TENDRING DISTRICT COUNCIL Community Leadership Overview and Leadership Committee 22 March 7:30pm nd COMMITTEE NOTE OF JOHN SMOCK’S MEETING 22 MARCH 2021 (TDC RECORDS PUBLUIC MEETINGS) Good evening I am JOHN SMOCK Chair of the ONTRACK RUA which consumer group’s remit has expanded to cover all forms of transport, and which has the support some retired Rail Managers as members and others in transport, and is recognised rail industry stakeholder body. We are also stakeholder member of the TLB and take minutes Overview of Rail Fares System -- which I understand is a subject of interest RAIL FARES – the structure and charges is often a “hot” topic. The former Rail Consultative Committees were not allowed to consider issues relating to fares. Some may ask are FARES FAIR? OR are the fares VALUE FOR MONEY for the service being offered? OR ask whether the fares structure, pricing policy is suited to local economic conditions, suited to local wage levels or flexible or adaptable enough to change in a rapidly changing economy and its changing transport needs We now face the challenges, threats and opportunities thrown up by the changes wrought to national and local working patterns and the national and local economy by the COVID PANDEMIC, BREXIT and creation of the FREEPORT area around the Port of Harwich, major housing development, including a garden village community and rediscovery of the joys of holidaying in the UK. The sunshine coast has never been so popular!! First a quick reprise of how we got to the present with UK RAIL FARES. When the four major private railways and some independents were nationalised to become BRITISH RAILWAYS in 1948 each had its own fares table and charged according to distance travelled. The split of cross boundary trains and operators, revenue and charges were settled by a RAILWAY CLEARNG HOUSE. There had been the Victorian legacy of the Parliamentary Train that stopped at every station for the for a statutory fare of a penny per mile. The initial economic driver of railway construction had been freight, but quickly passenger travel became one of the key revenue earners, especially when the masses were encouraged to travel, quickly overtaking the elite First Class traffic, which produced some nice extra niche revenue (On Nationalisation it is understood that Ongar Station had the highest percentage of First Class Season Ticket Holders on the LNER). BR initially continued to price the journeys according to distance. But by the 1980s BR was moving to pricing to the local market. Thus fares were set at a higher level inside the former NETWORK SOUTHEAST Area, which embraced some of the more prosperous London Commuting Towns. On “Privatisation” “Concession Contracts” (or Franchises) were set up, Train Operating Companies (TOCs) were created to run a passenger rail service on behalf of the Dept. for Transport. The general idea (in simple terms) appears to be for a TOC to pay the Department of Transport a hefty annual premium, and to commit to certain works and improvements, in return for keeping what’s left from the FAREBOX, after paying the infrastructure provider, initially RAILTRACK, but later NETWORK RAIL’s the track access charges, and also the utilities bills etc. (N.B. the Freight Operators were set up and run on a totally commercial basis, as were certain “open” access charter and passenger train operators) The passenger TOCs were subjected to running to a specified minimum service as set by the DfT. The TOCs also had fares priced to the market. Each TOC set its own fares, but the fares were subject to some regulation under the Transport Acts with the Season Tickets being regulated. Also the Rail Cards created under BR were also protected viz. Family Railcard, Seniors Railcard, Disabled Rail Card, Young Persons Rail Card, Forces Card. Rail Cards that were later “commercial” creations such as the NETWORK SOUTH EAST CARD etc. were not. Unregulated were items like day fares. The DfT sets the limit by how much fares may rise based on the RPI. In many cases passengers in the time of First Gt Eastern, Anglia Railways, had the choice of paying for an Anglia Railways only ticket, or a First Gt Eastern only ticket or if they had the Network ticket, that allowed one to use either of the operators trains. On longer journey across the UK a “National” ticket may be issued that allows one to use any available train or any available route (there is a separate national Route Guide!). Currently commuters have a choice between London and Peterborough between tickets for using the regional trains and or specific tickets for the East Coast Main line trains. The Heathrow Express also started off as dedicated service and so there has been a proliferation of tickets, terms and conditions. These TOC operating contracts were vulnerable to downward shifts in the economy, as they in many cases assumed only constant or upwards only revenue and passenger growth. The Commuter based lines were in some ways better protected than pure InterCity Lines that were based on businessmen’s travel traffic flow. By the start of The COVID PANDEMIC many TOCS were net contributors (just about in some cases). However the Government’s DO NOT TRAVEL direction issued as result of the crisis saw passenger numbers collapse circa 90% which resulted in virtually all these FRANCHISE Arrangements being converted into straight management CONTRACTS to run a service on behalf of the DfT So the diverse range of lines and operators s has multiplied the fares that are chargeable for a specific journey, and /or the terms and conditions applying allied to the policies that are a result of the Transport Acts and DfT An attempt was made to group tickets into several ticket types categorised as Anytime; (Anytime Day Single, Anytime Day Return, Anytime Return – a period return) Super Off-peak Off-peak Advance Tickets However, there are still a huge range of fares that would be available within these different fares types and all with restrictions. Within the last two years or so there has been consultation on a FARES REIEW sponsored by the DfT Possible options and ways forward being considered included e.g. Flat Fare/Zonal pricing (like TfL) A distance based charge A price per journey (airline style?) Allied to this is the desire led by the DfT for the roll out of SMART CARD (like the TfL Oyster Card) style technology. The economy is likely to bounce back strongly post the pandemic, (7% GNP growth is one estimate), but clearly we must expect a change in travel to work patterns and the daily travel profile and also the profile for weekend travel. SIR PETER HENDY, NR, at a rail industry conference two weeks or so back said as much including also a 40% reduction in the morning commute. Season Tickets (Annual, Monthly, and Weekly) have long been in a gentle decline. The need now may be of how to address the needs of those working from home say two or three days a week, but who need to travel up to a central office for meetings, and access secure networks etc., requiring a better mid-morning service or late evening service. This brings us to the service currently offered and what will be needed to meet economic growth, the increasing demands of a FREEPORT and levers economic regeneration, via a modest transport investment and improvement. The submissions of the Tendring District Transport Liaison Board (TLB) and the “ONTRACK” Rail Users Association in respect of the December 2021 TIMETABLE CONSULTATION made it clear that there were significant shortcomings in the current timetable arrangements, which should not be rolled over by default and further improvements were needed to redress a whole range of issues, including population growth, new housing developments, as well as the FREEPORT (Copies supplied along with an earlier report on AN UNDER ACHIEVING RAILWAY to the Clerk) . The TLB, “ONTRACK”, Essex County Council, the ESSEX Rail Users Federation, and RAIL FUTURE are all supportive of rolling out a half hourly service throughout the day to serve all stations in Essex, with earlier first trains and later last trains. Indeed there are some other lines that have a 24/7 service and so why not ESSEX? Frequency sells! - - If one can offer a speedy alternative to long winding or congested roads. The LB Hackneys Transport Planner who was part of the project team responsible for the London Overground and its re-openings that buoyed up Hackney’s economy, said that modest transport investment was predicated on bringing in billon pounds of economic investment. Successful passenger numbers now means lengthening of trains to cope? (So both transport and the economy benefited) We give in a table example of some Season Ticket Costs to the employment centres of London Liverpool Street, Chelmsford and Colchester from some key stations in the TENDRING DISTRICT viz. CLACTON, WALTON on the NAZE, HARWICH and MANNINGTREE plus the indicative mileage involved. For the sake of comparison we have included examples of Season Ticket rates for Norwich- Ipswich and Halesworth –Ipswich complete with mileage data. The last sheet shows just some of the ticket prices quoted for a journey up to London (and Back). The day prices for Clacton to Colchester Return or Single also vary (and will summarise later). One may ask why are fares so high in an Area where the average wage is very much lower than south Essex and London. Part of that is the legacy of the pricing bands for the old BR NETWORK SOUTH EAST AREA (Can Gtr. Anglia Railway explain?).