In the absence of any other news in the New Year silly season, lazy news editors always fall back on the annual ritual of clobbering the railways over the January fare rises. But you might expect better of the BBC. Sadly analysis of the topic on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning was as flabby as leftover Christmas pudding. Huge amounts of airtime was used to promote the soundbites of the pressure group the Campaign for Better Transport, who can always be relied on to trot out the same old views. As always, the BBC quoted the extreme upper end of the fare rise spectrum, whereas the average rise is pegged to RPI, which is 2.8 per cent. Worse, there was no analysis of who these so-called “hard-hit commuters” really are. The fact is that only 7 percent of passenger journeys in Britain are by rail and the vast majority of these travellers are in London and the South East. What’s more, only 58 percent of the vast costs of running the railways are covered by fares. If fares don’t rise, is it right that a small, mostly prosperous elite of rail users should be subsidised by the vast majority of British people who never use trains?
About The Author
Michael Williams
Michael Williams is the best-selling author of On the Slow Train, On the Slow Train Again, Steaming to Victory and The Trains Now Departed.