Rail passengers pay the price

If you thought rail fares were high now, wait until the transport secretary Ruth Kelly is finished with you. Yesterday she announced plans to expand the rail network – and passengers are going to pay through the nose for much-needed improvements. Under the plans, annual public subsidies for the railways will be slashed from about 50% to around 25%. Income from passengers will rise from £6.7 billion in 2009 to £9 billion by 2014. Half of the projected increase in fare revenue will come from increased prices.

Though the rail network is nominally state owned, it operates on commercial lines while the train companies are in private hands. The Brown government is continuing where Blair left off in reducing subsidies and using control over rail franchises to implement their policies. For example, Virgin Trains recently lost its cross-country franchise to another operator which offered to run the service on lower subsidies. This is another fine example of public-private partnership from the team that brought you the Great London Tube Fiasco, which produced the collapse of a major maintenance and upgrade contract last week.

Fares rose by an average of 10% at the beginning of the year. A series of further fare increases are scheduled for this year by Stagecoach, Arriva and Go-Ahead. Many commuters are feeling the pinch, especially as interest rates on mortgages have also risen, along with petrol and fuel prices. The simple fact is that New Labour does not believe in public transport in the full sense of the term. It rejects the idea that trains and buses should be part of a socially-useful service that works for the benefit of society as a whole. That sounds too much like Old Labour, or even Old Tory.

Today, both major parties start from commercial considerations and the operation of market principles. The Tories privatised the rail network and New Labour is moving towards the elimination of state subsidies altogether. The government’s attitudes was summed up perfectly this week when, in response to complaints from Passenger Focus about fares, a Department for Transport spokesman said: "The reality is that 6% of the population travels on railways. Why should people who don't use the railways regularly fund people who do?" After 10 years of New Labour, the cost of car travel has fallen while it has increased for buses and trains. So where’s the financial incentive for people to leave their cars and get to work by public transport? There isn’t any and there won’t be. So much for making a contribution to tackling climate change.

Apart from commuters, people who want to visit friends or family in other parts of Britain, or go on holiday by train, face extortionate prices. If you want to travel the 200 miles from London to York, and are prepared to travel after 9.30, the cheapest return fare is £75.10. But that’s only if you book on the Internet. If you can’t, that’s another 10% on top. If you need to leave during the rush hour, it’s going to cost you over £120 for a return ticket to York with GNER’s “business saver”. In Italy, where the state continues to subsidise the rail network, next Monday you could catch the 08.55 express from Milan for the 175-mile journey to Venice, returning whenever you wanted, for the princely sum of £34.00. Get me out of here!

Paul Feldman, communications editor

Commuters pay the price

Record numbers of workers apparently stayed away from work yesterday. Perhaps they were trying to avoid the massive increases in the cost of transport that would actually get them to work. Not only do the above-inflation rail fare rises – some have gone up by 8.4% - act as a pay cut for commuters who have no choice but to fork out to get to work, they are also an incentive for other passengers to abandon trains in favour of cars and planes. More planes and cars equals more carbon dioxide equals more global warming. Where is the logic in all this, you may ask? Unfortunately there is one – the logic of market capitalism, with its market "solutions" that actually make matters worse. Unless, of course, you are a trader in carbon emissions, in which case the more CO2 the merrier. Under these circumstances, individuals have to make the difficult choices while the New Labour government abandons responsibility for tackling climate change. For example, if you needed to get from London to Manchester and back tomorrow, leaving around 8am, the choice is between a train journey lasting two and a half hours costing £219 and a plane fare of £223, which takes only 55 minutes. Or you might just get into your car and drive, leading Jason Torrance, campaigns director of the Transport 2000 pressure group, to say that the rail price rises flew in the face of "the government's rhetoric about climate change". In London, the rhetoric belongs to the Mayor, Ken Livingstone. When the Tube system was part-privatised, Livingstone fought the New Labour government until he was forced to concede. The private-sector consortia were handed lucrative contracts in return for a programme of investment in the system. Then two years ago, the Mayor agreed with the government that commuters had to foot part of the bill for new investment. So fares have soared as a result. A single Tube journey in the inner zone now costs an exorbitant £4 and a bus journey costs a flat £2. Many Londoners have electronic cards that are cheaper to use, so the rises hit visitors to London, occasional users and commuters who start their journey by train. Making London the most expensive city in the world for travel is a great encouragement for the 2012 Olympics! Behind this disaster for commuters and other passengers is New Labour’s infatuation with markets and its hostility to dedicated public services. When the previous Tory government privatised the rail network, New Labour condemned the move. When New Labour came to office, the policy was switched. Now the government gives the rail companies £5 billion a year in subsidies and allows fares to soar because that is what the market dictates. Even other capitalist countries have worked out that a decent public transport system is essential and fares have to stay affordable. The TSSA union compared the £219 London to Manchester (200 miles) fare with the £34.50 it costs to travel from Paris to Calais at any time. Travelling from Madrid to Barcelona (387 miles) or from Berlin to Bonn, (365 miles) costs just £63 in each case. It would be nice to take advantage of these comparatively low fares. Unfortunately, a Eurostar train for the 209 miles between London and Paris, leaving tomorrow and returning Saturday, will cost you a mere £309. There's no cheap escape from Blair's Britain!

Paul Feldman, communications editor