ScotRail was brought under Scottish Government control on April Fools’ Day 2022.
It has taken a little over two years, but the joke has finally landed.
The national train operator is going to reintroduce peak rail fare prices while simultaneously running a reduced service that doesn’t cater for people who want to travel at peak times.
On top of that, the price hike was announced with a straight face despite the current timetable leaving the majority of Tayside cut off well before 10pm.
Because if you live in Dundee and want to catch a show at the Edinburgh Fringe then you better hope it finishes before the curtain calls on the 9.29pm train.
An internationally renowned festival on our doorstep and folk north of Fife need to be out by the watershed.
You can also forget about that week night gig in Glasgow, the doors will barely have opened before the last direct train home at 7.37pm.
Travelling from Aberdeen to Dundee? Not after 9.06pm you’re not.
And if you’re living in Glenrothes and fancy a night out in Dundee, well your Friday night finishes at 8.44pm.
Trains can’t get people to work on time
Reintroducing peak fares at a time when a commuter can’t even properly avail of the service is nothing short of ludicrous.
Take, for example, a person with a standard 9-5 job living in Perth and working in Dundee.
That’s a 20 minute commute by train between the two cities.
But thanks to the pranksters at ScotRail, a person now needs to leave at 6.58am to arrive at their job on time.
After work, the first train home is 6.54pm.
Forty minutes return has become a four hour slog.
Of course, if the person has an understanding employer and a job that allows it, they could get the 8.47am train in the morning and the 4.47pm home at night – making up the missed hours in their own time.
For that luxury (of consistently missing work) ScotRail wants to increase their current fare by around a third – from £10.80 to £15.70 return.
Why would commuters use an unreliable service?
The trial to remove peak fares was brought in last October to try and entice people out of their cars and onto trains.
It’s now been scrapped after less than 12 months despite a 6.8% increase in passenger numbers.
The government were hoping for 10%.
It’s good to dream, but perhaps Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop needs a reality check.
People will not come back to the railways en masse until the Scottish Government can convince them the service is reliable.
Right now, it isn’t.
They must also make trains an economically viable way for commuters to travel.
Currently, they’re not.
Ticket prices in Scotland are extortionate
It is somewhat astounding that three months into a trial to promote train usage, the government raised rail fares by 8.7%.
They raised prices while running an initiative to lower prices.
A return ticket from Perth to Dundee went from £9.90 to £10.80.
When peak fares return on September 27 it will have increased from £14.40 to £15.70 per day.
Nearly £16 for a train that won’t get a person to work on time.
It’s hard to see how the Scottish Government has convinced themselves this is a blueprint for changing the habits of society.
By 2030, parliament aims to reduce car journey kilometres by 20% to meet climate change targets.
That for net-zero they need an effective and efficient train service.
They must be kidding themselves.
Conversation