End the rail fare rip-off

Season tickets up by £100 despite shambolic ScotRail performance

BELEAGUERED passengers on Scotland’s trains face a punishing rise in rail fares – with season tickets for key routes increasing by more than £100 a year.

Troubled ScotRail’s regulated peak fares will go up by 2.8 per cent from January 2, despite ‘notable concerns’ over poor performance.

Commuters between Glasgow and Edinburgh face paying £4,198 a year for a season ticket – a rise of £114.

Travelling between the cities using an ‘anytime day return’ ticket could cost £26.21, up from £25.50.

A season ticket between Glasgow and Dundee is set to rise by £157, from £5,624 to £5,781, while the Dundee to Edinburgh route is facing a rise of £124 – from £4,448 to £4,572.

The hikes – which will apply to season and anytime tickets – are determined by last month’s Retail Price Index (RPI), which was 2.8 per cent.

Scottish Tory transport spokesman Jamie Greene said: ‘Despite notable concerns over the state of our rail service and its reliability, passengers are still being asked to pay more.

‘Rail users deserve better value for money, not frequent delays and packed carriages.

Regulated peak fare rises are capped at the level of RPI. Regulated off-peak fares are capped at 1 per cent below RPI, meaning 1.8 per cent.

ScotRail commercial director Lesley Kane said: ‘Eightyfive per cent of our revenue comes from fares set by the Scottish Government, which decides how much customers pay. The money generated from fares is reinvested back into Scotland’s railway, including £475million under [franchise operator] Abellio in new and upgraded trains and improved punctuality.’

But Mick Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ union, said: ‘Yet another rail fare hike is a kick in the teeth for rail passengers, who are already paying over the odds to travel on overcrowded, clapped-out and unreliable trains.

‘This is just corporate welfare for the greedy train

‘Deserve better value for money’

companies on an industrial scale. We need a publicly owned and nationally integrated railway.’

Scottish Labour transport spokesman Colin Smyth said: ‘It is simply wrong that commuters will be forced to pay hundreds of pounds more for train services plagued by delays, cancellations and overcrowding. This rip-off fare rise will hit thousands of working people who use Scotland’s railways to get to work.’

Jane Ann Liston, of passenger group Railfuture Scotland, said: ‘The current situation, where flying between mainland cities is cheaper than taking the train, is crazy.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Calls for measures such as fares 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.’