Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Norman Baker`s Train Fare Lie

Post On lewes Forum

I am calling "Pants on fire ",on her majesties esteemed Transport minister aka 'just our Norm'.You may have noticed that we are due to get horrific train fare rises.A season London ticket from Brighton will be about £4500 by the time its over and I `d guess Lewes about the same . Probably more This is regulated by a formula set in relation to the government`s £2 billion subsidy industry sources are saying the rises will end up at 40% by 2015.
Norman Baker , whose talk on transport policy I attended , failed to mention this . In fact he campaigned on a 1% price rise in excess of inflation going on about green this and that wheil he was doing it .Thats lying aint it ? Not that I care but this is about as un-green as it gets and in fact is yet another handy way to clobber the hard working middling so we can afford the £9 billion for Afgrica , 3000 army horses and not to upset the Public Sector Unions . As Sir Paul Judge pointed out the deficit is going to be paid for with taxes not cuts ,spending is planned to increase.
I would love to hear Norm`s explanation for this attack on commuters to go with his attack on children and volte face on tuition fees .The problem is who do we turn to in a one Party constituency . I `d be interested in any way of organising opposition to Baker. He cannot be allowed to swan about in his limo while he screws his constituents .Liar Liar Pants on fire .
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5 comments:

Old BE said...

Basically about 90% of taxpayers subsidise the 10% of people who use subsidised rail. Train travel is an elite activity. It is also not especially "green" - buses and full cars are greener.

As I was asking my friend who was recently bitching about arts funding cuts "why do you think someone else should pay for the things you like?". Why should people less wealthy than you who probably live in less nice parts of the world pay for your lifestyle?

12:33 pm
Newmania said...

Thats not right across the system. Actually the South east subsidises the rest of the rail system and were compeition allowed fares would be far lower. Its a quid pro quo at best and now operates as a tax .
The amounts spent on roads dwarfs rail subsidy and every society has organised its infra structure centrally to some extent this is for all our good

Overall thoughb each perosn has deal with the state they liek to a greater or lesser extwent . I pay tax ( boo hiss ).In the past somw of it was returned as child benefit and a small amount assisted with travel.

Removing those elements makes my net tax bill much higher and I am therfore less happy with the deal. I now wonder why I am contributing the entire amount of my income tax to support other people when they do nothing for me.

1:59 pm
Old BE said...

If the South East rail system doesn't need subsidy then why should it receive it? As a non-user of rail, why should I make your commute cheaper?

The point about the roads is that virtually everyone uses them, whereas rail is used by a tiny fraction of the population, most of whom are above the median.

Your tax burden is too high, but isn't it a bit silly to argue that to cut the burden you would rather have a subsidy? The size of the state is being cut. Eventually that will lead to a lighter burden on wealth-creators. But don't you see that taxes can't come down until the public finances are back on track?

2:52 pm
Newmania said...

Rail is a Natural monopoly and although it was colonised by private Companies it was from the start a cooperatioon with the state which provided protection from competition which was obviously wasteful.

Rail Prices are thefefore artificially high for the actual users who submits to this monopoly because it is in the general good. It is also to the general good that we have a rail net work ,and not six or none .
The government acts or has acted to make this less unfair on the users themselves with a subsidy although regionally this assists the less well used lines chiefly for obvious reasons .

Now it is just a tax on getting to work. Thanks a lot

Of course I agree that the deficit must be tackled but as a commuter and father of three living in the South East it seems to me that I getting it in the neck to an unreasonable extent .The reason is simply the calculation that it is possible not fairness.

International aid is increased to £11 billion ,education budget is up , NHS ring fenced still posturing around the word as if we were a major power....grrrr

4:36 pm
Old BE said...

You should be flattered that Mr Cameron is admiring your broad shoulders.

Education budget should please you, as a father of three. NHS is still nice and universal. You can feel virtuous that your aid money is building wind farms in Bangladesh and bore holes in dry bits of Africa.

Be happy! At least because the coalition is still 1,000,000 miles better than the last lot.

5:42 pm

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