Increase in Fares

[grainne whale]

I've just heard that the travel pass tickets are to increase :
http://intranet/Noticeboard/Lists/St...FStaff%20News1

[berneyarms]

That link doesn't work - it looks like an internal one?

The NTA fare determinations for 2015 are due this month so I'd expect it fairly soon. They've set up a process whereby we get to know in October what the fares will be for the following calendar year.

[Mark Gleeson]

If you have the 2015 fares before the determination has been issued then there is a serious question as to the NTA's integrity

[Jamie2k9]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

If you have the 2015 fares before the determination has been issued then there is a serious question as to the NTA's integrity

Surly we can all guess and all fare rises will be in the range of 6-8% as per.

[berneyarms]

The revised ticket prices for tickets dated 1 December onwards are on the taxsaver website.

http://www.taxsaver.ie/News/test/

http://www.taxsaver.ie/Global/Taxsav...20Nov%2014.pdf

Yet we do not have an NTA Fare Determination Report published as yet? Something is seriously wrong here.

[Mark Gleeson]

We are making some calls here

The fares Irish Rail are quoting are in line with what I would expect them to be, so look accurate

[James Howard]

So around 5% is to be expected with CPI inflation at around 0.5% for the last full year? Wasn't the subvention maintained for next year? These numbers really don't add up at all.

[berneyarms]

We really need to see the NTA reports - I for one certainly do not expect a fare increase that is more than 1% over inflation in percentage terms.

I think the passengers have paid more than their fair share at this stage.

[Jamie2k9]

We really need to see the NTA reports - I for one certainly do not expect a fare increase that is more than 1% over inflation in percentage terms.

I think the passengers have paid more than their fair share at this stage.

Weather we have paid our share there is still the small problem of a €16 million gap in funding.

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by Jamie2k9

Weather we have paid our share there is still the small problem of a €16 million gap in funding.

And from where are you pulling this figure?

[Jamie2k9]

2013 annual accounts and it was actually 16.4 million. One would hope that it has reduced this year.

[berneyarms]

I would hardly be quoting figures from a year ago in terms of a fares proposal for 2015. We need to see how the position has moved since then, given that the CIE Group have already received a large fare increase in 2014, wage restraint has been implemented (for over a year for the bus companies), and further cost reduction measures have been implemented, such as shorter trains.

My fear in all this is that the LEAP rollout and simplification of fares is resulting in excessive fare increases. The companies are being forced to bear the changes (such as the extension of child fares to 19 year olds) with no additional state funding.

If this is the case the NTA need to be tackled on it.

[Mark Gleeson]

The story behind the fare increases doesn't really stack up

Oil is at its lowest price in 4 years!
Payroll costs are down
Passenger numbers are up

So really IE should not have to request an increase

[Jamie2k9]

I would hardly be quoting figures from a year ago in terms of a fares proposal for 2015. We need to see how the position has moved since then, given that the CIE Group have already received a large fare increase in 2014, wage restraint has been implemented (for over a year for the bus companies), and further cost reduction measures have been implemented, such as shorter trains.

I agree but realistically they are still going to be somewhere around 10 million in the red this year. The wage changes only started for IE and the real effect won't be felt until 2015. They have shorter trains etc but they are not as short as IE would of liked.

[James Howard]

I agree with Mark on this one. They might have shorter trains but almost every train is packed. If anything they should be running longer trains as the overcrowding has to be driving custom away.

If I had to guess, the price increase is because they have commuters over a barrel and can get away with it. The reality for me is that I have no choice and so have to cough up. I had to buy a monthly pass for cash a couple of months back and when I did the numbers it was 10 euro cheaper than buying day returns for each of the days I was travelling.

A 2% increase sounds about right - that's still 4 times the CPI. I had an 11% increase last year and if this is correct, they'll be having another 6% this year. That will be close to a 25% increase over three years when general inflation has been less than 5%.

[Eddie]

As an annual Dublin bus and Dart ticket user, I thought I'd just post the changes that have occurred in the last 3 years and while we're at it, let's predict the next two.

2011: €1,230
2012: €1,420 (15.5% increase)
2013: €1,560 (9.9% increase)
2014: €1,710 (9.6% increase)
2015: €1,864? (assuming a 9% increase)
2016: €2,032? (assuming another 9% increase)

That's a 39% increase in the 3 years from 2011 to 2014, and it could be a 65% increase over 5 years if my extrapolations over the next 2 years turn out to be true.

On a separate issue, there seems to be an error with the monthly figure between Dublin and Cork. Every other route the monthly figure is 10% of the annual. Dublin to Cork is 22.7%.

[Mark Gleeson]

Dublin Cork has always been an abnormality

The annual rate is the same as the all route annual, so basically if you travel 100+miles you should get an all route annual as distinct from a point to point.

[Mark Gleeson]

NTA has refused to issue a copy of the determination to us despite the fact it is in the wild somewhere already

We may have a formal statement from the NTA by Tuesday next

[berneyarms]

Thanks for the update Mark.

[grainne whale]

My employer has given me notice that my Taxsaver Shorthop (Commuter Rail) will cost €1420 this year, so it looks like the increase is done and dusted.