I was invited to talk on BBC Radio Newcastle’s Charlie & Alfie programme this morning. Always good to be on the show, and this time in the studio too rather than a phone interview. The government says wages are going up by 2.4% but rail fares are only increasing by 1.1% so we’re better off. But I think the 2.4% increase in wages is a national average – probably much higher in London but lower than that here in the North East. So we have to pay the 1.1% increase in fares with salaries remaining level in most cases. Worse, the government hasn’t allowed for station parking charges introduced this year. £2 per day at Morpeth on top of a return fare to Newcastle of £6.30 is actually a 31% increase in the cost of getting to work. Nevertheless, unregulated fares such as the advance £17.65 Morpeth to London single are an absolute bargain – though these fares are not regulated at operators can change or remove them as they wish. SENRUG wants a major simplification of the fares structure to make it easier to know what’s what.
