St Albans hit by huge hikes in rail fares

11:26am Tuesday 6th January 2009

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HARD-PRESSED commuters travelling from St Albans are bearing the brunt of some of the biggest hikes in rail fares the country has seen.

Rail operator First Capital Connect announced its decision in November to raise its regulated fares (season and peak day tickets) by six per cent sparking uproar among commuters and local politicians who labelled the inflation busting prices as 'completely unjustified'.

But with the new fares coming into effect on Thursday, commuters were outraged to learn that they would have to cough up even more to get to work.

Those using the Thameslink Line connecting St Albans City, Harpenden and Radlett to London are being forced to pay nearly one third higher than the average six per cent rise in regulated fares.

Commuters have seen the London all-zone season ticket rise by £240, from £3040 to £3280 - an increase of 7.8 per cent - and claim they are being ripped off given the upcoming disruption they face over the next three years as a result of the Thameslink long-term improvements which will mean cuts in some of its services.

IT consultant Nigel Spencer of Oster Street, St Albans, who regularly uses the FCC service from the city station, said: "We have had above average increases in the past two years and the actual service provided is being dramatically reduced over the next two months yet we are being expected to pay more again - it's not justifiable."

First Capital Connect has not repsonded to the Review's queries but has insisted to commuters that the six per cent figure is only an average to be applied across its entire network, adding that it can raise the cost of individual fares by up to 11 per cent - five per cent above the rate of inflation.

Elaine Holt, managing director of FCC, has told Mr Spencer that the high rises for St Albans commuters are balanced by lower fares on the Great Northern route from Kings Cross to Stevenage which saw higher rises last year.

Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Sandy Walkington described the rising cost of rail tickets as another stealth tax on local residents.

He said: "At a time when everyone is financially harder-pressed than they have been for a generation, when we are supposed to be encouraging green modes of travel, FCC has some serious questions to answer.

“Where are they charging less than six per cent? Why are other areas benefiting at St Albans expense? It is not as if St Albans rail travellers are being subsidised by the taxpayer. "Local rail services are already hugely profitable with First Capital Connect paying the Government nearly one billion pounds in premium over the lifetime of its franchise. So these fare increases are simply another stealth tax on local residents, when on pure economics there is no reason for any fare increase at all.”

Mr Walkington also contrasted the fares St Albans folk are expected to pay with those in Gordon Brown's constituency arguing that his fellow Scotsmen travelling similar distances by rail do so at almost half the price.

He pointed out that Burntisland in Fife in the Prime Minister’s Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath constituency is exactly the same distance from Edinburgh as St Albans is from London St Pancras, but yet St Albans commuters pay more than 40 percent more to travel to work.