New Year, New Increases, Old Grumblers
4 01 2008Bus and rail fare squabblefest
Can’t you tell that the New Year has started already? Two days into the year, our blessed transport companies let New Year in by issuing a 5 - 15% fares increase on its passengers.
As sure as ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ would remain in the Top Ten of All Time UK chart No. 1s, the most vociferous critics remain the London press. These are mainly middle class newspapers and the freesheets distributed on buses and trains throughout our urban centres.
Forgotten by every newspaper other than ‘The Bolton News’, are the fare increases of Greater Manchester’s biggest bus company, First Manchester.
Though 10p has been added to all single fares, these increases range between 5 - 10% - the same increase given to unregulated rail fares (i.e. advanced purchase fares instead of Saver Return fares). The bulk of the rail fare increases affect middle England - persons likely to commute from suburbia into the major cities - and read mid market newspapers. In Greater Manchester, three times more journeys are made on this company’s buses alone than that of the whole rail network within the conurbation. Bus patronage as a whole accounts for ten times that of rail usage in the Greater Manchester PTE area.
Bus fare increases affect those who less likely to drive to the nearest railway station. They affect those who struggle to pay for more modest journeys to shops, hospitals and workplaces. A £1.10 fare is the equivalent to an hourly rate of a person struggling on Jobseekers’ Allowance. Moreover, very few areas offer concessionary travel to unemployed citizens, other than those on the UK Government’s ‘New Deal’ scheme.
In some cases, it is cheaper for three adults or more to share a taxi on short distance services. For instance, the single fare on my local route is £1.50 to the nearest town centre (Ashton or Stalybridge). By taxi, it is £4.50 to Ashton (standard daytime tariff) - a much cheaper option than four single fare paying adults. The journey to Stalybridge is between £3.20 to £3.70 - a cheaper option than three single fare paying adults. These figures are based on a standard minicab being shared by four people aged 16 - 60 on the daytime tariff.
However, it is often cheaper to pay the same as a Stalybridge taxi fare for a day saver, if more than two journeys are made. Though Greater Manchester’s biggest bus operator has raised their day saver ticket from £3.50 to £3.70, it still represents good value for money due to its boundary area. Greater Manchester is not the only area covered. West Yorkshire is covered, so it is possible to travel from Warrington (in Cheshire on the 100 route to the Trafford Centre) to the east of Leeds, so long as the vehicle has FirstGroup’s familiar ‘Barbie’ livery.
As for the chief complainers of rail fare increases, most of these probably have cars to turn to. They will also be compensated for service disruptions if they purchase a season ticket from their local railway station. What about bus users? Our services can be disrupted by traffic - all part of the ‘risks’ expected on road transport (private cars included). Our services can be withdrawn due to insufficient loads without consultation (unlike rail services). Rail franchises are compelled to conform to a ‘Passenger Service Requirement’ guaranteeing a minimum level of service from frequencies to rolling stock requirement.
The chief complainers are cossetted by these parameters which make rail travel a more rewarding experience than that of bus travel outside the London area (where the buses are still regulated, though franchised to the likes of First, Stagecoach, Arriva, et al). They should know how lucky they are, compared with the average bus user in Greater Manchester.
Whilst public transport remains the domain of a few multinationals, fare increases and service reviews are a necessary evil, much to the detriment of its travelling public. Wake up, smell the latte and get a bus (outside London) for once. Then you will see where I am coming from.
On a personal level, I think there is no place for private enterprise to run inland transport undertakings. The local bus, train or tram should be regarded as a utility rather than a profit centre. In other words, publicly owned, regulated and affordable buses (I may elaborate on this argument in a future posting).
The price of a Canterbury East to Charing Cross season ticket seems to more newsworthy than a single fare by bus from Bolton to Great Lever.
S.V., 04 January 2008
I have done a post on Stalybridge Train Station. They are refurbishing the station for “the 21st Century”. It completely forgets the Victorian styling which railfans all over the country come down for. Now we are to have some glass frontage. This money could of gone into more carriages so people can actually get a seat in the peak times!
Forgot to link to my post on Stalybridge Train Station
I have read the following post on Stalybridge station within your blog. For me, the biggest travesty was the demolition of the Victorian booking hall and its replacement by the incumbent 1960 - 61 structure.
The original building could have been tastefully refurbished, but this was several years before we started preserving instead of demolishing our Victorian architecture. Preservation too should have been the case with Ashton Charlestown before 1972.
Back in 1972, Ashton only had a peak hour service, the Oldham-Rochdale loop line was under threat of closure, and the Stockport - Stalybridge service was the first in Greater Manchester to be converted to ‘Paytrain’ operation.
35 - 36 years later, demand on the old L&YR route to Stalybridge has soared with half hourly services in the daytime - and the resultant overcrowding.
I can answer your issue on the overcrowding. Northern’s franchise was based on zero growth throughout their 7 year tenure and no guarantee of funding for rolling stock. Since December 2004, demand in Greater Manchester has soared by 20%. In my opinion, I put this down to rail journey times from Greenfield and Mossley being several times faster than the bus.
Apart from one major change in 2005 - 06 (the loss of the direct Wakefield Westgate link), there has little change to rail frequencies on Manchester Victoria - Huddersfield services compared with the buses (since 2004, the 153 has been withdrawn and bus connections to Manchester from Mossley have halved, with the Staley Road Manchester bus only running in the peak hours).
In my honest opinion, an internal refurbishment of the current ticket office would be better, though one issue could be that of asbestos removal and containment. I do agree that the proposed design would look out of sync with the rest of the 1885 station building on the Yorkshire platform. It reminds me of the entrance of Manchester Piccadilly station, albeit in miniature.
That issue aside, I am happy with the cleaner toilets and improved disabled facilities with the station. Who’d have thought 15 years ago that we would have had real time visual information, when you had to ask for the key to go to the Gents?
Stuart.
A good and timely post. The train isn’t all Middle-Englanders though; the Stalybridge-Manchester evening return is much better value than the bus.
Certainly the privatisation of public transport was a disaster. Buses and trains compete where they should cooperate, which leads to a pretty poor network overall and hasn’t even driven prices down significantly.
I too agree with you on the evening returns. In fact the same could also be said with cheap day return tickets within the GMPTE boundary. When I worked in Stalybridge between 1999 and 2001, I sometimes got the train to and from Ashton, as the cost of a return equalled (or were cheaper than) a single fare on the 217/232/233/348 routes at the time.
Sometimes, the peak period fares equal that of the bus (or are cheaper, if a season ticket between any two given points is purchased). Rail users with monthly and annual season tickets also have the advantage of price reductions, if services fall below given standards for punctuality and reliability. On the bus… no such thing.