get ready for another big rise in train fares. this wednesday we’ll see the publication of the latest retail prices index rpi. the office for national statistics thinks it is such a poor indicator of prices that it now designates it as “not a national statistic.” yet this non-statistic, which is nearly always significantly higher than the cpi consumer prices index is nonetheless used as the official basis for raising train fares. and all the signs are that the squeeze on commuters is only going to get worse.  the cost of season tickets for commuters goes up in january, but the rise is dictated by the level of rpi the previous july, a figure usually published in mid-august. when the july figure for rpi is released this wednesday, it will be at least 3.4% its current level but more likely 3.5% or even 3.6%, as petrol prices and home energy bill increases feed into the index. so with grim inevitability train fares will, yet again, rise faster than wages.  if rail fares were to go up in line with cpi, we could expect a rise of 2.4% next january. if they went up in line with wages, we’d expect a 2.5% increase. but the rpi formula means they regularly go up faster than wages. this time last year the rpi was 3.6%, enabling the rail companies to shove through big price increases on commuter routes at a time when wage growth was stalling.  what does a 3.5% rise mean in practice? for commuters from cambridge into london terminals’ such as king’s cross, the annual season ticket at the beginning of 2019 will smash through the £5,000 level, jumping from £4,952 to £5,125.  it’s worth noting that in germany, deutsche bahn offers the bahncard 100 that lets you board any train anywhere in the country for a year for €4,270 £3,840. in britain we expect commuters to pay £1,263 more than that just for a 48-mile commuter journey from cambridgeshire into the capital.  meanwhile, a 3.5% rise will see the annual season ticket from tunbridge wells into london terminals jump from £4,644 to £4,806, while reading to london will go from £4,464 to £4,620. rochdale to manchester will cost £1,196 instead of £1,156. and spare a thought for the miserable passengers on britain’s officially most overcrowded route, the early morning train from uckfield in sussex to london bridge, which on average is 250% full. they can expect to fork out another £105 on top of the £3,000 they are currently paying for an annual season ticket.  as the chancellor, philip hammond, prepares his autumn budget, he might want to listen to the campaign for better transport: “we want the government to commit to a fares freeze and hold regulated rail fares at their current level. the government has frozen fuel duty for the last seven years and we think rail passengers should be given the same treatment. given the mess surrounding the new timetable, the lack of improvements and the failure to deliver compensation, the government cannot go on telling passengers that fare increases are justified.”  our train companies this week said they are trying to clean up ticketing. the rail delivery group is getting rid of language such as “route direct”, “any permitted” and “london terminals” to simplify the system. it even proclaims there has already been an 11% improvement in the number of people buying the wrong ticket at a vending machine. but it remains absolutely astonishing that one in 10 ticket buyers still purchase the wrong ticket – usually leaving the traveller out of pocket, not the rail company – because we have such an absurdly complicated fares structure.  have you worked at several different employers, with bits of pensions here and there, with statements perhaps going to previous addresses where you lived at the time? not really sure if you have contributed enough national insurance for the full state pension? the national pensions dashboard was going to be your saviour – intended as an online platform that would consolidate state and private pension information into a single, at-a-glance view. sadly, the dwp, bogged down in the roll out of universal credit, is back-pedalling fast, and the dashboard may now never surface.  ditching it will be a huge mistake. an online petition at 38 degrees to save it has already attracted more than 130,000 signatures. add your voice, if you want to pressure esther mcvey, the secretary for state for work and pensions, into a rethink.
rail commuters squeezed further as season tickets rise faster than wages