Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Examples of Hyper Inflation No 94

This week, parking charges at Tonbridge Station have risen by 70p a day. Doesn't sound much, does it? But when you think about it in per centage terms, you'd imagine that parking charges have gone up by two or three per cent. You'd be wrong. Each day this week I am paying 15.9% more than I was last week.

And I don't have a choice in the matter. There's nowhere else to park.

35 comments:

tristantzara said...

Yes, your rate of inflation relative to last week for Tonbridge parking charges is 15.9%.

No, that doesn't mean that the rate of inflation is that high.

The phenomenom is called "menu prices". It's expensive to change prices - you have to redo the sign, reconfigure the machine etc - all of which costs - so it doesn't happen very often. When it does the rise is sharp so nobody need bother again for a while.

This is why you've got to use a basket even to measure inflation in single types of good: by your measure inflation this week was 15% but next week it will be 0%. A basket, in some cases averaged over time, tells you what's actually going on.

It's a case of not being able to see the wood for the trees.

Anonymous said...

".. I don't have a choice in the matter.."

You could cycle to the station, possibly ?

To be honest, I'm not sure where the money goes - is to 'son of Railtrack' or to the 'operator of the station' e.g. First Great Western for Bath.

Iain Dale said...

Giles, thatr has to rate as one of the most illinformed posts on this site. Ever. Each year the price goes up. When I first started using the station in 2004 the charge was £2.50. It is now 5.10. Doubled in four years. And the machines don't work half the time. They are absuing their monopoly.

repossessed house investor said...

Iain,
I never understand why either you or some other blogger of political inclination does not incorporate this tool on their site. I find it invaluable and very accurate. Try it.

http://www.google.com/ig/directory
?synd=open&num=24&url=
http://ukpolitics.news.googlepages.
com/UKPolitics_News.xml&output=html

Anonymous said...

iain - look on the bright side, a rich man like you can afford it [or you wouldn't travel] and subsidises someone like me who is being green by choosing not to have a car !

Think of it as 'carbon trading' or 'carbon offset' and you will sleep a lot easier at night !

Cheerio..

Anonymous said...

You'll just have to get used to it, Iain.

Hyper inflation is a normal feature of a bust economy.

If you were less twadgeted on 'Westminster Twitter', you might have noticed that the banks are skint.

HBOS and B&B are going down the toilet as we speak. Barclays are 9bn short. And according to that nice Belgian CEO at Fortis, the American financial market is in meltdown.

Oh, it wasn't on the BBC? Fancy that. Don't suppose they'll mention when bread hits £5 a loaf either.

Anonymous said...

giles robertson said

Quote

This is why you've got to use a basket to measure inflation . . .

But isn't that who's measuring it at the moment?

Anonymous said...

At least South Eastern Trains isn't part of the public sector but a public company that brings the benefits of free market efficiency to the Kent rail user. And if they choose to exploit their monopoly position by hoiking up parking charges, well it's because their ability to raise other ticket prices is regulated. Maximising profit is the primary objective of the company.

Ted Foan said...

In my town centre you'll be lucky to get a parking spot for 50p for 30 minutes - just enough time to walk to the bank, pay in a few cheques, buy a Subway, and get back to the car before the SS tows it away. Otherwise it's £2 for an hour. My wife says I should walk into town - it's only a mile and a half - but I don't want to spend the rest of the time walking around M&S looking for bargains! ("I bought This blouse/skirt/pair shoes for half price!")

However, we can also park for £2.50a day if we want to catch the train to London and can get back before 9.30pm. Now that's not bad value.

One man's inflation is another mans's relative values. (I think I have made a useful point here but I haven't factored in the extra wardrobe space we have had to invest in!)

Anonymous said...

"abusing their monopoly"

Get real Iain. Is that the only land in Tonbridge where you can park a car? No. Is it the most convenient? Yes.Stop whinging about paying for convenience.

Tapestry said...

And the ECJ is threatening the UK with legal consequences for being in excessive deficit.

Brown has to raise taxes as he unable to cut expenditures- or the unions will bankrupt him.

Public sector inflation is and will remain around 20% p.a. until Labour are voted out.

Anonymous said...

The Conservative East Riding of Yorkshire Council has pushed up parking charges all over the county. In my local town 1 hous parking has risen from 20p to £1 in one year. The revenue raised has risen by millions of pounds! The Lib Dems in Hull have done the same.

When I made a freedom of information request about the rise in revenue at my local car park the Council rejected it saying exact details would endanger the lives of the men who collected the money from the parking machines.

The town has a large aging population and they need to be able to park in the centre of the town - walking is out of the question and there is no bus service.

The Council already charge the maximum council tax possible without invoking a "Cap" and the standard of most services has been reduced. Then we have this Tory Stealth Tax.

Anonymous said...

I concur with anonymous @ 2308. Time to get on your bike and go to work. Will help with your weight-loss efforts as well.

Anonymous said...

That's private enterprise for you.

The cost of operating the car park certainly won't have doubled in the last 4 years. There is no competitor car park and so you are part of the captive clientèle. The owner's are just taking advantage of that situation.

Anonymous said...

Repossessed house investor, your link doesn't work.

Blackacre said...

You could get the bus? Or park in another car park in Tonbridge (there must be some) and walk to the station. It is not a true monopoly as there are alternatives and if you and your fellow commuters were to try them out, the parking income would soon fall.

Anonymous said...

Work where you live or live where you work and stop whining!

Iain Dale said...

There are no other car parks where you can park all day. Off street parking is impossible because you get a ticket if your car is there between 10am and 11am. I live 6 miles from the station. I have no other choice but to drive there. Only a fool would cycle down the A21 from Tun Wells to Tonbridge - it's one of the worst accident blackspots in the country.

So yes, there is a monopoly and they are exploiting it.

Anonymous said...

I take it there is no bus service? Why not start a campaign to have one? Or a cycle route that doesn't involve the A21?

Anonymous said...

"70p a day. Doesn't sound much, does it?"

Not to you it would seem!

tory boys never grow up said...

Yes it is an abuse of monopoly power by Southeastern Railways who run the car parks supported by Tonbridge council who put up their parking prices in sympathy. Now no guesses for who gave station parking to privatised monopolies and left car parking prices outside the scope of regulation.

All the privatised companies have massively increased the prices of their services where the prices are not subject to regulation.

That said there is probably a very good case for referring the matter to the OFT who could use their increased anti-competitive powers to address the matter.

Chris Paul said...

Like Giles says. When did this last go up? You didn't say. And that being so it is heavy manners for you to then object to his analysis which remains fair.

And even now you don't say who exactly has put the charges up. Railtrack? A Tory council? Some commercial outfit like the damned train company?

At six miles from the station you are outside walking distance - though you might jog or cycle or move nearer and pay a premium - but you could also sell your beloved high-carbon car and get a taxi both ways for less than parking fee plus true daily car-cost. Petrol alone might account for £3 these days.

Anonymous said...

Why not get the train from tunbridge wells then? it's only an extra 15 mins on the train. Or get a moped like the 10,000 other people who get the train from there. I'm not going to feel sorry for anyone who can afford to live in tunbridge wells paying an extra 70p to park their car

Iain Dale said...

Chris Paul, I did say when it last went up - a year ago. And it's gone up from £2.50 since 2004. ]

A taxi from the station to my house costs £13 each way. You really don't live in the real world do you?

Anonymous said...

http://kent.gumtree.com/kent/98/22775298.html

This might save you 50p/week?!

Roger Thornhill said...

It is not "private enterprise" that matters but the monopolistic situation.

There are very few natural monopolies and parking is not one of them! Alas, parking at a station tends to be a tricky one. Shame someone is not permitted due to planning law to build a new carpark to compete, eh?

Monopolies rarely operate in our favour, which is why the State should get out of Health, Education and a whole raft of areas.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you bought a house in the wrong place. This is capitalism, neo-liberal, where the company's profits matter more than you. Wait for that profit to "trickle down" and benefit the rest of society and we'll all be better off. Or so you lot told us.

Blackacre said...

Why don't you try Vale Road car park which looks to be a short walk away according to the Tonbridge Council website? It is open 23 hours a day and has an annual season ticket costing £608. Allowing 240 trips a year, that is £2.50 per stay so half the price of the station. Or Soverereign Way East near that one at £3.90 a day or the same season ticket cost.

I just do not agree it is a monopoly but the operation of the free market as there are certainly options - maybe less convenient but lower cost. As a Tory surely you should applaud the operation of the market and a service provider maximising its profits?

Anonymous said...

13.5kg of gas £21 - up from £13 in August

Unknown said...

Er...

hyperinflation has a very specific economic meaning and is used to describe the most serious kind of economic meltdown.

The Weimar Republic in 1933 can be said to have suffered from hyperinflation. Zimbabwe today can be said to be suffering from hyperinflation.

An annual rise in the cost of a car-park ticket....mmm, words fail me.

I think it is you that doesn't live in the real world.

All this after banging on at tedious length about buying a 50k Audi every year or so. Yeah, that 15pc rise in car park fees must really sting...

Anonymous said...

"This week, parking charges at Tonbridge Station have risen by 70p a day"

I first read that to mean charges have increased by 70p each day - so it cost 70p to park on Monday, £1.40 on Tuesday, £2.10 on Wednesday etc...

That really would be hyper inflation.

Anonymous said...

You have made a lifestyle choice to live in such an absurd place (and have rather an expensive motor). Stop complaining.

Unknown said...

As an infrequent user on Tonbridge station carpark, I can confirm the rocketing cost over the last few years, which is indeed cross-making (although both sides of the carpark are packed every day with shiny motors, so some of the success-of-enterprise points above have validity). BUT the most infuriating thing is that the pay-stations will only take plastic for weekly season tickets, so if you're just there for the day, you have to make sure you have at least a fiver in change. Where else can you not pay for a service at this price using a switch card? The country's gone to the dogs; I blame Gordon Brown etc etc etc...

David Lindsay said...

My 28-day bus ticket costing £57 ran out on Suday. So on Monday, I bought a new one. It cost £62:50. In four weeks, the price had increased by £5:50, practically ten per cent. That is the real rate of inflation.

Anonymous said...

David Lindsay said...
"My 28-day bus ticket costing £57 ran out on Suday. So on Monday, I bought a new one. It cost £62:50. In four weeks, the price had increased by £5:50, practically ten per cent. That is the real rate of inflation."

But for how long had it been £57?