Train delays, fare hikes, line closures. For many passengers, the New Year return to work is bleakly familiar.
Rail watchdog boss Anthony Smith says higher ticket prices are “unfair and unjustified“, while campaigners say people will be forced back into their cars.
Some passengers on First Great Western trains are planning to go on strike, by refusing to buy real tickets.
Instead, they will issue their own special tickets with different wording, such as “Worst Late Western”.
The Association of Train Operating Companies says the higher fares will help fund better trains and stations.
“We are now running a higher-performing railway with new, refurbished and more punctual trains and better stations,” says ATOC’s Director General George Muir.
What do you think?
- Have stations and trains improved?
- Are higher ticket prices justified?
- Is your journey value for money or do you feel priced off the trains?
- Will you join the protesters?
Send us your comments.
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One comment so far
Train fares in this country are a national disgrace of monumental proportions.
I live not far from London (Cambridge) yet the day return fare is prohibitive!
It is outrageous that our complacent, incompetent, government has seen fit to do nothing about it. Do they have no shame?
Something MUST be done and done quickly: the British public deserve better than this appalling example of excessive charging.
- Posted by Keith M Warwick