Rail passengers 'can't predict the future'

The cost of walk-on rail fares can be up to seven times higher than tickets booked in advance, a transport campaign group has found.

Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) says that walk-on fares for travel between the largest cities in the UK are on average 4.7 times higher than equivalent tickets bought in advance. It claims that, by expecting passengers to know their travel needs well ahead of time, the government believes they must be fortune tellers.

CBT's comments come almost a year after the government published its white paper Delivering a Sustainable Railway, in which it outlined a reduction in public funding for the railways. In a letter to transport secretary Ruth Kelly, CBT public transport campaigner Cat Hobbs explained that family and work demands meant that people's travel needs were unpredictable, and that pricey walk-on fares made it more likely that people would travel by car.

"The government's solution to high rail fares is to offer advance fares," Ms Hobbs said. "But we can't always predict the future and so need a walk-on railway."

"At a time when people are facing increases in petrol prices, the government is planning to make the green alternative, rail, even more expensive. The government needs to invest more in the rail network so that people can just turn up at a station and go."