Tariff games

Train fares have risen twice as much as expected

Russian Railways made themselves a gift for the fifth anniversary of their incorporation. Instead of increasing fares for reserved seat, general and seated carriages (so-called social transportation) from October 1 by 12%, as the state prescribed, the monopoly increased them by more than 23.5%. There was no information about such a significant increase either at the stations or on the official website of Russian Railways. You can notice the difference only in the Express-3 information system, through which Russian Railways sells all tickets. The Federal Tariff Service (FTS) was unable to comment on the situation yesterday. The press service of the company itself suggested that Vremya Novostey’s calculations (a simple division of two figures) are incorrect, since a “complex formula” is used to determine the price, but they could not explain its essence, as well as where it came from.

As already reported, the FTS, by its order, authorized an increase in tariffs for social transportation of the population from October 1 by an average of 12%, as a result of which the price increase over the year should be more than 27% (since January 1, tariffs were increased by 14%). For example, a ticket for a reserved seat car on a fast non-branded train on the route Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod without a set of bed linen was supposed to rise in price on October 1 from 262.8 rubles. up to 294.3 rub. (excluding commission fees). However, the price entered into the Express-3 system is 324.6 rubles. (also excluding commission fees), which is how tickets are sold at the box office. On the Moscow-Petrozavodsk route, tickets for a reserved seat carriage have risen in price from 486.1 rubles. up to 600.4 rub. Similar growth is observed in all domestic Russian routes. If by the end of the year Russian Railways does not reduce the cost of tickets and does not provide additional discounts, then it will be possible to state that tariffs for social passenger transportation have increased by more than 40% over the year. Official inflation since the beginning of the year in the country amounted to 10.5%.

The functions of the FTS include oversight of how its orders are carried out. Accordingly, the service had to respond yesterday to growth exceeding the approved value. However, this did not happen. And the president of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, did not touch upon the tariff topic at a press conference in honor of the company’s fifth anniversary, according to news agencies.

Nikolay GORELOV