UK adults are prepared to invest £11.5bn – an average of £241 each – to have a rail company which is owned by passengers, believing they would get cheaper tickets and better customer service.
This is according to a new report entitled ‘Co-operative Rail: A radical solution’ which has been commissioned by Co-operatives UK and authored by transport journalist Christian Wolmar.
The report claims that; “Regular commuters using the train at least four times a week say they are prepared to personally invest an average of £945 to have a rail company that is owned by its passengers while even those who travel just once a week are prepared to invest £500 each.”
“Commuters in London are willing to invest the most with an average of £496.70, passengers in the Midlands would pay £200.01 each and those in Scotland would invest £165.72.
“Almost three quarters (72%) of regular rail users want a greater say in the rail company they use most frequently, while over half (57%) of all adults think tickets would be cheaper and 58% believe that customer service would be better if passengers co-operatively owned the rail company.
“The startling figures indicate the high level of dissatisfaction among rail passengers towards the state of the UK railways. Despite 1.258m passenger journeys generating revenue of £6.2bn last year, the railways remain largely owned by private companies yet are subsidised by the tax-payer to the tune of £5bn a year. 19 franchises make an annual profit of £250m while passenger fares rose, in January, by up to 11%.”
The Co-operatives UK stated that the contents of the report “calls for Government and the industry to be open minded towards adopting the co-operative model in the rail industry. It outlines the practical steps that can be taken by Government and highlights the action needed across the individual train operating companies, Network Rail and the supporting companies.”
Lord Andrew Adonis, Institute for Government says;
“This paper is a very important and timely contribution to the debate. The co-operative model challenges us to think beyond the old paradigms of the market versus the state; beyond the divisions between owners and customers; and to think creatively about new ownership and management models. This is exactly the kind of creative thinking our railways, and more generally, our public services will need in the years ahead.”
Christian Wolmar, author of the report says;
“This is a huge opportunity for our rail network to foster a culture of social responsibility alongside the discipline of commercial enterprise. The co-operative model changes relationships between various stakeholders, ensures that staff feel involved and creates an ethos of co-operation that is essential to allowing this complex industry to be efficient.”
Ed Mayo of Co-operatives UK comments;
“Passengers simply want an efficient and pleasant train service at a fare price and feel so strongly that they are willing to invest in it, despite these times of austerity.
“Sadly we have a confused, fragmented and heavily subsidised service that is costly and inefficient but by introducing co-operation alongside competition we can harness the interest of passengers, staff and rail operators.”
