Fare control doesn't work
From CroziervisionWiki
In the initial stages of British rail privatisation some fares were controlled and some weren't. Commuter fares, in particular, were held to an inflation minus a percentage formula. As usual, the laws of supply and demand kicked in and demand rocketed. The result: massive overcrowding.
Exactly the same is true in Japan and for exactly the same reason. In Japan the government controls fares.
What is odd is that before 1940, there was very little fare control in Britain and very little overcrowding. And very few complaints, though it should perhaps be pointed out that in those days the main part of the rail business was freight not passengers.
Questions
But if rail companies are free to set fares won't they rocket and won't that mean that people won't be able to get to work?
Of course, we can never be quite sure what will happen. That is one of the great disadvantages of being a libertarian advocate. There is, of course, a limit to what people are prepared to pay. At some point, it is no longer worth commuting to work because the alternatives are better.
My best guess is that we will see some people priced off the network. But equally we may well see some people starting to use the new, less crowded trains. People who value their comfort more than the cost. I also think we are likely to see a return to fare reductions for travelling earlier in the morning. This has already been tried on c2c but as the chap who introduced it explained to me it only works when you are considering buying a new fleet of trains.
One of the other things we are likely to see is a reconsideration of work hours. Employers will have to decide whether they really need all of their employees to come into work at exactly the same time.
We should also consider whether it is in fact a good thing for people to commute at all. Surely, most of us would prefer to live near work though to make this a real possibility we would probably need a relaxation of the planning system.
