MSE News: Rail fares could rise by 11.2% as inflation figures revealed

gadgetmind

I cycle to work on a Brompton folding bike. It parks in the corner of my office and can go on public transport if the weather is really bad, but I tend to just stick on a decent jacket and go for it. I do all of my own maintenance (including hub servicing and wheel builds!) so running costs are very low, but they wouldn't be too bad even if using the LBS.

epm-84

Investment in rail? Can we have some NEW trains on commuter services in the North of England as a result of this investment?

The last 'new' trains we got were some ancient trains that London Midland had replaced by brand new trains, some ancient trains First Great Western had replaced by better longer trains and some old trains that Scotrail replaced by brand new trains.

Mr_Thrifty

Any tips on getting to work on a motorbike?

KTF

Keep it rubber side down

What sort of tips do you mean?

Mr_Thrifty

I mean things like how to get into work on a motorbike if work doesn't have a shower or changing facilities and I'm expected to arrive wearing a suit (and the bosses take a very dim view of people turning up in casual wear even if they do get changed straight away)

KTF

If there are no changing facilities then your options are limited as its better to have a complete change of clothes waiting for you when you get in plus a shower in case you get wet on the way in.

You can get oversuits that go over existing clothing to keep you dry but they dont offer much protection if you fall off and are designed to be worn on top of leathers, etc.

newfoundglory

I can't believe people are surprised, shocked or angered by this.

The trains have been a rip off for years!

I will share a little secret with you.

Fares do not go towards improving the railways!

If you tip a railway shareholder upside-down and give them a shake you'll find most of your money drops out of their pockets.

mr_fishbulb

So rail fares can rise RPI + 3%?

Guess what's in the basket of goods for RPI - "07.3.1 Passenger Transport by Railway"

It's the price increase that keeps on giving!

espresso21

I heard an article on the radio this morning that encouraged people to protest against this - anyone have any idea how? The repeated increases every year are ludicrous! I wouldn't mind quite as much if I could see some improvement but in the 10 years that I have been making my journey all I have seen are trains running late and becoming more crowded. Oh and some services cut. It's getting to the stage where I won't be able to afford to go to work soon and I can't be the only one.

Inflation_Monkey

Over the last 25 years, UK train fares have generally increased inline with UK average salary growth. This is very different to the trend with RPI were train fares increases much faster. From all the news headlines recently, you would have thought that train fares were racing ahead from wages for the last 10 years. It was only since 2010 that train fairs have consistently increased faster than wages, mainly due to average wage growth slowing significantly.

So relative to wages on average train fares are only slightly more expensive as they were in the late 1980s, as it can be see when you examine the data from the Office of National Statistics which is used to calculate RPI.