Durham County Council’s Post

Patronage increased across all modes during the first week of the trial with South East Queensland public transport use returning to 98.5 per cent of pre-COVID levels for the week as a whole. More than four million passenger trips were taken, with total trips up 11.1 per cent from the previous week and up 11.6 per cent from a comparable week in 2023-24. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays were the busiest days in the week. Fast facts from Monday, August 5 to Sunday, August 11: - More than four million passenger trips were taken in the first week of the trial. - There was more than $7 million in savings from the first week of the trial, based on the same number of trips being taken under the previous fares structure. - Trips were up 11.1 per cent across all four modes in SEQ compared to the week before 50 cent fares started. - Trips were up 11.6 per cent across SEQ against a comparable week in 2023-24. - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were the busiest days of the week for total trip numbers. - It was the first week to exceed one million journeys on South East Queensland trains since the week ending March 15, 2020. - Wednesday, August 7 was the busiest day on the train network since March 12, 2020 and was up 11.9 per cent on the Wednesday the week before. - August 10 and 11 were the busiest Saturday and Sunday in the history of the South East Queensland public transport network with Saturday up 17.4 per cent on pre-COVID levels and Sunday up 15.9 per cent on pre-COVID levels. - The most bus (up 15.8 per cent on pre-COVID levels) and train (up 11 per cent on pre-COVID levels) trips in a single Saturday were taken on August 10. - August 11 was the busiest Sunday of all time on the bus network with trips up 16.6 per cent on pre-COVID levels and the second busiest Sunday ever on the train network with a 6.9 per cent increase on pre-COVID levels. - Ferries set an all-time record for a busiest Saturday on August 10 with trips up 47.4 per cent on pre-COVID levels. The ferry trip numbers on this day were almost 50 per cent higher than both Ekka Saturdays in 2019 and 2023. - Airtrain passengers are also making the most of half price fares with an 18% increase in passenger numbers in the first week, as well as a 69% increase in airport staff tickets. https://lnkd.in/gzyjj4rc

A recent post on my outrage about train prices went viral. People shared nuts stories about their nightmare experiences. The spiralling costs. The confusing options. A friend told me it was cheaper to put two people in an Addison Lee from Cardiff to London rather than pay for them to get the train. This is not the future. Another person told me how isolated they are from work due to their disability (and not being able to drive). Commuting via train will bankrupt them. Others shared their pain at previously travelling by train, but they now have to opt for high-carbon options, against their principles, as costs have doubled. In a time when we need to be encouraging train travel and making it as affordable and accessible as possible, it's the opposite. So, I've created a petition. The Campaign for Fair Trains. This petition calls for reform of the train system in the UK to make it affordable for all, uncomplicated and a better, easier choice compared to less sustainable travel options. Sign it, share it here: https://lnkd.in/e8ps4YGa And watch this space for more to come on this campaign. 🚂🚂🚂 #sustainability #campaignforfairtrains

❗ We need to address the issue of ridiculous prices if we want to encourage train travel, and reduce transport emissions. I often think about this news story from last year as I'm advocating for train travel across advertising production: Network Rail spent £10,000-a-week on air fares in 2022 because it worked out cheaper than getting the train. Staff at the public body - which owns most of the UK’s railway network - bought 985 plane tickets for flights within the UK. Of the internal flights, 72 were between Birmingham and Glasgow which is served by a direct train line with one-way tickets costing up to £206.* If those in charge of the railways can't justify the costs of train travel, what can they expect from the rest of us? Birmingham ➡ Glasgow (approx carbon emissions**) 🛫 Flight: 113kg CO2e 🚗 Car: 62kg CO2e 🚆 Train: 18kg CO2e The data is clear that we need to prioritise train travel, but in its current form that is simply not possible. Fair train prices are a must. Thanks for starting this petition Aimee Brewerton ✏ *https://lnkd.in/dqNP-sFn ** https://lnkd.in/dJP-a2r3

Some areas of commerce can't be driven by demand, and train prices seem to be one of them. If people are going to be encouraged to travel less by car to reduce transportation emissions, there needs to be a change

#Germany commits to ‘integral’ Deutschlandticket after pass’ first year The country’s federal and regional #transport ministers celebrated the success of the pass so far while also highlighting potential areas of expansion. Germany’s national and local governments have committed to continuing the country’s unlimited rail travel ticket, Deutschlandticket, on the first anniversary of its introduction.  The €49 ($52.44) per month ticket is part of the government’s push towards public transport as a more #sustainable form of transport and the state had already agreed on funding to finance the scheme through 2024, though details on future finances for the scheme were unclear.  However, a recent conference of the country’s state transport ministers voted in favour of keeping the state subsidy for the ticket until at least 2036, sustaining the 50% share paid towards the scheme by regional governments.  North Rhine-Westphalia Transport Minister Oliver Krischer, chairman of the conference of transport ministers, said: “After just one year, 11.2 million people have a Deutschlandticket – and the trend is rising. This shows what added value the D -Ticket brings.  “It’s not just an incentive to switch to #publictransport, it also makes a contribution to #climateprotection and relieves people of billions of dollars in burdens.”  Krischer also said that he wanted to see further expansions of the Deutschlandticket scheme that allows companies to purchase a pass for their employees, saying that he still saw “great potential” in the idea.  The success of the ticket was also espoused by Germany’s national #rail operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) which said that since it was introduced in May 2023, passenger numbers on DB regional trains have increased by 28%. The operator also revealed that half of the journey’s taken using the ticket were by people travelling to work or school but passengers were increasingly using it for leisure or weekend trips, with DB passengers travelling around 20% further now. Germany’s federal government also affirmed its continued support for the Deutschlandticket, with national Transport Minister Volker Wissing describing it as “an integral part of people’s everyday lives.”  He said: “On the first anniversary of the ticket, I hope that we continue to work on improving the offer in this spirit. #Digitalisation in particular still offers enormous opportunities here, more than half of tickets are now used on mobile phones, and 2/3 tickets were purchased #digitally.  “In doing so, we have given public transport an enormous boost to digitalisation. We should build on this and, in the next step, make data usable to improve the offering.” Wissing’s promotion of the digitalisation aspect of the Deutschlandticket was also supported by DB, with the operator stating that it believed the launch of the pass was partially responsible for the doubling of the number of tickets sold digitally...

So the bus fare cap in England is to rise to £3, and some people aren’t happy. I’m sure many bus passengers aged 22-59 in Scotland would absolutely love to have a £3 fare cap, or a £5 or £10 fare cap for that matter. Instead, by linking concessionary reimbursement for carrying under-22s and over-60s to the fares charged on the minority of passengers ineligible for free travel, the Scottish Government actually maintains a policy that is the precise opposite of a fare cap. The result is that Scotland now has one of the most expensive and unequal public transport systems in the developed world. This is Scotland’s ‘progressive’ devolution in action. https://lnkd.in/eJp9DahD

For those who use Scotrail trains: Following the Scottish Government announcement that the Off-Peak all-day fares trial will come to an end on 27 September 2024, Scotrail wanted to let you know what this means for ticket prices. After the trial ends, you can access additional savings on Seasons and Flexipass tickets: ➖ Save 40%* with weekly, monthly, and annual Season Tickets purchased in the next 12 months, compared to 5 or 20 Anytime Day Returns. ➖ 12 journeys instead of 10 on Flexipass - for the same price - a saving of 32%^ compared to six Anytime Day Return tickets. ➖ Off-Peak fares will continue to be available for travel outwith the busy peak times. ➖ Super Off-Peak Day Return tickets~ will return. Available on selected routes, these tickets provide lower prices to those traveling at the quietest times of day. https://lnkd.in/eMrKhnYA Midlothian & East Lothian Chamber of Commerce

Yesterday The BTA launched our latest white paper on the urgent action required from the business travel sector on the UK rail network, to attract those travelling for work, back to the tracks. To create this paper we spoke to our members, to their customers, the travel buyers and the travel buyers customers, the business traveller on what their expectations and needs are from rail reform. We have been working closely for a long time with the rail industry from Rail Delivery Group to train companies including Avanti West Coast, London North Eastern Railway & Great Western Railway (GWR) and their commitment and determination to improve the railway is absolute. However the speed, of change as a result of the bureaucracy of politics, remains slow speed rather than high speed, that we all crave. This document is designed to simply portray the business travel sectors desire to support the railway in transition and highlights some simple and some more complex solutions that our sector knows will bring business travellers back to the tracks. To further our quest to assist positive change to our railways, I am on route to Westminster to meet for a roundtable discussion with Minister for Rail Huw Merriman supported by some of our members Pat McDonagh of Clarity Business Travel Daniel Beauchamp of American Express Global Business Travel Ian Currington of Gray Dawes Travel & Raj Sachdave MCIPS of Black Box Partnerships. We look forward to a positive meeting and working with the government and the rail industry to create a railway we can all be proud of. #businesstravel #yourbta #corporatetravel #travelmanagement #railway

New Zealand’s inter-regional “Public” Transport system is broken at its core. It is virtually impossible to move around much of the country using Public Transport (PT) outside our main urban areas, with a few notable exceptions. The story from TVNZ’s Fair Go below highlights one example of how broken it is, but I have my own story. Last Saturday I travelled by InterCity coach from Dunedin to Invercargill. The service was a joke - the poor suffering driver was given a 40 seater bus at the last minute to take her passengers south - her normal bigger bus taken away to be used for a so called more viable route. First up it was dumped on her at the last minute - she wasn’t even sure how to drive it and had never been given the model before and had no training in the vehicle. Heading south and by Milton the air conditioning had completely failed on a warmish Southern day. Two Passengers turned up to board with two bikes - driver said “sorry no room now on this small bus to take bikes” - passenger said “but we booked”. So all passengers off the bus - passengers helped offload and reloaded luggage more optimally and the bike owners semi disassembled their bikes to get loaded on the bus. At Balclutha it was so hot on the bus people began to feel ill. A passenger self offloaded themselves not willing to continue on and made other arrangements to continue. Onwards we continued - all off again at Gore - too hot - we all needed air. We were advised that South Island InterCity management don’t rate Invercargill and are more interested in Queenstown - that’s were the money is they say - not connecting Invercargill a city of 50,000 with Dunedin a city over 120,000? At Invercargill the local backpacker owner who met the bus for her clients agreed - the service is getting worse and it’s embarrassing. How is this possible? Intercity, once New Zealand Railways Road Services, until privatised is NOT providing a adequate service across all New Zealand anymore. Why? Because the commercial market model is failing and they are are a commercial business struggling to provide true national coverage whilst making a buck - they are the Jetstar of a low cost bus operating model outside a few core routes receiving no PT funding support - so they go were the money is. This Government is set to deliver more market failure on inter-regional PT and defends its position by saying the market will sort it - NEWSFLASH - it won’t - the market has failed. Frankly it is a national embarrassment - so reading the story below, no surprises there - One word - FAIL! And $512 to go from Christchurch to Murchison - are InterCity as booking agent charging Scenic Plus fares on the TranzApline sector? Unacceptable and the draft Transport GPS released yesterday makes it worse with funding for future inter-regional PT obliterated. #newzealand #publictransport #intercity #kiwirail #tourism

Our latest report - Fare Britannia - sets out how a #climatecard could work as a #subscriptionbasedrailpass in the UK. For £49 a month, users would have unlimited access to train travel across Britain, with the exception of high-speed long distance services and London, where an add-on would apply. It predicts that the scheme could generate an additional 122 million #rail trips a year, which would save 40 million car journeys, easing pressure on the country's overstretched highway network. This would result in a reduction of nearly 380 thousand tonnes of #carbonemissions, helping to reduce the climate impact of #transport, the UK’s most polluting sector. We argue that the adoption of a climate card would also bring #economicbenefits across the country, helping people access #jobs and allow businesses to expand their employee catchments. It would also encourage domestic and inward #tourism, especially to less visited parts of the country. #connectivitymatter #railways #railfares #publictransport #railnetwork Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT) https://lnkd.in/d7_NBSzA