MP hits out at ‘regressive’ and ‘unfair’ rail fare hikes (From Daily Echo)
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MP hits out at ‘regressive’ and ‘unfair’ rail fare hikes
5:00am Friday 7th September 2012 in News
Alan Whitehead
A HAMPSHIRE MP is calling on the Government to halt next year’s huge planned rise in rail fares.
Alan Whitehead , pictured, Labour ’s representative for Southampton Test , believes increases of up to 11 per cent on some routes are “regressive” and punish people with no choice but to commute to work.
As reported, season tickets from Southampton to London Waterloo are set to rise to more than £5,000 for the first time in January, because of the Government’s scheme of allowing rates to go up by three per cent above inflation.
On average, Hampshire rail passengers will have to pay 6.2 per cent more for train travel next year.
Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs this week voted down a Labour Party motion calling for ministers to restore the one per cent above inflation cap on annual fare rises and ban train operators from increasing fares beyond this strict limit.
Dr Whitehead said: “Travelling to work on the train is a non-negotiable part of life for a growing number of people in Southampton.
“The decision by the Tories to allow hikes in rail fares of up to 11 per cent every year shows to just what extent they have caved in to the private rail operators. It’s unfair, it’s regressive and it punishes the wrong people.”
Comments(29)
southy
says...
8:52am Fri 7 Sep 12
elvisimo
says...
8:58am Fri 7 Sep 12
These rail fare increases are accross the board - whether you commute to london, Winchetser, Portsmouth (eugh) or are just an ocassional user.
Whole system is flawed but average of 6% uplift is rediculous - get back in your cars.
Georgem
says...
9:00am Fri 7 Sep 12
southy wrote:How is that an easy answer, southy? Yes, I'm sure the increase in rail charges is lower than rent on a second home.
The easy answer to rail increases is to move closer to your job or get a job closer to home or do what the constuction workers do lodge near the job monday to friday and travel home for the weekend.
southy
says...
9:13am Fri 7 Sep 12
elvisimo wrote:A days parking could cost you about the same as an overnight stay in a holiday inn.
Yes because i am sure lodgings in London are an absolute bargain!
These rail fare increases are accross the board - whether you commute to london, Winchetser, Portsmouth (eugh) or are just an ocassional user.
Whole system is flawed but average of 6% uplift is rediculous - get back in your cars.
elvisimo
says...
9:20am Fri 7 Sep 12
southy
says...
9:29am Fri 7 Sep 12
Georgem wrote:Well if you was to book seats for next week on a train monday to friday to london you pay £34 per day, would be cheaper to book in a holiday inn for the same amount of days, lodging in pubs would be even cheaper.
southy wrote:How is that an easy answer, southy? Yes, I'm sure the increase in rail charges is lower than rent on a second home.
The easy answer to rail increases is to move closer to your job or get a job closer to home or do what the constuction workers do lodge near the job monday to friday and travel home for the weekend.
southy
says...
9:30am Fri 7 Sep 12
elvisimo wrote:premure hotels and holiday inns are very cheap to stay in for an over night stay, and pub lodgings are even cheaper
Er where ?
Georgem
says...
9:37am Fri 7 Sep 12
southy wrote:Prove it. Show us a real example of this. Don't just go looking for the most expensive parking in the country, and the cheapest Holiday Inn in the country.
elvisimo wrote:A days parking could cost you about the same as an overnight stay in a holiday inn.
Yes because i am sure lodgings in London are an absolute bargain!
These rail fare increases are accross the board - whether you commute to london, Winchetser, Portsmouth (eugh) or are just an ocassional user.
Whole system is flawed but average of 6% uplift is rediculous - get back in your cars.
Shoong
says...
9:37am Fri 7 Sep 12
southy wrote:Perhaps, but believe it or not some of us would rather spend some time at home, y'know the one we are paying mortgages on, pretty sure you don't have that burden as you bought your council house.
Georgem wrote:Well if you was to book seats for next week on a train monday to friday to london you pay £34 per day, would be cheaper to book in a holiday inn for the same amount of days, lodging in pubs would be even cheaper.
southy wrote:How is that an easy answer, southy? Yes, I'm sure the increase in rail charges is lower than rent on a second home.
The easy answer to rail increases is to move closer to your job or get a job closer to home or do what the constuction workers do lodge near the job monday to friday and travel home for the weekend.
Also many of us tend to have these things called 'wives and children', it would be nice to see them once in a while rather than living a nomadic existence.
Georgem
says...
9:40am Fri 7 Sep 12
southy wrote:When are you going to stop offering up vague ideas as evidence, and start producing ACTUAL evidence? It costs £12 to park a car at Parkway for a weekday. Show me where you can get lodgings, including car parking, breakfast and an evening meal for £12. Bear in mind it has to actually be close to where someone works, too.
elvisimo wrote:premure hotels and holiday inns are very cheap to stay in for an over night stay, and pub lodgings are even cheaper
Er where ?
elvisimo
says...
9:43am Fri 7 Sep 12
Anyway this is not the point. Equivilent prices on the continent can be as much as 90% cheaper - thats both commuter fares and general rail fares - who system is wrong and has been for a long time.
Georgem
says...
9:43am Fri 7 Sep 12
Georgem wrote:I have of course failed to include the train ticket in that equation. The same principle applies, though. Shows us your workings, southy.
southy wrote:When are you going to stop offering up vague ideas as evidence, and start producing ACTUAL evidence? It costs £12 to park a car at Parkway for a weekday. Show me where you can get lodgings, including car parking, breakfast and an evening meal for £12. Bear in mind it has to actually be close to where someone works, too.
elvisimo wrote:premure hotels and holiday inns are very cheap to stay in for an over night stay, and pub lodgings are even cheaper
Er where ?
southy
says...
9:53am Fri 7 Sep 12
Georgem wrote:are you working near parkway, I was going by where high number comute to London.
southy wrote:When are you going to stop offering up vague ideas as evidence, and start producing ACTUAL evidence? It costs £12 to park a car at Parkway for a weekday. Show me where you can get lodgings, including car parking, breakfast and an evening meal for £12. Bear in mind it has to actually be close to where someone works, too.
elvisimo wrote:premure hotels and holiday inns are very cheap to stay in for an over night stay, and pub lodgings are even cheaper
Er where ?
Georgem
says...
10:02am Fri 7 Sep 12
southy wrote:I work from home, so no. But I chose it because a lot of people commute from it. I have done in the past.
Georgem wrote:are you working near parkway, I was going by where high number comute to London.
southy wrote:When are you going to stop offering up vague ideas as evidence, and start producing ACTUAL evidence? It costs £12 to park a car at Parkway for a weekday. Show me where you can get lodgings, including car parking, breakfast and an evening meal for £12. Bear in mind it has to actually be close to where someone works, too.
elvisimo wrote:premure hotels and holiday inns are very cheap to stay in for an over night stay, and pub lodgings are even cheaper
Er where ?
Above you've stated that a Holiday Inn can cost less than parking at the station. I'm assuming you didn't actually mean that, since it's patently untrue. I assume you meant to include the cost of rail travel in that.
mtdiablo
says...
10:02am Fri 7 Sep 12
Georgem
says...
10:06am Fri 7 Sep 12
mtdiablo wrote:What are you talking about? Uprooting kids from school, taking them away from their friends, leaving behind your own friends, making the wife get a new job and moving away from her friends, is a small price to pay to save a few quid on a train ticket.
southy, how is MOVING an easier option to increased travel fares? Ignoring the obvious financial costs, and the lack of affordable housing (especially in the major cities and London), there is the emotional cost of transporting a family. A ridiculous suggestion.
Shoong
says...
10:08am Fri 7 Sep 12
mtdiablo wrote:It's a case of not thinking it through unfortunately (a really bad habit), he's failed to consider other people's circumstances as opposed to his own.
southy, how is MOVING an easier option to increased travel fares? Ignoring the obvious financial costs, and the lack of affordable housing (especially in the major cities and London), there is the emotional cost of transporting a family. A ridiculous suggestion.
southy
says...
10:09am Fri 7 Sep 12
elvisimo wrote:London Elstree / Borehamwood £34 for one night stay, 2 nights £33 per day, 5 nights £28 per day.
you will not get a budget holtel in London for less than £100 per night and in most cases a lot more.(holiday in Southwark - not that convenient £250 per night)
Anyway this is not the point. Equivilent prices on the continent can be as much as 90% cheaper - thats both commuter fares and general rail fares - who system is wrong and has been for a long time.
southy
says...
10:11am Fri 7 Sep 12
mtdiablo wrote:For a london i would not move into the middle of it, I would do what my cousin done and move to outter edges where it cheaper to live and you have multi choses of how you travel.
southy, how is MOVING an easier option to increased travel fares? Ignoring the obvious financial costs, and the lack of affordable housing (especially in the major cities and London), there is the emotional cost of transporting a family. A ridiculous suggestion.
Georgem
says...
10:14am Fri 7 Sep 12
Shoong wrote:Far from uncommon around these parts. Like the endless bike zealots who claim a cycle is the only mode of transport anyone would ever need, for example.
mtdiablo wrote:It's a case of not thinking it through unfortunately (a really bad habit), he's failed to consider other people's circumstances as opposed to his own.
southy, how is MOVING an easier option to increased travel fares? Ignoring the obvious financial costs, and the lack of affordable housing (especially in the major cities and London), there is the emotional cost of transporting a family. A ridiculous suggestion.
I partially share southy's sentiment on this, though. There's a reason people commute to London every day - they get paid substantially more. Part of that equation is working out whether it's actually worth it or not. That's a consideration everyone has to make, unless they're fortunate enough to be able to walk to work. "Can I afford to commute to this job?" Where southy and I don't see eye to eye on is, I don't think anything about this is "easy".
Shoong
says...
10:17am Fri 7 Sep 12
Georgem wrote:It's easy for him to say though, he owns his house (ex-council), as far as I'm aware doesn't have a family - and doesn't even work!!!
Shoong wrote:Far from uncommon around these parts. Like the endless bike zealots who claim a cycle is the only mode of transport anyone would ever need, for example.
mtdiablo wrote:It's a case of not thinking it through unfortunately (a really bad habit), he's failed to consider other people's circumstances as opposed to his own.
southy, how is MOVING an easier option to increased travel fares? Ignoring the obvious financial costs, and the lack of affordable housing (especially in the major cities and London), there is the emotional cost of transporting a family. A ridiculous suggestion.
I partially share southy's sentiment on this, though. There's a reason people commute to London every day - they get paid substantially more. Part of that equation is working out whether it's actually worth it or not. That's a consideration everyone has to make, unless they're fortunate enough to be able to walk to work. "Can I afford to commute to this job?" Where southy and I don't see eye to eye on is, I don't think anything about this is "easy".
elvisimo
says...
10:18am Fri 7 Sep 12
Georgem
says...
10:20am Fri 7 Sep 12
southy wrote:It's still ridiculously expensive compared to anywhere else. The fact that it's an easy commute to London has seen to that. If you've got a 3 bed house with a garden in Southampton, you can probably rent that for, say £1000 a month. You're looking at easily double that for a similar property in, oh, let's say Hounslow.
mtdiablo wrote:For a london i would not move into the middle of it, I would do what my cousin done and move to outter edges where it cheaper to live and you have multi choses of how you travel.
southy, how is MOVING an easier option to increased travel fares? Ignoring the obvious financial costs, and the lack of affordable housing (especially in the major cities and London), there is the emotional cost of transporting a family. A ridiculous suggestion.
Plus, the commute may be cheaper once you're closer to the city, but it's not that much shorter, to be honest. My commute from Soton to various parts of Greater London took only marginally longer than that of colleagues who lived within the M25. In some cases, it was quicker for me, although they were rare.
Georgem
says...
10:24am Fri 7 Sep 12
southy wrote:Show us actual workings. Suppose I work in Holborn. That's in zone 1. Show us how much it would cost for me to travel there by train every day from Southampton, compared to driving up to Borehamwood on Monday morning, staying there for a week, and commuting to Holborn every day, then going home on Friday evening. Don't forget to include breakfast and an evening meal, or the drive there and back at the start and end of the week.
elvisimo wrote:London Elstree / Borehamwood £34 for one night stay, 2 nights £33 per day, 5 nights £28 per day.
you will not get a budget holtel in London for less than £100 per night and in most cases a lot more.(holiday in Southwark - not that convenient £250 per night)
Anyway this is not the point. Equivilent prices on the continent can be as much as 90% cheaper - thats both commuter fares and general rail fares - who system is wrong and has been for a long time.
Georgem
says...
10:28am Fri 7 Sep 12
Inform Al
says...
1:13pm Fri 7 Sep 12
southy
says...
1:27am Sat 8 Sep 12
Georgem wrote:Work it for your self would be the best way.
Just to add, southy, I actually think there's a good chance you're right about the numbers. I just think it's important you actually figure them out properly, rather than guess.
My cousin moved to Forest Hill when she was working in Sheperd bush, it work out a lot better for her in the end, not only did she save money on traveling back and forth all the time, it also meant she had more time to relax to rest up ect.
kingnotail
says...
12:43am Tue 18 Sep 12
southy says...
8:49am Fri 7 Sep 12