Every year rail fares always increase and the discontent and outrage due to poor service follows it. Rail fares keep increasing by an average of around 3% while public transports keeps failing the people who pay for it.
Students and commuters who have to rely on public transport already know that the UKs rail service isn’t the most reliable and highest quality. Charging more for poor service is sickening when you don’t have an alternative. The delays, cancellations and state of the trains are hardly something to smile about. And once again our budgets will have to find the money for the fare increases so we can get to work, back home again and travel around to see family and friends.
Rail users and travelling students should have to expect a second or even third rate service. While a 16-25 Railcard helps save money (https://www.railcard.co.uk) you shouldn’t need to buy an extra discount card to get around. British rail fares are already over the top compared to other places. Like other European cities public transport should offer amazing reliable services, be cheaper and greener for the environment.
With climate change being a real threat to life on Earth it should be a priority to reduce emissions and encourage rail travel by bring costs down and service levels up. The cost and anguish of travelling by rail is certainly off-putting. For some journeys it’s easier, quicker and cheaper to fund a plane ticket. With cheap air travel it’s crazy that it can actually be cheaper to fly abroad than getting around the UK.
Despite the year on year ticket increases the rail companies still claim the money is need for rail investment. I wonder where all money has gone over the years because it’s not been spent on our railways. Many of the UK train operators are owned by overseas companies who seem able to profit and fund their own rail networks very well. In many areas of the UK our train services have got worse with companies being stripped of their license and services been renationalised to public ownership.
When it’s too expensive to travel around and train services are in such a mess it impacts our jobs, work, the economy, the climate and our social lives. The state of our railways is shocking and in the North of England the years of station closures and neglect is devastating to many local regions.
