rise by over 7%. An unregulated standard open return from Newcastle to Edinburgh will rise from £39 to £42 next year.