My argument that those who cannot use trains should not have, so substantially, to subsidise those who do

1. There are many rewards in living in North Yorkshire. After
twenty-three years living close to London it was good to return,
two years ago, to a bit of space and a lot of beauty.
There are some disadvantages, the first of which there is – more or
less – no public transport or at least nothing, which would be
recognisable as public transport in London or the South East. All
those who live there –as I did for twenty-three years - and who
routinely moan about train and bus services should take a break
up here. They would, I promise, realise how well off they were.
It wasn’t always like this. The northeast gave birth to passenger
railways not only in Britain but also the world. In 1825 Locomotion
Number 1 travelled from Darlington to Stockton, being greeted on
arrival in Teesside by a crowd of 40,000. It’s been all downhill
since then and rail coverage throughout the region is now poor.
No one here very much complains, and nor do I, until I’m asked to
subsidise those, mainly in the southeast, who have a first class rail
system.
London commuter outrage over the fare increases last week was
admirably orchestrated. We all heard of the impossible burden
they would impose on passengers despite the average increase
being just one per cent above inflation.
The uncomfortable truth is that fares should have increased rather
more, quite simply because the costs of rail travel should be borne
more by those who enjoy the privilege. So, before the commuting
and political mafia began their howls of outrage last summer, the
Government plan was for fares to increase by three per cent above
inflation this year and again in 2014 and 2015.
Norman Baker, the Minister responsible for railways and with a
careful eye on his own constituency in Lewes, was always likely to
bow to commuter pressure to change that. Indeed, somewhat
outrageously for a Minister who is supposed to take a
dispassionate view of such things, his constituency website claims
the scrapping of the 3% rise as “a victory for local MP Norman
Baker who has fought tirelessly to keep rail fares down.” The
problem is that he has, simultaneously, fought tirelessly to keep

2. the taxpayer subsidy up. It is now just under £4billion, some three
times higher, in real terms than the subsidy in 2001-02.
The U turn bought Mr Baker little favour with some coalition
colleagues. Days after the announcement of the smaller fare rise,
Michael Fallon, Minister for Business, but more significantly, MP
for Sevenoaks, promptly presented a petition to Parliament calling
on Southeastern Rail to cancel any increase in fares above inflation.
So the £4b subsidy continues. That’s about one tenth of the money
we’ll spend on schools this year. Much of that subsidy is to allow
investment in the rail network and, significantly, the completion of
Thameslink and Crossrail. That doesn’t make anyone up here feel
any better.
I use trains a lot, although to catch one I have to drive almost fifty
miles to York. There is a station here in Whitby which has the
grand total of just four services a day to Middlesbrough.
Commuting to work from here, as many young people would like
to do, is impossible.
Whitby has about the same population as Mr Baker’s constituency.
But just 133,000 people entered and exited the station here last
year compared with 2.7million people in Lewes. Despite being
little more than a tenth the size of Middlesbrough, the largest town
in this region, twice as many people used the station at Lewes as
used Middlesbrough’s. And little wonder: not just in Lewes, but
everywhere in the southeast, the railservice has improved
markedly in recent years with new and more carriages and more
frequent services. Some lines, such as that between London and St
Albans and Bedford now run for 24 hours a day. I’m genuinely
pleased for people in the southeast who can take advantage of
that. I just think they should pay for it.