Reader Comments:

Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.

• George Davidson, Newport, wales

  Why don't we have a simple fare system? What the railways want to do is use price to control demand for peak time services. All that needs to be done is colour code each timetable. A pink background would indicate a train charged at peak rate and yellow could be cheap rate. If a passenger was on a train that crossed the peak and cheap rate zones, they would pay a "shoulder" fare. When special events take place causing increased demand, the Companies could simply change the colour code for particular services.
  
  I would scrap all this book ahead nonsense which surely dissuades many people from using the trains. This also leads to people having to hang around in stations seeing trains leave for their destinations because they can only travel on a specific service. This much cause much resentment amongst the travelling public.
  
  We also see that some routes charge more per mile than others and often this seems to be because the more expensive routes have a lack of rolling stock.

• J Hutton, Oxford, UK

  Can ATOC explain the logic of it being significantly cheaper to buy a return ticket from Oxford to Swindon combined with a return ticket from Swindon to Cardiff than a return Oxford to Cardiff? All off-peak - and the time restrictions are less if you split the journey! The only logic is that if the train is very delayed you get a lower refund. Ticket machines are useless as they have their own hidden time restrictions - at least those in Oxford do. The ticket staff do a brilliant job - and don't charge for using a credit card.

• Steve, Kuwait City

  Quite simply, ATOC are getting away with running an 'airline-style' railway. My personal thanks go, therefore, to First Scotrail who allowed me, a 1st class 'Virgin Service Only' ticket-holder to board their Edinburgh train at Aviemore, when the Virgin stock 'broke down the previous evening'. Of course, the BR days are long-gone, as are most of her train depots, so no 'Bubblecar replacement'! They saved me from a 3hr bus journey that didn't happen due to the replacement bus arriving already full, and pulled me back from the brink of never travelling on the railway again. Always remember: The Tories made it like this....

• Chris Reynell, Longstock, Hampshire.

  It can be confusing to find the "best deal" and I feel sorry for some folk who are stung by high fares on the day muttering "that's the last time they travel by train".
  
  Sometimes I end up with the wrong ticket or wrong train, the ticket office and on-board staff usually sort things out.
  
  Please keep the station staff, a ticket machine on a cold platform can be challenging!
  

• Joel Kosminsky, London, Britain

  ATOC is never wrong, nor are their members. When they are wrong, see previous sentence. When they finally admit they're wrong, it's someone else's fault, but time will show they were right in the first place, so ATOC will say after another 'unprompted' fares revamp which only moves the goalposts.

• H Harvey, Birmingham

  s a very long term user of rail I can do nought but support the findings that rail fares are confusing.
  Up until privatisation I could travel anwhere in the UK and understand the fare system and was totally confident I had the correct ticket/fare for the journey I wished to make.
  These days I DO NOT HAVE THAT CONFIDENCE WHATSOEVER
  Any ticket I purchase I have to rely on Ticket Office to sell me the correct ticket but sit on the train waiting in fear that the guard would tell me it was not valid with consequent embarrasment and having to pay some exorbitant sum which I probably would not have available.
  The other possibility is I would try to get a 'cheap' fare and find there were none available on Internet then the next day call at the ticket office and be given a cheap fare.
  Now of course ticket offices are closing so what do I do. Go down to the station and find the ticket issuing machine is totally confusing and refuses to answer my questions(fears) or just does not work at all.
  My choice then is to get on the train and try not to look guilty when asked for my ticket fearing I shall be prosecuted for non payment and my name published on station noticeboards.
  The result is that even I a confirmed rail user are 'wary' about using rail - a statement I should never have to make.
  If that is my opinion then what is the opinion of all those others who use rail rarely or have not done so for a long time- hardly encouraging rail travel.
  It is no use ATOC disagreeing with WHICH PASSENGERS KNOW DIFFERENTLY
  Rail passenger growth would be twice as great if the issues above could be resolved

• Tony Pearce, Reading, UK

  I always buy my tickets at our local Ticket Office, stating the exact date and time of my travel and which trains I want out of Paddington on my return. I don't use the automatic machines except for very short local journeys.
  
  Tonight I was just about to catch a train (6.10 pm) which weren't covered by my tickets at Paddington, but was directed at the last minute to a different train that actually got me faster to Reading than the one I planned.
  
  If I can make mistakes and I've checked at Ticket Offices, and I think I'm intelligent and know railways ( just returned from a week on SNCF), how much easier is it for the occassional traveller to get it wrong.

• Bill, Millom, UK

  It's about time that the rail industry in its widest meaning woke up to the fact that the labyrinthine conditions associated with travel by rail are in one respect like the law of the land - no-one can know all of the rules. Even rail professionals don't have a good working knowledge of all permitted routes and trains according to recent reports. ATOC say that "the vast majority of (passengers) have no problem" with the current system. Is this because most are travelling on a routine journey to work or another regular trip? Perhaps it's time to give some simplicity to the prospective passenger and price train travel by mileage travelled on the basis of pence per kilometre. This could be at a flat rate for non-intercity second class travel with a multiplier for first class and another multiplier for intercity. This would enable lay persons to understand what their money will buy and may reduce costs to the industry by removing layers of backroom finance wizards (or electonic programmes). If a fares rise were to be required it would only be a case of raising the basic travel rate and all others would automatically be set by the multipliers. It is recognised that more stock would be needed to cope with demand but some of the extra costs could be offset by the possibility to carry out maintenance between peaks at dayshift rates instead of those enhanced for night work which is also statistically less productive and less safe.