Rail fares to rise by 3.1% in January

I agree, but with nearly all stations having ticket barriers, fare dodging has decreased a lot. So much that rail companies just aren’t getting the income from penalty fares and fines. So they target people who have made genuine mistakes, the standard class ticket holder who enters first class, the passenger who missed their stop etc. Unlike other authorities the railways have their own rules written in law and any form of “Fare Dodging” is a CRIMINAL OFFENCE. People who make genuine mistakes risk being dragged through magistrates and even crown courts getting criminal records etc.

With a criminal conviction a person is not allowed to work with children, not allowed to work in healthcare, not allowed to adopt, face high car insurance, and life insurance premiums, not allowed to travel to USA or Australia. (Fare evasion being a crime of moral turpitude even though fare evasion is not actually a criminal offence in the USA or most other countries).

Being caught making a genuine mistake and getting done for fare evasion can quite literally ruin your life.

If they were reliable and pleasant I wouldn't mind paying, but often they're late or cancelled, overcrowded, smelly, far too hot, and we have to pay a huge amount for the privilege.

It's crazy, but at this rate it'll soon be cheaper to get a taxi across the country than it will a train.

I agree, but with nearly all stations having ticket barriers, fare dodging has decreased a lot. So much that rail companies just aren’t getting the income from penalty fares and fines. So they target people who have made genuine mistakes, the standard class ticket holder who enters first class, the passenger who missed their stop etc. Unlike other authorities the railways have their own rules written in law and any form of “Fare Dodging” is a CRIMINAL OFFENCE. People who make genuine mistakes risk being dragged through magistrates and even crown courts getting criminal records etc.

With a criminal conviction a person is not allowed to work with children, not allowed to work in healthcare, not allowed to adopt, face high car insurance, and life insurance premiums, not allowed to travel to USA or Australia. (Fare evasion being a crime of moral turpitude even though fare evasion is not actually a criminal offence in the USA or most other countries).

Being caught making a genuine mistake and getting done for fare evasion can quite literally ruin your life.

Current scenes from the train today... Was sat in the luggage rack

I wouldn't mind if it was cheap but it's not

We should follow the rest of Europe and have a nationalised rail service which provides a far higher quality and cheaper service to the customers, with much higher levels of customer satisfaction.

It's nothing to do with trade unions. And you're seemingly trying to argue that paying train drivers a decent amount is unreasonable.

I'm all for unions they do a valuable job... but everything in moderation right? How on earth have we ended up with a situation where train drivers, a job that could be done by a child (or a 1987 computer if we go by DLR), ear more than consultant doctors, or approaching twice as much as the average solicitor.

Honestly? Fire them all and go driverless. Definitely an option on a number of routes.

Still get strikes on the DLR. Trains might go driverless, but you’ll still have some sort of human element involved.

I'm all for unions they do a valuable job... but everything in moderation right? How on earth have we ended up with a situation where train drivers, a job that could be done by a child (or a 1987 computer if we go by DLR), ear more than consultant doctors, or approaching twice as much as the average solicitor.

Honestly? Fire them all and go driverless. Definitely an option on a number of routes.



Paying train drivers £75k, much lower paid workers ar having to pay through their nose to fund that wage, is unreasonable yes.

In Germany in 2015 they had a strike and the final agreement was that train drivers would be paid between £24k and £36k.

Wages are about 25% of your train ticket cost, so if we made like Europe and halved wages we'd expect a 12-15% drop in fares.

If that's the kind of nationalisation you're talking about then I'm all for!

It's perfectly possible to pay drivers well and have cheaper tickets.

Or you can pay drivers more reasonably and have even cheaper tickets.

I just established - halve wages and you've saved every train user >12%. I don't see why you want poorer people who need the train to get by to support train drivers who now earn 3x the national average? Are you a train driver or sth?!

Our extortionate ticket prices and poor service are not a result of paying drivers. Our entire rail network is sub standard and needs changing. The rest of Europe manages to provide a far cheaper and more reliable nationalised service. There's no reason we cannot do the same.

Also the average salary of a train driver is nowhere near 75k.

The money has to come from somewhere. Who should make up the difference? Taxpayers?

The rest of Europe manages to provide a far cheaper and more reliable nationalised service. There's no reason we cannot do the same.

Also the average salary of a train driver is nowhere near 75k.

I've said we should have a nationalised system like other European countries who are able to offer not only a cheaper service but a much more reliable one with higher levels of customer satisfaction.