A lot of the TOCs were already under national control. But the problem is with the system in general; its just broken. You cite ticket pricing as one insanity, but I also hate how poorly connected buses, and trains are. I wish we had a unified ticketing system so I could get a monthly pass to cover both train, and bus.
For example, I’m lucky I can get a direct bus to work. But if I didn’t, I’d have to get a bus to the train station, then to train to a town close to work, then another bus. Now I have to pay for a train season ticket (which costs an absolute fortune), and a monthly bus pass.
Or I could get a car. I’m very reluctant too but public transport is so broken in the UK that I often think it would be so much easier.
The interconnection between the modes of transport is another great point. At least starting with having train transfers be more coordinated (since they wouldn’t be run by different companies) is a good start.
Unsure how coordinating all the different privat bus networks would go but definitely something the government should prioritise too. If the system can actually work then hopefully that means we can get people out of cars.
I wish we had a unified ticketing system so I could get a monthly pass to cover both train, and bus.
It’s not just the ticketing system.
Anecdotally, I needed to commute around 130 km from the Netherlands to Belgium for like half a year 3-4 days a week. The cheapest option (over buses, train, everything) was to rent a car each week from Avis. Eurostar, NS and SCNB should go to hell, how is me renting a car and fueling it less expensive than a train seat for the literal same route? In the Benelux?
And adding on top of that, the first train of the day has had a non-connection where the connecting train left 3 minutes earlier than the one taking me there, so that also limited how early could I get to where I needed to be.
On the other hand, I’ve reached the highest tier Booking discount tier in like 2 months so that’s nice.
Railways are often considered a typical example of a natural monopoly. The very high costs of laying track and building a network, as well as the costs of buying or leasing the trains, would prohibit, or deter, the entry of a competitor.
To society, the costs associated with building and running a rival network would be wasteful.
A lot of the TOCs were already under national control. But the problem is with the system in general; its just broken. You cite ticket pricing as one insanity, but I also hate how poorly connected buses, and trains are. I wish we had a unified ticketing system so I could get a monthly pass to cover both train, and bus.
For example, I’m lucky I can get a direct bus to work. But if I didn’t, I’d have to get a bus to the train station, then to train to a town close to work, then another bus. Now I have to pay for a train season ticket (which costs an absolute fortune), and a monthly bus pass.
Or I could get a car. I’m very reluctant too but public transport is so broken in the UK that I often think it would be so much easier.
The interconnection between the modes of transport is another great point. At least starting with having train transfers be more coordinated (since they wouldn’t be run by different companies) is a good start.
Unsure how coordinating all the different privat bus networks would go but definitely something the government should prioritise too. If the system can actually work then hopefully that means we can get people out of cars.
It’s not just the ticketing system.
Anecdotally, I needed to commute around 130 km from the Netherlands to Belgium for like half a year 3-4 days a week. The cheapest option (over buses, train, everything) was to rent a car each week from Avis. Eurostar, NS and SCNB should go to hell, how is me renting a car and fueling it less expensive than a train seat for the literal same route? In the Benelux?
And adding on top of that, the first train of the day has had a non-connection where the connecting train left 3 minutes earlier than the one taking me there, so that also limited how early could I get to where I needed to be.
On the other hand, I’ve reached the highest tier Booking discount tier in like 2 months so that’s nice.
Car rental companies operate in a competitive market, as do gas stations. Competitive markets are pretty good at driving prices down.
Trains tend not to.
https://www.economicsonline.co.uk/business_economics/natural_monopolies.html/