The highest paying customers of the railway per journey are businesses. Individuals who purchase Off Peak Returns are not the most lucrative revenue source, and make up about a sixth of LNER's customer base.
They pay a darn sight more than many on advanced purchase. I would hazard a guess that they bring in more than six percent of revenue as well.
about paying lots more? It isn't being run as a social good now, anywhere in the country outside a few PTE areas, so how much tax should everyone pay to give a cheap railway? And, how much more should the vast majority of non-rail users pay to subsidise occasional or discretionary travel on such a niche transport mode?
It's funny isn't it when it comes to the need for public transport. PTE areas get it, Scotland obviously gets it, several countries in Europe get it.
The only people who don't get it are the Republican party wannabes in Westminster and Whitehall.
I'm not going to pluck a figure out of my backside as to what we should be paying to subsidise rail, however I would support a benchmarking exercise to see what those countries who run public transport for reasonable fares are paying and I would support us paying something similar.
Oh, and rail isn't a niche transport mode. It's the primary public transport mode for intermediate and long distance travel.
This is just a way of avoiding the crux of the debate - actually, what sort of journeys should we be prioritising given we have limited and finite capacity? What is the best use of the assets?
Ah yes, the lesser spotted "anytime return" business traveller who somehow manages to be both the biggest revenue stream whilst also being completely absent.
Clearly since we have finite capacity, the best use of assets is to get bums on seats, not running around empty peak time carriages waiting for someone foolish enough to pay £300 for an anytime return.
Yet we never get that debate, we just get the same over commercialised railway designed to fleece passengers. Perhaps if expense account man never comes back the railway will be forced to serve its actual passengers for a change.