Readers' Letters: ScotRail isn't being fair to customers with pricing

Why don’t different train operators charge the same price for the same journey, asks reader

Why is it that ScotRail charges more than competitor LNER for the same journey? This pricing difference is nothing new: it’s gone on for years and years. I’ve pointed it out to ScotRail and their predecessors Abellio, First and National Express, evidently to no avail from the point of view of us poor passengers. One aspect shines out: we travellers pay more for less on ScotRail.

Today – Saturday 5 October – I’m travelling from Stonehaven to Edinburgh return. The outward journey, 0811 from Stonehaven LNER 1st class with refreshments at seat throughout included, is £19.35.

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Homeward by ScotRail 2nd class on the 1530 (refreshments only if ScotRail deigns to put on a trolley, and that’s never guaranteed) is a whopping £26.95. These fares were booked at Thursday lunchtime this week.

ScotRail is charging customers more for tickets than other operators are for comparable services, says reader (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire)ScotRail is charging customers more for tickets than other operators are for comparable services, says reader (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire)
ScotRail is charging customers more for tickets than other operators are for comparable services, says reader (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire)

Such variant costs are the economics of Bedlam, and this pricing daftness has occurred ever since rail services in Scotland were privatised in 1994. The so-called “re-nationalisation” this year brings about not a jot of difference.

Who invents such a pricing structure? I’m no conspiracy theorist, but I’m beginning to suspect that this policy emanates from a coterie of seat-polishers, space-fillers, time wasters and assorted gnomes from Zurich occupying the desk next to whoever invented dynamic pricing for Oasis concerts.

If it’s true, I wouldn’t at all be surprised.

Gordon Casely, Crathes. Kincardineshire

Be ashamed, MSPs

I entirely agree with Regina Erich in her letter, Unsporting (4 October). Unfortunately, MSP Maggie Chapman’s “hostility” to the debate on “protecting the female category in sport” is unsurprising.

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The Scotsman’s article “Police under fire over double rapist's gender identification” (4 October) identifies the source of what we might describe as “confusion” over gender identification: The 2022 Gender Reform Recognition Bill which “aimed to make it easier for trans people to legally change their gender, including the ability to self-identify gender without a medical diagnosis”.

This was passed, by a large majority of MSPs, in spite of the many women's organisations who campaigned against it. MSPs voted for the Bill in the full knowledge of how “controversial” it was – and still is. Thank goodness the Supreme Court stepped in.

So it's a bit rich to criticise Police Scotland's ambivalence over its “Sex and Gender” document. What it means for the safety of women and girls in Scotland is deeply troubling but Chief Constable Jo Farrell and the Scottish Police Authority are in the uncomfortable position of having to follow Scottish Government “guidance” in this, as in all matters.

Am I being unfair to the Scottish Government? No. Ms Erich writes. “Notably, the debate took place with about three quarters of MSP's seats empty. Visitors were ushered to the section of the public gallery furthest away from the well of the chamber. Security staff kept an eye on us, intercepting occasional clapping with stern looks.”

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This happened in Edinburgh, in 2024, not Moscow or Beijing, so every MSP who voted for the GRRB but did not attend the vital debate on maintaining the female category in sport, or did not defend Jo Farrell, should be ashamed of his or her pusillanimity – or, of course, maintaining the party line on the issue.

Lovina Roe, Perth

Road to confusion

I found Andrew HN Gray’s comments on Gaelic place names both interesting and entertaining (Letters, 3 October).

I have no objections as such to place names appearing in Gaelic as long as they are are in the right places and settings. I would venture that they should not feature on road signs on major roads, particularly in areas which are not Gaelic speaking.

I have just returned from a trip to the North of England which included the A9 between Inverness and Perth. There are large road signs in the Aviemore / Carrbridge area and also further South, nearer Perth, which are bilingual, showing several place names in Gaelic first (why is Gaelic always first?) and then in English below.

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Rather than being informative, this type of sign seems to create a danger in that it must take many drivers a few more seconds driving even at modest speeds to focus on that part of the sign which they can understand. What foreign visitors, where English is not their first language, must think is beyond me.

These bilingual road signs should be removed on road safety grounds and replaced by signs in English only, which I am sure would be more readily understood, even by the Gaelic speakers amongst us.

Gordon Lawson, Dornoch, Sutherland

Ferry disappointing

There has been much in the press and elsewhere regarding the ongoing saga of the delayed CalMac ferries. However very recently there was a scarcely noticed line relating to the ferry port at Ardrossan, which it was said required upgrading to take the new ships. However, agreement had not been reached for this upgrade to go ahead.

It was not mentioned with whom the agreement had to be reached, but I would have thought, given the lateness of the ships themselves, that by this time not only would whatever agreement was required be reached, but the work completed.

Mike Salter, Glassel, Aberdeenshire

Bad move

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It is becoming more worrying to note the randomness of the Prime Minister’s decision making process.

Just a short time ago there was a distinct lack of remorse in accepting “freebies” yet this week he pays back some of the value of those gifts. However, he has excelled himself in setting a very dangerous precedent in randomly handing back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

These islands have strategic significance and when the Middle East could erupt into full-scale war, his timing in making this decision lacks foresight and thought and seems to have been made in haste. Is it not the case that such a potential decision should at least have been debated in Parliament and should not the Foreign Affairs Committee and/or the Defence Committee have been consulted.

It seems Sir Keir Starmer wants to make a “decision a day” regardless of the consequences. The residents of the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar will perhaps have some restless nights going forward.

Richard Allison, Edinburgh

Born lucky?

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All this understandable fuss about freebies for politicians makes me wonder about our royal family. Who pays for all those best seats at major sporting events, concerts and the like?

Or are they just lucky in the lottery for tickets?

Michael Grey, Edinburgh

Note precedent

Leah Gunn Barrett advocates printing money to solve all the economic woes of the SNP government but it appears that the Curriculum for Excellence has failed to teach your contributor about the government of post the First World War (Letters, 4 October).

Germany attempted to follow this advice. It was an experiment that did not end well either for Germany or the rest of the world, as can be explained by any NAT 5 history pupil.

Note that the letter from Ms Gunn Barrett made no reference to the £130 billion debt that is required to decarbonise Scottish homes, the cost of providing hydrogen-fuelled back-up generators to keep the lights on when the wind fails to blow, or the £9 trillion UK National debt that arises from a Green Transition, with the Scottish share amounting to around £900bn.

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How much energy will be required to keep the printing presses in action to clear such a debt mountain?

Ian Moir, Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway

Come on Kamala

6 January 2020 was the shameful day in American politics when Donald Trump stirred his followers to action on Capitol Hill to overturn the result of the recent election. Democracy was under threat and five people lost their lives.

The congressional hearing appointed to explore this event was chaired by Liz Cheney, daughter of Dick Cheney, a former Republican vice president (your report, 4 October). Now, she is set to share a platform with Democrat candidate Kamala Harris in Wisconsin, partly to ensure that these events will never be repeated.

Donald Trump is doing everything in his waning power to “steal” the election, including voter suppression, which is surely the antithesis of democracy, including, if necessary, a repeat of that 6 January event. Hopefully, if he can't persuade his wife, Melania, who has bravely taken a pro-abortion stance, Trump will be unable to convince voters that he is a fit and proper person to be the next President. Kamala Harris's victory would be a much-needed win for democracy.

Ian Petrie, Edinburgh

Volunteers needed

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Why is the Conservative Party looking for its next leader from the ranks of the political class, which is at a low ebb in public opinion.

Why not look to industry, or even to those who write so well in The Scotsman’s letters pages?

Then find a constituency where such a person could be elected, and then become Leader, and perhaps even our next Prime Minister.

What the United Kingdom needs is an executive with a new attitude. America’s Republican Party sets a good example.

Malcolm Parkin, Kinnesswood, Kinross

Write to The Scotsman

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