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The 70 minute either way limit is a bit arbitrary. But not as arbitrary as having one set of ticket types between some destinations and another set for other destinations. It is also the case that another company now operates between Kings Cross and Edinburgh with the current ticket system...

Most people will suspect this change to the fare system is just a ploy to increase prices. But it could be just another nail in the railway's coffin. Along with the breakdowns due to high winds, overheated points, signals failures etc, the trains that do not run because of lack of staff...

A point that occurred to me when I looked at the statistics for tickets sold by GWR. For all the stations I looked at more tickets were sold at ticket offices than at TVMs. It follows that if all ticket offices close, TVM usage might double at least in the short term. This might produce a...

I have sent a response to the Transport Forum on this subject. When it came to submitting this message I found the anti-robot censor to be unduly obstructive. So it asked for every square where there was a bicycle or a bus. But the images were fuzzy and small. I persisted and sent the message...

Despite word of these proposals I cannot find anywhere on the Internet any document detailing this scheme.

It is not for you or anybody else to prohibit other people from using cash. While I mainly use cards since the pandemic, recently I was in a restaurant when their electronic system crashed and the only way I could pay was cash.

Today I bought two tickets at the ticket office at Bristol Parkway, one for £148. I am sceptical about ticket office staff being redeployed to work elsewhere in stations. There are already substantially more staff outside ticket offices in this country than in many European countries, Germany...

I just had a look at the DB site to see what the Germans offer. Taking a journey from Cologne to Berlin I found there are offerred a choice of four options. There are two cheaper offers which are limited to specific trains. Prices vary between trains taken but in the same ball park. And...

It does not strike me that any real company in the railway sector or otherwise would completely change its fares structure. The risk of alienating customers is just too great with consequent loss of business. The most important question here is: Do many people actually want to buy a return...

It has struck me several times that the penalty fare has been £20 for a long time, probably around 10 years, and so was becoming less in real terms. While the big increase will probably discourage fare evasion, it may also make the job of rail staff trying to get this £100 more difficult. In...

The Frankfurter Allegemeine reports today that DB fares will rise this month by an average of 1.8%, well under the current German inflation rate of around 5%. A new train type is being introduced on eight of the most intensively used routes, the ICE Sprinters which will have fewer stops. Three...

I agree. It needs to be remembered that in the 19th century the railways, offering the only means of long distance transport, were much more important than they are today. This may be why they were given legal privileges that most organizations never acquire. These privileges were, to some...

That passengers can on Britain's railways, as seen on this forum, sometimes find themselves in considerable difficulties arises I think in part from the operation of old laws that were intended to operate in a markedly different environment from that today. Normally, in most countries, it is...

My impression is that the level of fines imposed on the railways is a matter for the Department of Justice rather than the DfT, since the DfT and the TOCs have a vested interest.

The letter you have received seems a bit inconsistent in that it says that you have had invalid tickets several times in the past but at the same time that you have not come to their attention in the past. Could these other cases have been with another railway company? It is possible that in...

I notice that all the places that are not now on a GWR penalty fares line are in Wales. There was a response on 26 November 2020 to a Freedom of Information request to Transport for Wales (TfW) for the reason for this. It appears that there needs to be agreement between TfW and GWR for there to...

This story shows just how problematic limited-validity tickets can be. It also seems to show how much railways are focused on making the most money in the present at the possible expense of future lost custom through disenchanted passengers.

Journeys usually cost more the further you go irrespective of travel mode. The basic reason for this is that more energy and therefore fuel is required to go further. The old railways fares system did make a lower charge per mile when distance exceeded 200 miles. Looking to the future and the...

Unfortunately, it is the Government that sets the fares. And it has decreed that regulated fares rise at RPI + 3% a year. The unregulated fares probably vary in relation to the regulated ones, e.g. railcards giving a percentage reduction on regulated fares. So politicians would need to be...

1635793066 It was a Commons Committee that selected the period 1995 to 2018 not me. I cannot find any figure for the average rail fare on the ORR site, only data about fare increases. I am skeptical of the figure of £5.92. I did, however, find a similar figure on the Statista site of 6.53...