Treated as a second-class citizen for not having a car

IAM a long-time railway enthusiast, taking after my late paternal grandfather. Yes, I was a trainspotter in my youth, but I make no apologies for this interest whatsoever. For it saw me being in the great outdoors, as well as extensively visiting the United Kingdom, including making journeys to view seaside piers, another of my hobbies.

Today I’m happy to be a corresponding committee member for the local branch of the campaigning organisation Rail Future, while I used to be involved in the North East Lincolnshire based Eng-Age Transport Group. From years ago, I remember standing on a railway platform and getting annoyed when a station announcer talked of second-class passengers, and where they were supposed to wait. He meant, of course, those of us with a second class ticket, but the implication given by his remarks was that we as people were somehow inferior. British Rail officials must have shared my view, as second class gave way to standard class. Yet as a user of public transport today, I can’t help feeling that we’re still being treated by the Government as somehow being second class when compared to the motorist.

I make no secret of the fact that I travel by bus, or train when I make a longer journey. Like many in North East Lincolnshire, I’ve little option but to do so as I’ve not got a car. So, in my councillor’s role I’m always happy to stick up for the bus user, along with my support for rail travel.

And of course, in these days of climate change when a teenager talks more sense than entire governments, it is being environmentally friendly to support the use of alternatives to driving.

Not of course that I want car owners to be penalised. I accept that the local bus service needs a lot of improvements before many will transfer to this mode of transport. But I do wish for a level playing field, which sadly we’re not getting from the Tories.

Two articles in a recent copy of the “i” newspaper bear this out. Rail fares have recently been increased by 2.6 per cent, 1 per cent more than the Retail Price Index which is itself higher than the Consumer Price Index, that is used to calculate pensions and benefits. Meanwhile, the annual cost of running a car for those aged 17-24 has fallen by £296 to £2074, the lowest figure since 2015. Remember, of course, that those in this group are generally the fittest in society, who are those more able to walk/cycle to work or college. Yet the incentive for them to do so has been largely removed.

I struggled to find any reference to public transport in the recent Budget, despite the fact that the numbers travelling by both bus and train have plummeted since the Covid pandemic.

And warnings to avoid public transport if you can have hardly helped matters. Meanwhile, photos of scenes like the cars at Cleethorpes seafront show how motoring goes on unabated.

Oh, the Chancellor’s decision to freeze fuel duty once again, the same week that rail fares rose, is further proof of where the Government’s priorities lie.

Is it any wonder therefore that I think those of us without a car are being treated as second-class citizens?