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Simon Calder, also known as The Man Who Pays His Way, has been writing about travel for The Independent since 1994. In his weekly opinion column, he explores a key travel issue – and what it means for you.
Judge politicians by what they do, as opposed to what they say they will do. On 23 March, for example, the prime minister said we would learn more about the prospects for lifting the current ban on international travel by Easter Monday.
Yet all we found out at the end of the long weekend was that we would find out more later this week. Details of the new “traffic light” system finally arrived today.
International travel is an intricate issue to handle during a global pandemic. It involves parameters from variants of concern to vaccination rates, many of which are way beyond the government’s control. So let us cut Boris Johnson some slack on the delayed revelations about overseas holidays.
But there is one crucial aspect of travel over which his administration has plenty of control: transport in England.
“For every three passengers with seats, two more are standing,” I reported from Surbiton station in southwest London in 2015. I had added to the crush aboard the 7.32am from Woking to London Waterloo, officially the most overcrowded train in Britain.
One passenger I talked to that day, Celia Boyle, had a far-sighted vision to reduce the crush. “Work from home,” she sighed after yet another rush-hour ordeal.
The coronavirus crisis has transformed working patterns, and Celia’s wish has come true for millions who may never return to an arduous five-day-a-week commute.
The 7.33am (as it has become) still plods each weekday morning from Woking to Waterloo via West Byfleet, Weybridge, Walton and Wimbledon. But with train occupancy at just 25 per cent of pre-Covid levels, those two long-suffering “standees” can rest their legs.
Indeed, they should expect an empty adjacent seat or two, which is what you need to feel comfortable these difficult days.
Perhaps in time Celia and her fellow ex-commuters will opt to spend two or three days in the office, leaving plenty of room on board trains for people whose jobs demand a daily commute.
Better still, the post-pandemic world provides an outstanding opportunity for the government to lure people off the roads and onto the rails.
Unprecedented sums of taxpayers’ money are being hurled at the railways. In the short term, we are paying £1m per hour to keep trains running even though three-quarters of the former passengers are sitting pretty at home in Surrey.
Long term, the HS2 project to connect London with the Midlands and North will cost £100bn, with billions more spent on replenishing the “classic” rail network.
Those astronomical sums are justified only if enough fare-paying passengers are onboard trains. It is imperative to fill the spare rail capacity with people who would otherwise drive – whether on the workday grind or a good day out.
The government must entice people out of their cars with a combination of incentives: emphasising the new-found space on board, and making rail better value.
Yet ministers are doing exactly the opposite. This year rail fares rose at above inflation, while the chancellor boasted: “Fuel duty will be frozen for the 11th consecutive year.”
Car owners were given a six-month exemption from MOT testing. Yet railcard holders unable to travel by train for more than half a year were told that extending their discount passes to compensate would be unfair on taxpayers.
Talking of taxpayers: we paid for the ads reading “Coronavirus takes the train too,” even though studies show rail travel presents a negligible risk of infection.
The government must counteract public misapprehension and promote trains ahead of cars. If it fails to do so, any claims about caring for quality of life and the environment are worthless.
Simon is hosting a free event on 28 April, where he’ll untangle the latest news in the world of travel and let you know when, where and how you can go on holiday this summer. You can book a ticket by signing up to his weekly newsletter here: https://www.independent.co.uk/newsletters
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