THE Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said there is reasonable grounds to believe a proposal by FirstGroup to cap unregulated train fares between London and Exeter may be remedy its concerns.
The CMA opened an investigation after FirstGroup, and its partner MTR, won the South Western rail franchise, which it is set to commence operation of on August 20. As the current operator of the Great Western Railways (GWR) franchise, FirstGroup will become the only operator running rail services between the two cities. Both South Western and GWR run services between London and Exeter, from Waterloo and Paddington respectively.
The CMA said that FirstGroup could potentially take advantage of the reduction in competition to increase fares for the half a million passengers a year who use the route.
Having been given the opportunity to avoid an in-depth investigation, FirstGroup and MTR have now offered to cap unregulated fares between London and Exeter on both South Western and GWR services by linking these to prices on a number of other comparable routes.
They have also proposed to maintain the availability of cheaper advance fares on both services.
The CMA said there was “reasonable grounds for believing that the proposals, or a modified version of them, might be acceptable in protecting passengers using the services”.
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