Train companies are working hard to make train journeys in Britain better from start to finish. That includes making it easy to get the right ticket for your journey at the best possible price wherever and however you buy it - from a ticket machine, at a ticket office, or online.
Steps unveiled by train companies could lead to the most radical overhaul of the complex fares system for more than 30 years, paving the way for significant changes that will help customers find clearer fares they know they can trust.
Train companies and the Rail Delivery Group are spearheading these targeted trials, collaborating with Government. We see this as the beginning of a journey towards wider and far-reaching reform of the fares system, and are very pleased that the DfT and others want to work with us to explore how the complicated, outdated fares set-up - created over decades - can be simplified so that we are able to give customers good deals that are easy to understand.
Over the past 20 years TOCs have introduced a range of customer-friendly innovations, deals and good value fares that have helped to attract record numbers of passengers. Yet decades-old government rules covering rail fares prevent them from being more flexible in offering tickets that customers want. Those regulations were designed to protect customers’ interests, but now just baffle many.
Our trials are a product of wide-ranging discussions which culminated in an action plan agreed last December between train companies, the Rail Minister and consumer groups. The plan sets out a range of measures designed to make it easier for passengers to choose the best value fare for their journey.
The trials are an important first step, and will be designed to establish what changes to regulations and processes are needed. We will test new pricing, simpler routes to give customers clearer choices, and the removal of unnecessary and unwanted fares from the system - fares created long before the internet and online booking which nobody buys, but which TOCs are required by the regulations to offer. We want to work with the Government to discuss how the system can be updated, so that consumer protection underpins giving people fares they really need.
As for ‘winner and losers’, the trials will test the impact of the proposed changes on ongoing investment into the railway. The current balance of revenue and costs allows around 97p in every £1 from fares to go back into running and improving the railway. Our trials, with government support, will test the proposals thoroughly to ensure that current investment levels are protected. If the initial impact on taxpayers is negative, then the danger is that this would be bad for passengers since it could undermine future investment for improvements. So the trials may result in some people getting cheaper fares which have to be balanced by a few paying a bit more as we iron out the wrinkles in the old system.
These bold steps, combined with improvements to services and information already being made, will help to make train travel better for the millions of people who use the railway every day.
