7.2% not justified

London Midland made the 2011 ticket prices available last week. The average national increase imposed under an agreed formula was 5.8% (RPI + 1%). The price of my season ticket (annual, standard class, Bletchley-London terminals with no Travelcard) increases from £3,316 to £3,556. That's 7.2%.

The London Midland Twitter service (@londonmidland) has proved to be a far more effective way of communicating views and queries to the train operator, so on Tuesday I used the service to ask how an increase 1.4% above the standard had been justified.

After a few exchanges I got back the following explanation the same day (direct exchange, so not publicly available and undated):

After receiving this I still didn't get it, so London Midland offered an explanation by email. This has still to be received (the London Midland customer service people have a good excuse with Thursday's train driver strike looming), so I figured I'd try and work it out for myself. 

After an hour of looking at daily, weekly, monthly and annual fares, new and old, from various stations I'm still none the wiser.   London Midland appear to be saying that the reason for Bletchley (non-Travelcard) season tickets going up by 7.2% is to address an anomaly in the relative day/annual and Leighton Buzzard/Bletchley/Milton Keynes, yet what I found was that there have been even bigger increases in the equivalent cost of travelling from the other two stations which has made that anomaly even worse!

• Leighton Buzzard season ticket without Travelcard: £3,292 in 2010.  £3,536 in 2011.  Increase 7.41%
• Bletchley season ticket without Travelcard: £3,316 in 2010.  £3,556 in 2011.  Increase 7.22%
• Milton Keynes season ticket without Travelcard: £3,832 in 2010. £4,140 in 2011.  Increase 8.04%

If I've got my figures wrong and/or London Midland provide an explanation as to why all three stations have had such a significant increase above the standard rate then I will post up a follow up message.

In the meantime I'll say:

London Midland appear to have imposed an arbitrary, above standard increase, taking advantage of passengers who have no choice but to use their service. 

It is very difficult to see how these increases can be justified given that there has, if anything, been a degradation in the service over the last 12 months.  

As a passenger I find I am paying more to travel on trains which are less frequent and which take longer to get to my destination.


(Interestingly, while doing some research for yesterday's posting about this week's ASLEF strike I found that the General Secretary of that union appears to also have strong views about this round of fare increases.  See Rail fare increases are madness says GS).

I'd love to know what you think so whether you agree or disagree, please express your own view via the comment box below.



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