Comparison of international rail fares and ticketing report for ATOC and Passenger Focus – February 2013

27 February 2013

Passenger Focus and the Association of Train Operating Companies have commissioned some research looking at international fares and ticketing.

The Government has recently carried out a review of fares and ticketing, to which both organisations responded.

This research report provides an understanding of the fares and ticketing structures in a number of rail markets to inform debate about the evolution of fares and ticketing in Great Britain, including the extent to which ‘demand management’ – using fares to encourage people to travel out of the peak hours – is used.

The rail markets considered were France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Japan, the north east corridor of the USA and the south east corridor of Canada. Of these, the UK has the third-highest rail use per capita and the fourth-highest passenger kms travelled, with Japan having a very high rail use per capita, and the USA and Canada a very low rail use per capita.

Most of the countries considered originally had state-owned railways which have since been privatised. Subsidies are provided and guidance on fare levels is generally set by the government.