Money, Money, Money!
Jonathan Sheppard is reminded of ABBA when faced with his train bill.
15 Sep 2011, 15:30
Trains: Worth the money?
Aint it sad
And still there never seems to be a single penny left for me
That’s too bad”
It’s funny how the lyrics above have been running through my head ever since the Transport Secretary suggested that trains are a “rich man’s toy”. Forking out £814.10 every month for my season ticket makes me all too aware about what you have to earn to travel on public transport in this country. In fact when you take into account that both my wife and I commute we pay over £18,000 a year for the privilege. Now to pay for that you have to earn over £24,000 as a family unit, before tax, just to get to your place of work. Then of course, come the New Year that cost will go up by a further 8 percent. So I have to agree with the Transport Secretary, using public transport is becoming the preserve of people who have rather well paid jobs.
I am lucky. On the whole I usually get a seat when I travel. Many people pay similar prices for the luxury of standing in conditions that we wouldn’t allow livestock to travel in.
Yes of course there are bargain fares that you can pick up, but certainly not if you have to travel at a time that will get you to your place of work during what any reasonable person would regard as core working hours.
For some people their biggest commitment will be their rent or indeed their mortgage, but for a growing number it is now the cost of getting to work. There will come a tipping point when people decide the commute to work is not worth it and they will accept a job on a much lower salary much closer to home, which will save both money and indeed time. I suspect that is a decision many people have already taken.
So did the Transport Secretary make a gaffe? I don’t think so, but what I and other commuters want to know is should we expect the price of travelling on the trains during peak hours to continue on the ‘track’ they are travelling? If so maybe I ..
.."must leave, I'll have to go
To Las Vegas or Monaco
And win a fortune in a game, my life will never be the same"
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I should think it would more likely remind you of the ABBA song "Elaine" (which is the flip side of my "Supertrouper" 45).
You hate, you scream, you swear
15/09/2011 16:19And still you never reach him
You curse, you try to scare
But you can never teach him
It's a dead end street
They tie your hands and tie your feet
And the street is narrow
A nowhere lane
A nowhere train for Elaine, Elaine, Elaine