Our Conversation on the cost of travel prompted some great comments – from the standard of service to the need to commute into central London and similar cities. So we’ve rounded up some of your best bits…
If you commute from an area serviced by one rail company, your choice on which train company to use is slim to none. Scott raised concerns over competition in the sector:
‘Most lines are operated by a single company, so there’s no competition to help regulate prices and improve quality of service. They know that passengers have no choice other than just not to use the train, which for most, is just not possible.’
Overcrowded and cancelled trains
DamnKnit Blast said that the cost of commuting would be easier to stomach if the service improved:
‘As well as increasing prices, we commuters are suffering a rapidly deteriorating standard of service. My 25 min journey is routinely 10 or 15 mins late, and massively overcrowded. Cancelled and short trains are the norm. The price increases would be much more palatable if the service was adequate.’
And Dave was less concerned about the cost of commuting but rather the additional costs incurred by parking at his local station:
‘For me, the biggest cost rise in commuting isn’t fares (because if you look at it subjectively, for commuters it’s quite a good price) it is car parking. This is land that has always been owned by the railway and the only improvement in many places has been the addition of an extra deck.’
Commuting culture
Which? Convo regulars John Ward, Wave Change, DieselTaylor and Malcolm discussed the idea of tackling commuter culture. Malcolm said:
‘It is lunacy to continue with commuter-congestion. We must in future think about distributing jobs more widely by giving incentives to companies to locate in regional towns (and disincentivised to locate or expand in London particularly). There are many places I would choose to live rather than the South East, with cheaper houses and shorter journeys.’
And Terfar asked if there could be another solution to the train network, achieving our Comment of the Week:
‘Are railways really the solution to commuting (really, who in the 21st Century would design a form of transport that uses trains weighing 100s of tons with steel wheels running on fixed steel tracks)? We need a 21st Century answer to the problems of twice daily mass commuting.’
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