Anger over 3.8% hike in rail fares
Maidenhead: Rise is ‘far from fair’ – passenger groups
A hike in the cost of train fares next spring has been criticised by passenger bodies amid the rising cost of living and the continued impact of the pandemic.
Richard Porter, secretary of the Marlow-Maidenhead Passengers’ Association, said that prices for rail travellers should have been frozen to encourage people back on to the network.
The Government announced on Friday that next year’s fares will rise by 3.8 per cent from March.
Transport ministers defended their decision by saying that this was below the current rate of inflation.
But Mr Porter was disappointed to hear the news of a further rise, following on from that in March, when prices rose above inflation for the first time in seven years.
“We saw it coming, of course, but that’s no consolation to passengers,” he said. “At a time like this, we should be freezing rail fares to encourage people back onto the trains and to make it easier for key workers to get by.”
Mr Porter’s views have been echoed by the Campaign for Better Transport group, which argued that the rise is ‘far from fair’ in relation to car drivers, adding that it goes against the UK’s climate change ambitions.
Paul Tuohy, chief executive of the group, said: “Rail fares should have been frozen to match the fuel duty freeze for car drivers.
“If the Government is serious about shrinking transport’s carbon footprint it should make rail the affordable choice.”
Advertiser readers have also had their say on the latest fare rise. Channah Molnar said that key workers should be exempt from the price increases ‘at the very least’, adding that their monthly train bill was likely to rise by £30 to about £150.
Another reader NJ Kaur added that the Government ‘can’t expect the public to be more green’ when simple things like public transport have ‘extortionate fares’.
Others claimed that it was cheaper to travel in an Uber to nearby towns such as Bracknell.
The Department for Transport said that the taxpayer has already invested more than £14billion to keep services running during the pandemic.
It said that the rise will ‘help meet some of these costs’ and will ‘help pay for the service increases and improvements on many lines’.
The Rail Delivery Group, an umbrella group for the companies running the country’s railways, welcomed the decision to hold fares in line with inflation.
It added: “We know the railway must not take more than its fair share from the taxpayer, which is why the rail industry is working to create a financially sustainable and more passengerfocused service.”