Rail passengers are set to be hit hard by inflation-busting increases in train fares – with rises of up to 15 per cent.
Politicians and consumer groups have reacted angrily to the “ludicrous” increases – which see Kent’s commuters pick up the bill for caps on fares in London.
Train companies base their annual price rises for fares regulated by the Government, such as season tickets, on the Retail Price Index (RPI) for July plus one per cent.
City analysts have predicted the figure will be 4.5 per cent or more, meaning a 5.5 per cent rise across most fares in January next year.
But under its franchise agreement with the Department for Transport, Southeastern, which operates trains in Kent, is allowed to add three per cent to the RPI figure for county fares, leading to massive hikes for passengers.
And because the company is not allowed to add the extra three per cent to fares in London, Kent commuters can expect to pick up the bill for the money the company is missing out on in the capital.
Tunde Olatunji, Kent spokesman for the national rail watchdog Passenger Focus, called for the suspension of the three per cent rule because of the financial pressures already facing passengers due to the credit squeeze and fuel prices.
He said: “Something that compounds the issue for passengers in Kent is ‘zonalisation’. In the London area [the company covers] fares are not allowed to go beyond RPI plus one per cent so the extra money that Southeastern are allowed to claim all falls on Kent passengers.
“Kent is picking up the extra two per cent London passengers are not paying.”
Southeastern, which last year put up the price of some tickets by as much as 14.5 per cent, argued that since the company took over the franchise in 2006 it had spent millions on the railway infrastructure including the Channel tunnel link, called High Speed 1, to St Pancras.
John Bigmy, secretary of the Edenbridge and District Rail Passengers Association, said passengers in west Kent felt particularly angry over the fare increases.
“If you live east of Ashford you will benefit from services such as the new high-speed link through quicker journey times.
“In this side of Kent we will not get any benefit, but we will be paying the higher increase in fares.”
Mr Olatunji said government regulation of fares was a good thing, but only if it protected the consumer.
“What is the point of regulation if the Government is able to create franchises like Southeastern where customers are paying so much more for nothing very special?” he said.
He said under fare increase rules, rail companies were allowed to charge up to five per cent more on certain ticket prices as long as they reduced other fares by the equivalent of five per cent.
Keith Dyall, South East spokesman for the campaign group Rail Future, joined calls for the three per cent rule to be abandoned.
“It’s ludicrous. It is going to put up the cost of living and make the figures worse for everyone – it’s inflationary.”
A spokeswoman for Southeastern, which makes more than £1 million a month in profits, said talk of fare increases in January was speculative because the July RPI would not be known until early August.
She said: “We received £140m last year in subsidies, and over a year that goes down by £20m.
“The idea is that as our subsidy decreases, passengers pay more towards the cost of their rail travel because it is less subsidised.
“Taxpayers pay less overall and regulated rail prices increase as the money from Government decreases.”
She added: “Our job is to make sure it is value for money. We need to make sure passengers think the service is running well they get to work on time and home when they expect. We hope they see things have improved and continue to improve.”
POSTED: 06/07/2008 10:00:00
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