Hamish McRae: ‘For millions, being able to buy a ticket in person, rather than from some machine or online, matters enormously’ This is Armchair Economics with Hamish McRae, a subscriber-only newsletter from i. If you’d like to get this direct to your inbox, every single week,are not to close after all. Great.
The economic background to this challenge is that, if the next generation is to have both a higher standard of living and a better quality of life than the present one, we have to find ways of increasing the productivity of the service industries. It has been relatively easy to improve productivity in manufacturing. Products now are better and cheaper in real terms than they were 30 years ago. Think of a car, or a washing machine, or certainly a personal computer.
This is really difficult, and the process will vary from industry to industry but we have to do it. And if you want to see an example of how to make the transition badly, look at the ticketing system for our railways.I am fascinated by the way in which privatisation of the railways has been an extraordinary and unsung success. To many people this will seem bizarre, and having had some pretty infuriating experiences with late trains and cancellations, it is certainly an off proposition.