We took with us a dossier prepared by two St Albans commuters about their recent experiences using First Capital Connect’s Thameslink service.  Issues covered were

• the hopelessly inadequate knowledge of FCC staff during disruptions, when passengers using smartphones and social networks seem to know far more than platform staff but then get hopelessly frustrated because the latter cannot confirm things;
• poor and incorrect announcements, so that people are allowed to board trains which FCC know will end up being at a standstill down the line outside Radlett or wherever;  or being advised to go to Hatfield and catch a bus when a Thameslink train will come in half an hour and so is still the best alternative;
• the continued lack of effective interworking beween FCC and Network Rail, for example the age before the broken electronic information board at Farringdon was replaced;
• the refusal of East Midlands trains to accept FCC tickets during disruptions, which would at least allow St Albans commuters a sensible and timely alternative;
• increasingly high levels of off-peak overcrowding and the way that FCC has quietly dropped its previous passenger charter commitment that ‘we plan services so off-peak you should always have a seat’; and
• all the flaws of the delay repay scheme for commuters, particularly the way that compensation vouchers can’t be used for on-line ticket purchases, and compensation is only given when a journey is actually attempted, although often FCC advise people not to travel and commuters have to make alternative arrangements such as working from home.

Norman Baker listened intently.  He is already raising the issue of poor passenger communications during disruptions with ATOC, the industry body which represents rail franchisees.  The key thing is to look at best practice elsewhere (it does exist) and then ensure that all operators reach these standards.  He also revealed that the next generation of franchises will focus far more on outputs than on inputs – so the passenger experience will matter far more.  This meets one of my own long-held hobby horses, that Government has been all too ready to remove franchises when the Treasury is not paid, but strangely reluctant to bite when it is the fare-paying passenger who is let down.

By sheer chance, he was due to have a meeting with Tim O’Toole, chairman of the First Group parent company of FCC, later this afternoon and promised to raise all these issues directly with him – including giving him the above-mentioned dossier.

So we’ll watch this space.

PS Norman is also the minister to thank for getting next year’s fare rises reduced from the planned RPI+3 percent to the previous RPI+1 percent

PPS On the way there and back (on trains that were on time and using the south bank exit from Blackfriars for the first time) I was re-reading the appropriately titled Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood – no Erste Kapital Konnekt in Berlin…

Some people argue that crowded peak hour trains and rising passenger numbers suggest that fare rises are not a problem. But not everyone who uses the railway is wealthy – particularly if they are buying property in St Albans…

As transport commentator Christian Wolmar, one of the speakers at yesterday’s meeting, said, “railways have fantastic externalities” – ie they make a contribution to the environment and economy which far outweighs any direct economic loss or surplus.

Much was made of the perversion of rail fare regulation. It was initially designed to prevent rapacious private monopolies from exploiting the captive traveller. Thus the initial fare rise regime of RPI-1 percent – ie that fares should rise by less than inflation each year.

Then the Labour government introduced the RPI+1 percent formula – making fares rise faster than inflation.  The new government has now determined it will be RPI+3 percent. These are eye-watering figures, particularly given current inflation rates and current lower than inflation pay rises for normal workers who are not FTSE 100 directors.

In two bounds the regulatory regime has moved away from any notion of providing protection to the rail traveller from rapacious monopoly.  It’s a case of regulatory gamekeeper turning into Treasury poacher, using rail fares as a stealth tax.

On current forecasts, fares will rise by an average of 28 percent between now and 2015. And that’s just for the average “basket” of regulated fares. As we know, routes like First Capital Connect St Albans to St Pancras have consistently had fare increases higher than the mandated average.

At yesterday’s briefing, Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert quoted ONS data on the rise in cost of travel by different modes between 1997 and 2010. Average rail fares increased by 66 percent or 17 percent in real terms over the period.  Even worse, bus fares increased by 76 percent or 24 percent in real terms.  Although the cost of driving went up by 42 percent in money terms, that was in fact a real terms decline of seven percent (although the last 12 months must have provided a painful correction.)

CfBT quoted some very interesting research suggesting that we could inflict real economic damage if we continue with these planned fare rises. In particular London’s competitiveness as a world city could be severely impacted if our cost of commuting starts to differ really widely from the cost in other big cities.

It’s not as if savings cannot be made which can and should be passed on to the travelling passenger. The recent McNulty review of value for money in the UK rail industry highlighted all sorts of inefficiencies, many stemming from the perverse structures created by rail privatisation.

In the Q&A session which followed the briefing, I raised the failings of the current Delay Repay compensation scheme, how complicated and arbitrary it seemed to be, and how it requires huge delays in percentage terms for the sort of short commuter journeys typical of St Albans rail users.

I was disappointed that Anthony Smith of Passenger Focus defended Delay Repay, but Louise Ellman MP, chair of the Transport Select Committee, gave a most insightful answer concerning their recent inquiry into delays caused by cable theft.  Network Rail compensate the train operating companies (TOCs) when the delay comes from their problems as is the case with cable theft.  But TOCs don’t pass this on to the travelling public unless the delays trigger Delay Repay.

This feels like a scam and is worth following up, I think.

He wrote that he and senior colleagues “have spoken to and corresponded with many customers as well as meeting with a high proportion of MPs along the route.”

And guess what, they have decided to improve the compensation package for season ticket holders (annual season ticket holders will now get a 7 percent discount and weekly ticket holders a further two free tickets).  He also announced investment in trains and also in better communications technology for staff when future problems happen.

Anyone would think there was an election in the offing.

Perhaps they are finally smelling the coffee.  But it has come so late that it will do little to quell the fury of travellers.

I am knocking on doors across the constituency and the feedback is the same everywhere.  Only last evening I met a voter in London Colney who told me that she had lost a promotion at work because of her problems getting into work on time over so many months – and this is just one voter among many.

This announcement still provides for less than one month’s free travel for annual ticket holders.  It still does absolutely nothing for regular off-peak travellers for whom it does not make sense to buy season tickets because they work from home some days a week or their work demands that they travel outside peak hours.

The Delay Repay scheme so trumpeted by FCC is despised by everyone for its complexity and meannesss.

As for the announcements on train and station investment, this is what they should be doing as franchisee.  It is welcome to have the confirmation that improvements are finally underway, but for many it will feel like bolting the stable door.

FCC certainly has “transformed” travel but not perhaps in the way that the marketing copywriters had intended.

Ms Grant was there with Neal Lawson, the new MD of FCC, to meet Norman Baker MP, the LibDem shadow transport secretary, and fellow LibDem MPs Tom Brake and Paul Burstow, both of whom represent constituencies “served” by FCC.  Also present was Bill Bradshaw, former Director of Strategy for British Rail and now LibDem transport spokesman in the House of Lords.  Norman had kindly asked me to join them, together with Nigel Quinton, my counterpart in Hitchin & Harpenden.

At least there were no New Labour crocodile tears.  But no tears at all really.  Some routine expressions of regret – “how we inconvenienced passengers was unacceptable” – but I had no sense that they truly understood just how horrible the last few months have been for local commuters.  As a met police detective said to me last night, “Ive never had such an awful time.”  We heard a lot of excuses and “force majeure” was dusted down rather a lot.

There was some explanation of what went wrong.  The new 377 class trains delivered late by Bombardier so that driver training had to be compressed, taking a lot of drivers away from their daily duties.  Lack of new trains meant the old trains had to stay in service and miss key modifications.  As a result more need to rely on goodwill from the remaining drivers in terms of rest day working.  Mix in an unpopular pay proposal.  Have the inevitable teething problems with new trains, add snow, stir well and wait for chaos.

I listed just some of the litany of complaints I have received, particularly the niggardliness and complexity of the compensation packages, and I compared it with the much more generous terms offered to travellers in Berlin who experienced a similar collapse in service.  I particularly criticised the Delay Repay scheme, echoing many comments made to me by St Albans travellers.

Ms Grant told us that they had already processed 73,000 delay repay schemes, with many more coming in.  When pressed, she conceded that they were being as flexible as possible.  Firstly the 30 minute delay is being measured against the original timetable and not the emergency one.  I am not sure this has been clearly communicated so I am communicating it now.  Secondly they are waiving all time limits for claims.  Thirdly they will not demand tickets or receipts as long as there is some evidence of travel, for example a credit card bill.  I report all this because it may allow people to bump up their own personal compensation, albeit through a tediously bureaucratic process.

I suspect it won’t help the occasional traveller even when they are regular users – I have had numbers of comments from people who travel into London off peak or no more than three times a week.  In both cases there is no need for them to have season tickets and they slip through the net.

I told her about inaudible announcements at West Hampstead, rude and offensive staff at St Pancras, and flakey text alerts.  I told her that FCC was deep in the mire and would have a long journey to recover any respect from its customers.  “God is in the detail” I said – they will have to be perfect in every aspect – clean toilets, clean stations and rolling stock, excellent timekeeping, good real time communication, full length trains, staff there when you want them.  It will be a long haul back, I’m not sure FCC gets it, in which case steps should be taken to remove the franchise.

PS I hope any reader using St Albans City Station comes along to Meet The Managers this coming Friday between 4.30 and 7 pm.  Mary Grant won’t be there, but Neal Lawson will – and so will Three Counties Radio.  It will be worth making your voice heard.

The latest proposals are unnecessarily complex and frankly niggardly.  People who had a break in season tickets – for example when the previous one expired around Christmas and there was no point renewing before going back to work – look to be losing out.

As for people who have already claimed under the Delay Repay Scheme, the way this has been handled beggars belief.  I am told by local commuters that rather than one single set of tickets for a combined claim, passengers are receiving a separate envelope and letter with rail travel voucher for each journey leg where delays were more than 30 minutes.  One local commuter told me she came home to 13 separate letters, each with 36p postage.  One of her fellow passengers had his letter box inundated with 24 identical envelopes, again each carrying 36p postage.  This will have been repeated for thousands of commuters.  A huge amount of money swallowed up in postage and unnecessary bureaucracy.

Presumably if you are a season ticket holder, you have to put these vouchers behind the proverbial clock on the mantelpiece and wait till your season ticket runs out, then use the vouchers (which won’t cover any underground element) and then renew the season ticket.

I have previously noted the basic unfairness of the one-size-fits-all national Delay Repay scheme with its cut-off point of 30 minutes, so St Albans commuters have to be delayed by more than 100 perent of their journey time to qualify.  It would have been far better if FCC had devised a simple and appropriately generous season ticket extension scheme from the beginning.  My son lives in Berlin.  They had a major problem lasting weeks with the surface railway S-Bahn – operated by a private company.  Annual season ticket holders got a month’s free travel, monthly season holders got an extra week.  Simple and uncomplicated.