Biggest rail fare rise in five years for commuters
RAIL passengers in the Valleys are this week being hit with the biggest fare rise in five years.
Average ticket prices across Britain have gone up by 3.4%.
That means the cost of a 12-month season ticket between Aberdare and Cardiff has jumped from £1,104 to £1,140.
There is alarm that for many people, fares are rising faster than income with the TUC claiming rail commuters now spending up to five times as much of their salary on season tickets as passengers on the continent.
The cost of 12 months commuting between Treherbert and Cardiff has jumped the same amount as the Aberdare total, while people travelling between Pontypridd and Cardiff will see the amount they pay climb from £948 to £980.
Stephen Joseph, chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT), accused the Government of choosing to “snub rail passengers” by continuing to raise fares while fuel duty is frozen for a seventh consecutive year.
He said: “The extra money that season ticket holders will have to fork out this year is almost as much as drivers will save.
“That doesn’t seem fair to us or the millions of people who commute by train, especially as wages continue to stagnate. What’s good enough for motorists should be good enough for rail passengers.”
The Government uses the previous July’s Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation to determine increases in regulated fares –3.6% in 2017.
Bruce Williamson, of campaign group Railfuture, warned that “people are being priced out of getting to work”.
He called for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation measure to be used for regulated fare increases.
Plaid Cymru Treasury spokesman Jonathan Edwards said: “The way rail fare prices are currently calculated is unfair for customers and often means eye-watering increases in costs for them.
“At a time of stagnant wage growth and the biggest squeeze on living standards for over a century these huge increases in rail prices will hit commuters hard.”
Mr Edwards argued that fares should be linked to CPI inflation, not RPI, adding: “It is clear the rail franchise model pursued by successive Westminster governments is bad news for commuters and taxpayers alike.
“That is why Plaid Cymru advocates control over Welsh rail and transport infrastructure in Welsh hands so that we can deliver better solutions for our communities.”
A Department for Transport spokesman said: “We are investing in the biggest modernisation of our railways since the Victorian times to improve services for passengers – providing faster and better, more comfortable trains with extra seats.
“This includes the first trains running though London on the Crossrail project, an entirely new Thameslink rail service and continuing work on the transformative Great North Rail Project.
“We keep fare prices under constant review and the price rises for this year are capped in line with inflation, with 97p out of every £1 paid going back into the railway.”