Rail price hike branded unfair for commuters
Annual season ticket from Ayr to Glasgow soars to £ 2602
paid by passengers is simply unacceptable with passengers commuting between Ayr and Glasgow facing a season ticket rise of £ 70. Scottish Labour is clear. It’s high time working people stopped having to pay such excessive fares to line the pockets of private companies. Only Labour is fighting for a publicly owned railway which will serve the many, not just the few.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are committed to ensuring that rail fares are affordable for passengers and taxpayers across Scotland. We have capped increases where we have influence, making fares 20% cheaper on average than in the rest of Great Britain.
“While any fare increase is unwelcome, calls for measures such as fare cuts or a fares freeze underestimate the impact of these on the public purse.
“Two- thirds of the cost of running the railway is already met through Scottish Government subsidy, with the remainder through rail passenger revenues.
“Any change to rail fares could therefore have a significant impact on the taxpayer. The ongoing UK- wide Williams review offers an opportunity to reform the broken rail franchise system. Rather than implement any measures prematurely, we await the UK Government’s white paper in the autumn before making fundamental change. This includes fares policy as we would need to understand how it would work within the context of any change to franchising.”
ScotRail Commercial Director, Lesley Kane, added: “Eighty- five per cent of our revenue comes from fares set by the Scottish Government, which decides how much our customers pay.
“The money generated from fares is reinvested back into Scotland’s railway, including £ 475million under Abellio in new and upgraded trains, and improved punctuality, so that we can give our customers the service they expect and deserve.”