HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Rail Fares to Fall in London & South East [September 2001]
The press release issued by the Strategic Rail Authority on 7 September 2001.
Passengers using train operators in London & South East are to benefit from absolute reductions in fares in the New Year, thanks to caps announced today by the Strategic Rail Authority.
For services on long distance/regional operators, regulated fare increases will be held to inflation minus 1%, as they have been since January 1999 . Using July’s RPI figure of 1.6%, this will result in a small increase of just 0.6% in regulated fares.
However, for the ten London & South East commuter operators, fares are subject to further capping under the Fares Incentive Adjustment Payment (FIAP) mechanism. Consequently, most commuter fares* in the area will on average fall by 1.4% (RPI – 3) due to poor performance in the year to July 2001.
SRA Chief Executive, Mike Grant said:
“The fare decreases in London and the South East will be welcomed by passengers, providing further compensation for the disruption suffered in the post Hatfield period. Likewise, the minimal increases in regulated fares across the rest of the network will be a welcome accompaniment to the various special promotions run by operators during 2001. The SRA continues to work with the industry to bring about improvements to the network to parallel the continued growth in passenger numbers.”
Today’s figures indicate the maximum average increase (or minimum average decrease) that operators can make to fares, assuming they used the full allowance in 2001. Where operators failed to use their full allowance in 2001, they may be able to increase fares by more (or decrease by less).
In London & South East, the actual fares changes within the FIAP limits will be a matter for individual operators to decide and announce. The caps apply to a fares ‘basket’, or group of fares, and some flexibility is allowed in the price increases on individual fares within a basket. These can be higher than the cap each year, provided there are decreases of equal value on other fares to balance the basket.
Analysis carried out on behalf of the SRA, has shown that, from 1999-2000 to 2000-01, there was an increase of 3.09% in the average standard class fare paid per mile, against a 3% inflation rate. From 1995-6 to 2000-01, the cumulative increase in the average standard class fare paid was 15.34%, slightly more than the 14.2% increase in average inflation. These figures include both regulated and unregulated fares.
