Jo Johnson then Minster for Transport stood up in Parliament on 18th October 2018 and promised to Redhill Passengers and Crispin Blunt the local MP “Today, I can make a commitment that we will see this issue [Redhill Hump] resolved by the end of the current franchise in 2021, with a reduction in fares coming into effect from this coming January.”
This has proven to be a lie when London Terminals Fares from Redhill, Reigate, Nutfield and Earlswood on the Redhill route have risen by 3% in line with all the other Fare Increases across the country.
A few hardly used fares have gone down for Horley and Salfords passengers, but their most regularly used London Terminals fare has gone up.
This follows last January where there was a 14% Stealth Fare Increase in January 2017 as services were swapped from cheaper Southern trains to more expensive Thameslink ones.
The Department for Transport set their Minister up to lie in parliament to avoid embarrassment about the continuing of the unfair Redhill Hump – where fares raise as you cross the M25 leaving London before going down at Gatwick.
What is worse it is our understanding that the DfT revised their instructions to GTR after Jo Johnson left the department which we can only suspect was to remove many of the fare reductions planned.
This follows a series of let downs by the DfT towards Redhill route passengers:
- Unreliable Thameslink Timetable
- Removal of South Coast Trains
- Extended journeys to Victoria (40% longer)
- Badly designed station rebuild at Redhill that has failed passengers
After 5 years of constant lies and spin over the Redhill Route, RRDRUA is today calling for the senior managers in the Department for Transport to be removed from office and the department split up with transport being managed regionally, with a focus that puts Rail users and have their interests at the heart.
Antony Simm, Chairman of the RRDRUA said
For years now Redhill route passengers have been promised improvements only for them to be taken away when major projects like London Bridge and the May Timetable actually deliver. The service being delivered, the communication to passengers, and the routes on offer fall significantly short on value based on the price of travel. Topped now with the Transport Minister and the department for transport telling lies about fare reductions. Something has to change
