The UK is, and I could be wrong but I doubt it, the WORST country in the world to travel. Between London and Newcastle is some 310 miles yet a single train ticket can cost up to £120 and this is a few days in advance. So your looking at around £200+ for a return to London, yet in some countries you can travel round the whole of it for less than £5 (this may have changed since the 1950s but my argument still stands). Prices in the UK are too high and the government has to do something about it.
The Great Scam
One of the best things the rail services has in this country is the ‘cheap tickets’ that they advertise long in advance yet when you go to book the ticket there are no cheaper ones available. It turns out you had to have booked the cheap ticket whilst you where still in your mothers whom. But when you bring this up to them they don’t care, because they know they have only set aside a very very small number of seats.
This continues and the more you need to travel in the UK the more you are robbed by the rail operators who seem to be able to charge anything they want, and we have no say in it.
Why does the UK government keep sticking its nose in and allowing companies who simply rip off the British people and gives them a helping hand. OK, yes this is a rant, but I have one for you. A few weeks ago I wanted to go to York one way, I was told £23.10. So I asked what would the return be? She said £23.40. Now you can see the difference can’t you. It only costs 30p for a return trip yet they wont make the one way cheaper. So who can you call, who can you go to? Not the government they’re only interest in making sure that companies know that at any stage they can nationalise companies that don’t deliver.
Nationalising
Well its obvious the reason why National Express has had the Northern Line taken from it is because they didn’t have enough customers. The reason why they don’t have enough customers is because they’re prices are too high. They need to reduce fares (I mean we are in a recession right? or am I wrong about that too) and they need to encourage people to travel around the UK.
The best and most enjoyable way of doing that was via the train but the cost of this is just to high and now the companies owned by the government, again, so what now, what are the motives they government is going to use to get US back on track (ok sorry for that.
Is it just me or do we live in a hypocritical world. I find it a little weird that when a company is nationalised in the UK there is a solid argument as to why the government has to reown the company. But when this happens in South America there is nothing but screams of socialism from the far right newspaper publications.
They say that the tax payer is going to benefit, and people wont lose their jobs, but how do we benefit. Fares are not cheaper, we have spent money nationalising and then trying to resell the Northern Line with money we don’t have. And when a new operator comes in they are going to cull the workforce, and increase fares – and it is not like the airlines, they’re not having to pay for fuel.
Solution
The government has to realise that if they are part of the ‘free market’ and are going to follow like blind dogs the Chicago School of Economics moronic model of ‘free market society’ then they just have to accept that companies are going to under, simple.
The only way we learn from our mistakes is if we allow ourselves to learn from them, when we nationalise companies we give many companies a get out of jail free card. National Express has not been fined, their board has not been brought up charges, and yet its the every day normal tax payer that once again has to bailout failure.
We have to understand that if companies fail there are reasons for it, the government has not mentioned any reasons why they have had to take this back and they have not proposed any solutions. It’s the summer, reduce rail prices drastically and more people will travel all over the UK, that’s the solution. The government has to stop penalising the tax and they have to stop using the tax payer as mum and dads purse.
*am not not for or against free market but I am against the CSoE and what they have done in countries all over the world. Am just pissed that if I want to go to london for the day it will cost me £100!
