Have your say on the future of Rail Fares!

Have your say on the future of Rail Fares

Britain’s rail companies, with Transport Focus, have launched the first ever consultation for customers, businesses, passenger groups, stakeholders, employees and the public to have their say on making the fares system simpler and easier to use. We are inviting views via www.britainrunsonrail.co.uk/fares

We announced the consultation on 8 May, stating that we were seeking ‘root and branch’ reform of fare regulations dating back to the 1990s.

This consultation follows recent research by KPMG which shows that only one in three (34 per cent) rail customers is very confident that they bought the best value ticket for their last journey and fewer than one in three (29 per cent) were very satisfied with the experience of buying their ticket.

The “Easier Fares” consultation, with independent watchdog Transport Focus, runs from Monday 4 June to Monday 10 September 2018, and aims to understand what the country wants to see from an up-to-date, easier fares and ticketing system. The final report will be published in autumn 2018.

Fare regulations have remained largely unchanged since they were introduced in 1995, with further layers of requirements added over time but little or nothing taken away. There are now around 55 million different fares and long-standing anomalies are becoming locked in, resulting in bigger problems for customers. Regulations have also failed to keep pace with the rise of smartphone technology or how people work and travel today, with part-time working and self-employment having increased by over a third in 22 years.

The results from this consultation will be used to inform proposals to update fare regulations for the benefit of the country and to make things easier for customers. These proposals will then be publicly submitted to governments, who would be implementing any agreed changes.

Any reforms proposed by the industry will be designed to be neutral in overall revenue terms, so any changes in specific fares would need to be balanced out elsewhere. The consultation questionnaire therefore does not advocate solutions but asks those responding to give their preference for a range of options.

A fares offering which is trusted, though, has the potential to attract more people to travel by train which would support investment in rail or give governments the option to change the balance between taxpayers and farepayers for funding the railway.

The consultation is available via the Britain Runs on Rail site at www.britainrunsonrail.co.uk/fares. There is also a version in Welsh at the same url.

Thank you in advance for your contribution to this important consultation.

Rail Delivery Group Travel Agents Team