The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Rail fare hikes ‘make it cheaper to drive’
Commuters better off behind the wheel, according to study
Rail ticket hikes mean it is now cheaper for commuters from Dundee to drive, according to a study.
The analysis compared the price of train travel with the fuel and parking costs for motorists.
Unions have warned the cost of rail tickets, many of which increased last week, is forcing commuters to take the car, which say they amounts to a poverty tax for those who cannot afford private transport.
It costs £45.50 to get a return train ticket from Dundee to Glasgow during peak hours, according to research published in the Sunday Herald, compared with £24.70 for driving.
For those doing the daily commute between Dundee and Edinburgh, it is £13 cheaper to go by car.
It is marginally cheaper to board a train (£16.30) than getting behind the wheel(£16.94)forGlenrothescommuters into the capital at peak times.
ScotRail says it is reinvesting revenue for ticket price rises to “build the best railway Scotland has ever had”.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Theresa May defended the price increases, insisting that investment is needed.
She said rises in regulated fares are kept to inflation, with 97p of every pound paid towards a ticket being put into the railways.
Fares rose by an average of 3.4% last week, with an annual pass from Mrs May’s Maidenhead constituency to London increasing by £104 to £3,092.
Mrs May, speaking to BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show, said: “Since privatisation, usage of the railways has doubled and we have seen the biggest investments since Victorian times in our railways.
“A lot of people rely on our railways, we want to see good service on our railways but that does mean that investment is needed.”
Mrs May was also questioned about the Government’s early termination of the East Coast rail franchise involving Stagecoach and Virgin.
They had agreed to pay the Government £3.3 billion to run the service over eight years until 2023 although it was announced in November that a new East Coast Partnership will take on responsibility for both intercity trains and track operations on the route in 2020.
Asked to guarantee that taxpayers will receive the £3.3bn from the two companies, Mrs May replied: “Virgin and Stagecoach are still paying money to the Government for the East Coast line.”