Merseyrail's massive fare increase.

[c259]

Hi all,
I know I hardly ever post on these forums but this was something that I just had to have a small rant about.

I've just been onto thetrainline.com to check the price of tickets for a day out on Saturday from Liverpool LS to Chester. I know that fares increased at the beginning of the year but it didn't really affect my normal day-to-day travel.

Just for the record, I normally travel from Broad Green to Liverpool LS which with my railcard is £1.40 off-peak. A rise of 10p. Which isn't really much to complain about as it's still cheaper than my local bus services into the city centre.

Anyway, back to my point. When I input Liverpool and Chester into the query on thetrainline I was amazed to see that the fare has taken an hike in price from £2.90 on December 4, 2010 (which was when I last travelled to Chester with Merseyrail) to £4.25. Remembering this is with a railcard.

Can anyone tell me what on earth is going on here? Why has Merseyrail increased the price of this ticket by £1.35, whilst most other services have only increased their fares only slightly?

 

[Polarbear]

It's because Merseyrail have withdrawn all off peak day returns. The only options now available are the Anytime returns, and/or the Daysaver ticket.

Extract from Merseyrail's website;

From the 5th of September 2010 cheap day return tickets will be replaced with an all day rail ticket, which allows unlimited off peak travel across all Merseyrail Wirral and Northern line services. You can purchase your day saver ticket at any Merseyrail ticket office or any ticket vending machine.

The Daysaver ticket does attract a railcard discount, but it's only valid on Merseyrail services.

 

[c259]

It's because Merseyrail have withdrawn all off peak day returns. The only options now available are the Anytime returns, and/or the Daysaver ticket.

Extract from Merseyrail's website;



The Daysaver ticket does attract a railcard discount, but it's only valid on Merseyrail services.

I thought this might be the case but as the last time I travelled to Chester (in December) a return ticket was only £2.90 I thought there might have been some other explaination.

 

[mathmo]

The £4.25 ticket is an Anytime ticket (though only valid after 10am on weekdays due to the railcard minimum fare). I have no idea how much the Daysaver ticket costs.

 

[strange6]

getting rid of the off-peaks is quite a massive increase in fare. I noticed that a couple of weeks ago when i purchased a return fare from Wigan NW to Lime Street. Was 4.90 , now 6.90. Absolutely scandalous

 

[nedchester]

Even the peak has increased £4.80 for an Anytime before January and now £6.45!!

Also the Day Saver is not advertised at unmanned stations so punters travelling of peak are being conned into buying Anytime tickets. Very poor.

Emailed Merseyrail at the end of December - no reply yet!

 

[tony_mac]

you can't use the daysave from Broadgreen, it's Merseyrail only.

I thought that there still was a CDR on that route - it is £3.05 on eastcoast site.

 

[c259]

you can't use the daysave from Broadgreen, it's Merseyrail only.

I thought that there still was a CDR on that route - it is £3.05 on eastcoast site.

I understand that. The point I was trying to make is that I don't understand why Merseyrail have dropped off-peak tickets. According to thetrainline there is no option of an off-peak at, what used to be, off-peak times.

If I was to travel with my railcard at 11am on a Thursday, for example, I would still have to purchase an Anytime ticket, which seems rediculous.

 

[plannerman]

On a slightly different topic, I occasionally take my nephew from Chester to Bache just for a ride on the train (he's only 2). The single fare is £1.50 - but the retun is £1.30??????

In fairness, the booking staff at Chester know about it, and will offer a return even if you're only going one way. I've got no idea how that anomaly makes sense though...

 

[vjm1975]

The same situation Overpool to Ellesmere Port. Single £1.50 return £1.30

Before the fare increases in January a single was £1.00 and return £1.20. So no idea how they put up the single fare by 50%.

Daysaver tickets are now £4.50 for all areas, and one area is £3.30. Both up 10p on last years. These do not show on National Rail or Trainline. They do show on Merseyrails site in the Journey Planner, along with the Anytime fares, however their site also claims the Anytime return fare from Ellesmere Port to Liverpool is £6.45 when it is £5.00 and the anytime return from Capenhurst to Liverpool being £4.80 when it has now gone up to £6.45, thanks to the removal of the Any Route Permitted ticket, which would of been £5.00, from this station.

 

[wibble]

I don't think Merseyrail are entirely to blame! The PTE would've had the a big say in the decision to remove Off Peak tickets.

 

[island]

Oh, and in case you were planning to, don't use thetrainline to buy tickets; it's always cheaper to buy directly from any TOC.

 

[c259]

Oh, and in case you were planning to, don't use thetrainline to buy tickets; it's always cheaper to buy directly from any TOC.

Understood. I only use thetrainline to find out the cost of fares before travelling. Especially with the recent fare increases, I've been using it slightly more just to find out how much the fare has increased for any journeys I'm going to make over the coming days.

 

[prod_pep]

Understood. I only use thetrainline to find out the cost of fares before travelling. Especially with the recent fare increases, I've been using it slightly more just to find out how much the fare has increased for any journeys I'm going to make over the coming days.

You could use the journey planner on the National Rail site for the same purpose. It's never failed me thus far!

 

[GodAtum]

getting rid of the off-peaks is quite a massive increase in fare. I noticed that a couple of weeks ago when i purchased a return fare from Wigan NW to Lime Street. Was 4.90 , now 6.90. Absolutely scandalous

Thats shocking, I wish there were rules that said TOCs had to offer off peak tickets!

 

[185]

People were wondering why Merseyrail upped the fares?

----to make money. It's disgusting that Merseytravel, the PTE agreed to these fare rises of up to 65-70%... with their yellow house colours it's like being in a banana republic with these ridiculous way-beyond VAT rises.

I am about to write a formal letter to the ORR, as I think Merseyrail have tried to baffle people in authority by introducing confusing ticketing and terminology which makes tickets sound cheaper, when they really aren't. I genuinely believe they have created a fare rise using loopholes, which is way beyond any permitted regulated fare rise.

 

[OwlMan]

getting rid of the off-peaks is quite a massive increase in fare. I noticed that a couple of weeks ago when i purchased a return fare from Wigan NW to Lime Street. Was 4.90 , now 6.90. Absolutely scandalous

When was it £4-90?
In December 2008 it was £7-10 & Feb 2009 £7-50 so it appears to have reduced

Peter

 

[tony_mac]

It was down to £6.50 in Jan 2009.
I don't think it has been £4.90 for some years

 

[nedchester]

Even the peak has increased £4.80 for an Anytime before January and now £6.45!!

Also the Day Saver is not advertised at unmanned stations so punters travelling of peak are being conned into buying Anytime tickets. Very poor.

Emailed Merseyrail at the end of December - no reply yet!

Well no reply to my email of 28/12/10. Email just sent to Passenger focus.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Well no reply to my email of 28/12/10. Email just sent to Passenger focus.

Passenger focus replied today and have told me Merseyrail will reply by the end of the week.........
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
and the reply did come thus:

Thank you for email, and my sincere apologies for the delay in responding. This has been caused by an unprecedented amount of correspondence being received in this office, as a result of the adverse weather conditions during December.

I have spoken to our Fares Manager, with regards to the issues that you have raised.

Our Fares Manager informs me that the correct fare from Capenhurst to Liverpool is £6.45 for an anytime return. However, the Day Saver fare, which gives unlimited off peak travel on our network, is priced at £4.50. This is available from the ticket machine, and our Fares Manager advises me that he is doing everything possible to have the Day Saver fare moved from its current location on the ticket machine, to the homepage, to prevent any confusion.

We appreciated, that particularly in view of the current economic climate, the increase in fares which took place at the start of January, was going to be difficult for rail users.

However, the additional revenue generated from such increases is used to make improvements to services. At Merseyrail, for example, we are very aware that the age of our current rolling stock impacts directly upon the reliability of services, and we have started to look at replacing our fleet over the coming years.

For a long time, the Government looked towards tax payers to fund, in part, subsidies to make improvements to rail services, but the current and last Governments have decided that the emphasis for funding should be on train companies and rail users.

We do, nevertheless, fully appreciate your frustration and would like to offer our sincere apologies.

Thank you for taking the time to write, and for bringing these matters to our attention. Feedback from customers is extremely important to us, as it enables us to gain an insight into customers experiences, so that we can make changes wherever possible, to improve the level of service or facilities that we provide.



I did notice today that the Day Saver is now on the main selection so OK for that.

Still explanation as to why the Anytime fare has gone up 34% at the January fares change though. Just a load of flannel as expected.....

 

[supervalkoinen]

Still fuming at Merseyrail's handling of works today.
Won't bore you all with the shambles of communication and bus replacements (Chester-Hooton and Rock Ferry-Ham Sq). Suffice to say that their own website contradicted itself in terms of disrupted / normal service.
Then the actual service matched neither printed timetables nor screen displays. Ho hum.

 

[prod_pep]

The piece of spin about using increased revenue to supply service improvements is a flat-out lie. If they did, they would have acquired at least some of the 15 stored 508s at Telford and Eastleigh and used them to combat the overcrowding on the Southport line (giving 6-cars all day).

I find that statement extremely irritating having used the standing-room-only Southport line this afternoon.

 

[nedchester]

Still fuming at Merseyrail's handling of works today.
Won't bore you all with the shambles of communication and bus replacements (Chester-Hooton and Rock Ferry-Ham Sq). Suffice to say that their own website contradicted itself in terms of disrupted / normal service.
Then the actual service matched neither printed timetables nor screen displays. Ho hum.

Indeed. Travelled yesetrday from Capenhurst to Chester (for onward travel to Birmingham) no notices on the platform to inform passengers that the train were not running although obviously there were some people waiting for the buses.

Needed to go Liverpool today decided to go from Little Sutton to avoid having to do two buses. At Rock Ferry RPIs were gripping as people were coming off the platform to get onto the buses causing hassle as people had to get tickets out etc before getting on the bus. The return journey was somewhat better though and I caught an earlier train than planned to get me home.

 

[142094]

The piece of spin about using increased revenue to supply service improvements is a flat-out lie. If they did, they would have acquired at least some of the 15 stored 508s at Telford and Eastleigh and used them to combat the overcrowding on the Southport line (giving 6-cars all day).

One of the standard soundbites trotted out to the general public who are assumed to know nothing about the railways. When Northern use it it irritates me, as hardly anythign has been spent in the North east on new stock or station improvements since the franchise began.