Unfair Fare Disclosure

The Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc) recently announced fare increases in the United Kingdom. However, their decision to release only the average increase across the country rather than details of individual fares has been severely criticized. In past years, Atoc has given details of increases for each of the train companies. This year, Atoc did not break down the figures into regulation and unregulated fares and is leaving it up to operators to disclose their individual increases. Passenger groups are accusing Atoc of concealing the true extent of increases and making it almost impossible to make meaningful comparisons between train operators. Regulated fares will rise by the rate of inflation plus 1%, on average, across each franchise, which this year means 5.8%; however, some services will experience much larger increases. Franchises are allowed to increase some fares by up to 5% more than the capped figure, as long as the average increase across all regulated fares remains the same.