What's in the manifestos?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From Stephen Joseph at Campaign for Better Transpoty

On rail

Some of the proposals are much as expected, such as the Labour Party's commitment to bringing the railways back into public ownership. In a way, however, what's interesting is some of the other pledges and proposals - and the common ground that's there.

One area of common ground is rail fares. Every party is promising to tackle fares and simplify the fares structure in some way (only UKIP doesn't mention this). Given that the Department for Transport and the rail industry have tended to resist this, this is one area where change will happen whatever the election result. However, none are committed to ending above inflation fares rises or introducing season tickets for part-time workers (as the 2015 Conservative manifesto did) - we'll be pressing politicians, especially those in the large number of constituencies with many rail commuters, to say where they stand on these.

There's also common ground on continuing rail investment. This includes HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)), which all parties except the Greens and UKIP are committed to, but also on the rest of the rail network. The Conservatives talk of new stations and lines, especially in areas with housing growth, and improving existing lines, including for freight. Labour commits to extra schemes like a new Brighton Main Line as well as more rail freight. The Liberal Democrats and the Greens also talk about new stations and lines, and support for rail freight, and with UKIP and Labour support investment in rail lines across the North of England. All of this reflects our and others' lobbying, especially on reopenings and rail freight, and we will hold the Government after 8 June to these commitments.

on buses

Buses also appear in every manifesto, and there seems to be an awareness of the impact of bus cuts especially in rural areas. All parties are promising to address this - Greens, Lib Dems and Labour are promising bus reregulation and greater investment, while the Conservatives and UKIP say they will invest in community minibuses in rural areas poorly served by public transport. This is good news, because there have been many elections where buses haven't been mentioned at all, and we like to think this reflects the Save our Buses campaigning we've been doing. All parties are promising to protect free travel for older people (thought none say if they'll actually fund it properly); concessionary travel for young people is mentioned by Labour, Lib Dems and the Greens, with this being a headline offer by the Lib Dems.

[broadgage]

The political demand for simplified fares seems unstoppable now.
I fear however that that the degree of simplification will be modest, and will be soon followed by the rail industries attempt to re-complicate.

I have long been opposed to the policy of affordable fares being restricted to a particular train. IMO^▸ (in my opinion), only 3 different fares should exist for a given journey, these being based on how well patronised or not the service is expected to be.

Likewise I see no merit in the fare payable being variable according to when the ticket is purchased. A peak time train should be full fare no matter how far in advance the ticket is purchased. And an extreme off peak service should be very cheap even if the ticket be purchased only minutes before boarding.

[grahame]

I have long been opposed to the policy of affordable fares being restricted to a particular train. IMO^▸ (in my opinion), only 3 different fares should exist for a given journey, these being based on how well patronised or not the service is expected to be.

I (mis?) read that to be a very interesting proposal ...

Taunton to London - £110 peak, £66.00 regular, £39.60 "am I the only one in the carriage" type.

No other fares for that journey. So no returns, no first class, no children's fares, no railcards.

How do you gauge which train is to be at which fare? What about something like the 17:48 (ish) Cheltemham Spa to Southampton via Swindon, which start off really busy but has somewhat (!) thinned out by the time it leaves Salisbury?

As people's travel habits change to save money, some trains that are just peak will thin out and become regular, and others that were regular will become peak.  How often do you change the designation of services?

[John R]

How often do you change the designation of services?

My immediate thought is to base it on the journey being quoted. So in that case a Cheltenham to Southampton fare would be peak, but a Salisbury to Soton would be off peak.  That would however almost certainly result in a whole new lot of split ticketing "opportunities" (or anomalies, depending on your point of view).  A more sophisticated fare structure would price each leg of a ticket according to whether it is peak or not. That though might then not have the desired effect of pricing people off overcrowded services, if the peak part of the journey is relatively short.

 

[IndustryInsider]

We did discuss Broadgage's system at some length around a year ago - perhaps one of our lovely moderators could find the link?

I started off quite sceptical about it but he was able to answer most of my and others questions and clarifications and I came away thinking it might work.

Persuading TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s and the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) would be quite another matter though.   Concerns over revenue losses can only be addressed by running it as a trial on one of the franchises where the gains/losses would be subject to some kind of revenue guarantee.  Ironically the direct awards that's have been recently handed out would have proven to be a good opportunity given their short lifespan but that train has now departed.

Perhaps a good test bed would be for fares on HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s))?  A long way away still, but an ideal chance to start from scratch.

[broadgage]

I have long been opposed to the policy of affordable fares being restricted to a particular train. IMO^▸ (in my opinion), only 3 different fares should exist for a given journey, these being based on how well patronised or not the service is expected to be.

I (mis?) read that to be a very interesting proposal ...

Taunton to London - £110 peak, £66.00 regular, £39.60 "am I the only one in the carriage" type.

No other fares for that journey. So no returns, no first class, no children's fares, no railcards.

How do you gauge which train is to be at which fare? What about something like the 17:48 (ish) Cheltemham Spa to Southampton via Swindon, which start off really busy but has somewhat (!) thinned out by the time it leaves Salisbury?

As people's travel habits change to save money, some trains that are just peak will thin out and become regular, and others that were regular will become peak.  How often do you change the designation of services?

To amplify and clarify my proposals,

Yes I would still allow first class, but only 3 different first class fares for a given journey not the complexity as offered at present.
The TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) would be permitted to re designate trains as peak, off peak, or super bargain as they see fit, subject to two overriding rules.
Firstly, alterations may only be made at timetable changes, not every week on a whim.
Secondly, no more than 25% of services may be classified as peak, and at least 25% must be super bargain. These figures being averaged over the period covered by the timetable.

I would still allow railcards, but would attempt to simplify the system. A rail card would give discounts ONLY on off peak or super bargain trains. No discount on peak trains.

I would give rail staff completely free travel on the super bargain trains, heavily discounted travel on the off peak services, but no discount on peak time trains. (subject of course to not conflicting with existing agreements for existing staff)