The rail industry and consumer watchdog Transport Focus have announced plans for a national consultation on a potential 'root and branch' overhaul of the outdated national ticketing system.
Rail operators body, the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) said any of the consultation's recommendations will have to be revenue neutral; however it is hoping to outline plans for an easier to use range of fares to boost consumer confidence.
The sector has been beset by complaints about ticketing for some years now, with a whole spin-off industry dedicated to helping passengers find their way through the complex frameworks covering a staggering 55 million different fares to find the cheapest one.
The announcement follows new research by KPMG which shows that only one in three (34%) rail customers are very confident they bought the best value ticket and fewer than one in three (29%) were very satisfied with the experience of buying their ticket.
Issues that make progress difficult include what industry sees as 'outdated' government regulation which could dramatically disrupt finally balanced franchise arrangements.
The RDG said: 'Well-intentioned but ultimately counterproductive regulations underpinning rail fares have remained unchanged from the mid-1990s, when the 1995 Ticketing Settlement Agreement spelled out how fares should be set and sold. It assumes all customers will buy their ticket by visiting a ticket office and sets out in detail how customers must be able to buy a ticket from each of the 2,500 stations in Britain to every other station in the country.
'Updated, fit-for-purpose fares regulation would enable the right changes for the long-term.'
Examples of long-standing anomalies include:
- ‘Through-ticket peak-time premiums’, where a customer takes a journey involving more than one leg. The first leg is on a peak-time train and the second leg is on an off-peak service. The customer might be charged a peak-time fare for the whole journey because regulation means train companies have to offer one through-fare.
- Inflexible 7-day, monthly or annual season tickets, where smart ticketing could offer better products to passengers who work part time. Because smart schemes have been required to sell the same products as the paper tickets, this is often not possible.
KPMG has also been commissioned to identify what customers need from a railway in order to frame the consultation. These include:
- Being transparent, predictable, fair, trusted, easier to use and value for money for customers;
- Offering integration with other modes of transport;
- Offering personalised, flexible fares which best serve customers in different markets;
- Enabling growth, innovation, efficiency and choice; and,
- Providing funding for investment and avoiding the need for additional taxpayer subsidy.
Transport Focus chief executive Anthony Smith said: 'Fares and ticketing systems need to suit the way we travel now – there is a huge demand for smarter ticketing.
'Opening the debate on reform options is overdue. The ability to buy cheaper tickets for legs of a journey, so called split ticketing, is fast eroding trust in advertised fares. Any future regulation must support sensible, proportionate reform which can underpin change while preserving essential consumer protection.'
Paul Plummer, chief executive of the RDG, said: 'As part of the industry’s plan for change, we want to work in partnership to drive root and branch reform of well-meaning but outdated fares regulation. Working together, we want to develop proposals to reform fares and regulation to make it easier for our customers to get the right ticket, enhancing trust in the system and supporting continued investment to improve the service.
'Unpicking the regulation of a £10bn-a-year fares system that underpins such a vital public service means there are no quick-and-easy solutions. The change that’s needed won’t be easy and the industry doesn’t have all the answers, which is why we want to hear views from passengers, communities and businesses in all parts of the country.'
The consultation runs from 4 June to 10 September.
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