Transport User Voice – October 2018 – Nearly 20,000 passengers respond to fares consultation

28 September 2018

Easier fares reform roundtable

Our rail fares consultation – undertaken jointly with the Rail Delivery Group – closed on 10 September. This exercise provided passengers across the length and breadth of the country the chance to have their say about what a future fares system should look like. We are delighted to report that almost 20,000 people took part.

Fares and ticketing have long been sources of complaint, confusion and frustration for passengers. Ask anyone what they think, and you’ll most likely hear that it’s too expensive, that there there’s no logic to it or that it’s way too hard to find the right – let alone the cheapest – ticket.

Earlier this month Transport Focus hosted a forum with consumer and passenger groups to discuss what passengers want from the fares system in future. The group discussed how reform could produce some clearly defined principles and significant steps towards passengers enjoying a simpler and easier ways of buying tickets.

The hard work of analysing the many responses is now underway with a report expected later in the autumn. Once this work is complete, proposals will be developed showing how these principles can be delivered.

One of the assumptions behind the consultation is that proposed changes will be revenue neutral – meaning that any changes to some fares will be balanced elsewhere. Negotiating such trade-offs is always a delicate process.

Ultimately a set of proposals will be produced and presented to governments. As many aspects of fares and ticketing are governed by regulation this means that the United Kingdom, Scottish and Welsh administrations will have the final say.

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