MPs told of rail tickets 'mistrust'

Smoke and mirrors. In their bid to extract the maximum from passengers at any given time, the rail firms have made it just about impossible to tell if you are getting the right fare, or even what a ticket allows you to do. Of course if you make a mistake they jump all over you and you are treated like a criminal. No. it's not yet happened to me but friends have been caught out. I frequently find myself driving, because with two people in a car it's far cheaper than rail. Even off peak.
I would prefer to use the train but it's become a luxury option. You also have to add the cost of station parking at the station and transport at your destination to the ticket price. There seems to be a policy of pricing people off the railways because they can't handle the traffic.

I have just planned a journey from Huntindon to Thurso (North-East Scotland) If I buy one ticket it is £145. If I buy Huntingdon to Inverness it is £39 and Inverness to Wick is £11.90. Same trains, samed date and times andnearly £100 saving just by splitting the ticket(s). Would they have told me that at the Ticket Office? Probably not!

The rail ticket system has got to be overhauled and standardised. The price for the same journey particularly on inter-city routes depends on when you purchase in advance, what trains you use, what time you travel, how many are travelling, which way the wind is blowing etc etc. We need Peak and Off Peak fares priced competitively. All this nonsense about buying two singles instead of a return and split company tickets is so confusing. Rail discount cards should be dumped and discounts automatic for OAP's . London Midland introduced a scheme where you could travel in the school holidays anywhere on their network for 10 pound + kids 1 pound. The trains were packed, it was so successful they scrapped it !

The public get the rail system that they want. Look at it this way, when John Major was elected as PM he pledged to privatise British Rail and that is what we got. Private enterprise is only interested in profit. If you complain about the prices of tickets please remember that is it Government Policy to increase rail fares so that 75% of the cost of running the railways is born by the fare payer and not the government. Under BR it was less than 50%, btw it hasn't reached 75% yet so expect more rises. The McNulty review recommends closure of ticket offices and removal of staff on trains and at stations in order to save money and the government intend to implement it. If £1 is spent on roads it is termed as investment but if that £1 is spent on railways it is subsidy!!!

The Rail system is pathetic.
I've reserved seats on journeys in the past, but found the seats occupied when I entered the carriage the seats were already occupied and the passengers refused to move. I asked a rail employee to move them but with no success. The reserved tickets were still on the seats. So I paid for something I didn't get.
A few days before one journey I was to make I enquired about the cost of the ticket. When I went to pay on the day an helpful ticket seller told me I had been given the wrong figure. I actually paid 40% of the original quoted price.