When this steaming, overcooked planet finally gives in and the icecaps sizzle into liquid, the tsunamis roar in and the petrol runs out for the junk-heap cars, I wonder to what point in history the fingers shall point as the mad blood stirs. Emissions need to peak in 2015 if we're to beat climate change. What are we all doing, right now, that is holding us back?
There are lots of things of course but I just wonder if placing one of the golden bullet solutions, the train industry, into private ownership is near the top of the list. Allowing profits to be the main motivating factor rather than public wellbeing surely is part of the problem rather than the answer.
The pricing structure for travelling by train is such that the closer to the date of travel you buy your ticket, the more you pay. It is classic revenue optimisation and designed in part to maximise the income from business travellers who can put the three figure cost through their expenses with barely a backward glance. Needless to say, it's not so easy for the more leisurely amongst us. I've been priced out of a train trip up to Scotland on a good few times and, well, I don't do too bad income-wise so something's not right.
And it shouldn't be this complicated and unfair. Each train has x carriages and y seats. Divide the cost of running a train by those y seats and keep the prices equal and fixed. And if you can add more carriages, then we can decrease the costs for all.
It makes sense to me and it's a more realistic way of breaking the stranglehold that airlines have over domestic travel in the country. So it is with some hope that I read about the ASLEF union's plan to buy out the Government's East Coast rail franchise with a view to running it at no profit.
I hope whoever forms the next Government just gives them the thing. Current manifesto commitments include high speed rail, reimbursing some of your ticket fare if the train is 15 minutes late and a stricter tax on flights. I fear, despite 1 and 3 being good proposals, they are missing a bigger point and it is fair standard prices that are needed before true progress in the crucial transport/environment policy area can be made. Labour has promised "an enforceable right to the cheapest fare" but what does that mean? A recommitment to the status quo?
The Lib Dems are quick to cite their green credentials relative to Labour and the Tories but they cite Global Warming as "one of the greatest challenges we face" which to me proves that even they still don't get it.
Train travel was always top priority for me going into this election but it seems a fairer, greener future is experiencing heavy delays.
SNP Tax
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I lived in Germany for a few years.
Part of my renumeration package was that I could be entirely reimbursed for a monthly travel card - without being taxed on the benefit - This was a Hessen state law I believe, introduced to ensure that people made use of the public transport infrastructure that they were investing in.
When in possession of my monthly travel card, a friend could travel with me for free at off-peak times.
At the weekend it was possible to buy a schoneswochende (sp?) ticket, which meant that from Friday evening until early Monday morning up to 5 people could travel anywhere in Germany (apart from on the ICE trains) for about 35 marks - which I think was about 13 quid at the time.
The German public transport system serves the public in a manner that we don't even dream about in this country. As a result it is well utilised by the German public.
Now I occasionally take the entirely empty morning train from Glasgow to East Kilbride, to be delivered either to Hairmyres hospital or the East Kilbride Village, with no interconnection (train, bus or tram) to any of the many Industrial estates in East Kilbride. (I mention this as the estate where I worked in Frankfurt had the S-Bahn line extended and a station built for the very reason that they'd quite like the trains to stop where the people were likely to be going).
A progressive Socialist government should be able to see beyond the numbers at the bottom line and consider the other benefits of having the system, ie reduced road and air traffic with the environmental benefits that brings. Profit shmofit!
I've always hoped that when the day comes and Scotland finally votes to become independent, one of the first things we would do is make sure public services are run for the good of the public, rather than for private profit. I thought that even before I found out that the train companies are subsidised, which is absolutely outrageous really - how can it be right to pay a subsidy to companies that generate massive profits? People are up in arms about bankers getting bonuses straight after being bailed out by the taxpayer, but this has been going on far longer, and no one bats an eyelid.
Any government that is serious about getting people out of their cars and into public transport has to start with train ticket prices. I believe Glasgow to Edinburgh is the most expensive trip in Europe, in terms of money per mile of track. I can certainly believe it, and it's not even a good service.
Privatisation should have brought better punctuality, cleaner trains and a faster service. That was the theory, but anyone with even the slightest bit of common sense ("err, won't they just start penny-pinching to increase profits?") could have told the Tories in the first place that it wouldn't work. Where is the impetus for the companies to improve customer service when there is nowhere else for the customer to go? If I don't like ScotRail trains (and I don't), that's just tough, because it's the only choice I have, unless I want to get the bus. Free market principles only work in free markets, which most certainly does not describe our rail networks.
I sympathise with what you say, but there are two important principles that should apply to transport pricing:
1. The capacity of the rail network is determined by the peak users. We have to provide bigger stations, more tracks, more rolling stock that is only used for a few hours each day. So peak users should pay for this as opposed to non-peak users. This will also encourage people to travel off-peak.
2. The Time-Away principle. If you are going from Glasgow to London for a day then the cost of your travel as a share of your total cost is very high; whereas if you go for a month it is very low. If we want to encourage people to use trains for short trips then they need to be proportionately cheaper.
There is also a balance between supporting trains for environmental reasons and giving a backdoor benefit to prosperous commuters. So rail subsidies need to be well targeted and not across the board.
Previous transport secretaries Geoff Hoon and Ruth Kelly used to give interviews to the railway press in which they were quite open about 'pricing people off the railways'as a means to controlling overcrowding. The government was and is simply unwilling and unable to afford investment into the railways.
To his credit, Lord Adonis has stopped the DfT talking about this in public, although I suspect the practice is still regarded in private as the best one.
I could go on for days about the fares, suffice to say that the companies will take what they can get - and demand is so high during peak times that they get quite a lot.
As for Glasgow to Edinburgh, we only charge £1.90 single. But then we only run 2 trains a day in either direction. Due to the vagaries of how the fares are split between different companies, we make more money charging £1.90 than if we sell someone the Scotrail fare of £10.60.
The entire world is doomed & we need to go by train.
What a load of complete bollocks. You know perfectly well that the world isn't doomed & that trains wouldn't help either way.
Why on earth would any intelligent human vote for people who are either clinically insane or liars pretending to be clinically insane to make themselves look better?
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