Anne Main Deplores Government Acceptance of Fare Hikes for Commuters

Anne Main met with Elaine Holt of First Capital Connect to discuss the national media headlines that a secret deal had been done by the company with Ministers of the Government.

Anne Main met with Elaine Holt of First Capital Connect to discuss the national media headlines that a secret deal had been done by the company with Ministers of the Government. She also obtained answers to questions she raised at an earlier meeting relating to the alteration of ticketing for St Albans commuters.

Miss Holt maintained that it was not a secret deal with the Government and that the Government was fully aware that the company 'had always intended to do this' (increase passenger fares) and that it was 'part of their base bid'. She also admitted that 'there was a revenue benefit to doing this'. Miss Holt said that First Capital Connect (FCC) had been the second highest bidder to the Government and that meant they had agreed to pay £808 million over nine years back to the Government. Miss Holt said the company had been listening to customer concerns over the ticketing arrangements, raised by Anne last week, and she outlined some limited proposals designed to alleviate some of the concerns raised by passengers, namely: Introducing a carnet system from St Albans only which would allow passengers to travel back during peak times, this will come into effect from September, restrictions will be removed at the Radlett station and on the GN side of the route up to Welwyn Garden City, this would be reviewed in six months, there was to be no relaxation of the rules for the school holidays, but she agreed to review this in October.

Anne said, 'I am pleased that the company (FCC) has at least listened to the concerns that I have raised on this matter. However despite these limited improvements the harsh reality is that for many people there is still a significant hike in the cost of local train travel. I am particularly angry with the Government for encouraging and accepting a bid that had large fare hikes factored into it. The Government has clawed back £808 million, in the full knowledge that this money would be extracted from my long suffering commuters. The Government has also perversely put far less resources into our train service than our roads, yet it maintains it wants people to get out of their cars. I will be pressing the Government to implement the ThamesLink 2000 scheme which seems to have been completely mothballed; this Government needs to demonstrate a clear commitment to public transport and particularly our railways.

I am furious that this Government was prepared to line its own pockets by knowingly sanctioning fare hikes and at the same time accepting a 20% reduction in off-peak passengers, so much for their protestations that they want people to leave their cars at home. I also want to know if when this 'deal' with FCC was done, did all the other bidders also include fare hikes as part of their base bid, and I shall be asking to meet with the Minister to seek clarification and an explanation as to why my commuters are being so disadvantaged. I intend to press him for an early commitment to delivering ThamesLink 2000 as this will be the only way to solve the severe over crowding on our local trains.'"