Looking forward on rail fares

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Behind a paywall in The Independent

We need to talk about rail fares ... and this is a good time to bury bad news

They say you should never waste a crisis, so let’s not waste this one. As Simon Calder anticipates a hike in ticket prices, he says there has never been a better time to restructure the system and encourage more people onto trains

If a train is carrying only 70% of the passengers it used to, income will be the same if each pays an average of 43% more than they used to ...

[TaplowGreen]

Behind a paywall in The Independent

We need to talk about rail fares ... and this is a good time to bury bad news

They say you should never waste a crisis, so let’s not waste this one. As Simon Calder anticipates a hike in ticket prices, he says there has never been a better time to restructure the system and encourage more people onto trains

If a train is carrying only 70% of the passengers it used to, income will be the same if each pays an average of 43% more than they used to ...

Roads are going to get a lot busier................

[eightf48544]

Roads are going to get a lot busier................

Which is why many people turned to public transport before the crisis, will it happen again?

If not why are we building HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s))?

[TaplowGreen]

Roads are going to get a lot busier................

Which is why many people turned to public transport before the crisis, will it happen again?

If not why are we building HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s))?

Will it happen again? Who knows - but the demand for the "bread and butter" commuter rail travel, particularly in London and the South East, is very unlikely to return to its original level as people & employers embrace the different ways of working long term which have been enforced in the short term. A price hike will make it even more unlikely.

As for HS2, that's always been a very good question, and one which I am sure is being asked again in the corridors of power in this context, especially given the likely reduced demand/income from HS2, completely out of control cost of the project and the financial and other consequences to the nation of the pandemic.