January the 2nd and rail fares go up by over yet another 3% in Britain. The Minister of Transport justifies this latest hike by blaming the Rail Union's wage increase demands, and adds that the industry has spent more than 3% investing in the infrastructure. Really? If they did, then whose money was it?
A friend of mine was in London recently and needed to get back earlier than she had booked because of a family crisis. When she asked to change her booking at the ticket office, the person on the desk said it would be no problem - so long as she paid an extra £90. London is 120 miles from Bath. We paid less for two return flights to Venice than my friend was charged to catch an earlier train.
The inevitable result of selling off all of our national assets to foreign investment companies at the same time as turning our backs on the financial regulatory authority of the E.U. will mean the election of Jeremy Corbyn as the next Prime Minister.
The French are laughing at us. EDF - a French power company - are asking for billions of pounds from this government to build a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point, so they can sell us Brits the electricity and make even more money for their shareholders. They need to get the contract signed before March.
The last time they tried to increase fuel prices in their own country, there was a national riot which lasted for two weeks. We just moan about it and pay up, and the government quietly assesses how much money can be squeezed out of us before we cannot afford to go to work on public transport.
I completely agree with you about the fearlessness of the French. We in the US are steeple. The taxpayers bailed out the corrupt, incompetent, and opportunist bankers who almost toppled the global economy in 2008 and not ONE banker went to jail...and we did nothing. The gap between the rich and the working class is obscene...and we do nothing. The president and his spawn are debasing the constitution for their own profit and egoism...and we do nothing.
ReplyDeleteAt least the French get up off their asses and throw a good riot and make change happen.
We don't have a history of revolution, which - I think - is a good thing. We had good kings and bad kings. Good times and bad times. The bad times usually come with a democracy, especially when you let the peasants decide what is going to happen.
DeleteTicket office staff are jobsworths in the main. Tell your friend if it happens again to go to the platform and the trains. The staff are much more helpful and amenable and will let you on especially if the trains aren't full. Avoid ticket offices at all times is my advice.
ReplyDeleteI have been asked for extra money by a guard on a train from London. It doesn't work.
DeleteIt has worked for me.
DeleteWell this post isn't really about how to get round the pricing structure, it is about the pricing structure in general. You know, like how much money it costs and where the money goes.
DeleteYes I understand but I thought it would be useful information because people are too tied up with rules and regulations these days. Break them and live dangerously.
DeleteFunnily enough the only country it didn't work was France where I was thrown off a train for having the wrong ticket.
DeleteBlame the bloody French; Johnny foreigner and his filthy snails and frogs legs. The 'yellow jackets' are still out there at every roundabout; I saw them this morning. They ain't goin' nowhere!
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn't every single train user refuse to travel for a week or so; that'd have them bringing their prices down.
Isn't it to pay for Network Rail which is the only part the UK govt owns?
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense. The maintenance of it costs a fortune and there is no specific revenue. The government toyed with the idea of making the areas which the lines pass through pay for there own upkeep through council taxes and other revenues. We already heavily subsidise the rolling stock.
DeleteI just looked it up and see that the Government is subsidising the franchisees to a hefty sum, hence the government's reference to fare rise and train drivers pay. It seems wrong that we have privatised it to be run by private companies (mostly foreign except for Virgin and two others) and yet we are subsidising them. Surely all their costs should come out of their profits.
DeleteExactly my point. If Mafia controlled, corrupt, broke counties like Italy can run clean, reasonably priced, punctual, modern trains at affordable fares as Tren Italia does, then why can't we? Because we are being fleeced by fucking 'business people' as usual. We really need to do something about this shit.
DeleteWe used to be fleeced from dawn till dusk, but now it goes on as we sleep. It's enough to turn you into a fucking revolutionary. (I mean 'countries' above, of course).
DeleteIt is now years since I travelled by Rail and I certainly shall not do so again any time soon.
ReplyDeleteEvery now and then I have to go to London, and driving in is a nightmare. So is a coach. Other than that, me too.
DeleteYour plane tickets to Venice were less than £90??!
ReplyDeleteThey were £41 each. The 4 star hotel cost less than a B&B in Bath.
DeleteAbout half as much.
DeleteOh, no. I thought a travel agent could book me on trains from the bottom to the top of Britain, with a little jog to see my sister-in-law.
ReplyDeleteThe Golden Age of Travel. If you have to go North/South, take a plane.
DeleteJust bought a new yellow jacket (to use if car breaks down - but it brings a thought.......)
ReplyDeleteI have got one too for when I am on site...
DeleteThe train pricing is nuts anyway. I changed my ticket to Brighton because I got to Euston over an hour early and had to pay 27 quid when I had bought a 6 quid ticket. Glasgow was 60 return or 145 return. It doesn't seem to make any sense. I loved the trains though, so much faster and cheaper than driving, but you shouldn't have to pay any more. Private enterprise I feel strongly has no place in public infrastructure.
ReplyDeleteOur own representatives have deliberately laid us open to be exploited for money by anyone in the world. We have been reduced to cattle.
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