Rail fares set to rise by 3.5% next year
RAIL commuters are being warned to expect rail faires to rise by 3.5% next year. This would increase the annual cost of getting to work for many long-distance travellers by more than £150.
The exact figure though, will be confirmed on Wednesday when the July Retail Prices Index (RPI) is released by the Office for National Statistics.
However, economists from Investec and EY Item Club both predict the figure will rise by 3.5%.
The Department for Transport (DfT) uses July’s RPI to determine the annual increase in regulated train fares, which comes into force every January.
Regulated fares include season tickets on most commuter routes, some off-peak return tickets on long distance journeys and Anytime tickets around major cities.
A Campaign for Better Transport spokesman urged the Government to “commit to a fares freeze”.
He said: “Given the mess surrounding the new timetable, the lack of improvements and the failure to deliver compensation, the Government cannot go on telling passengers that fare increases are justified.”
In January the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, said RPI has “no merit”, adding that “virtually everyone recognises” the alternative Consumer Prices Index (CPI).
Rail campaigners want CPI to be used to determine regulated fare increases, as it is generally lower than RPI.
A spokesperson for Railfuture, said: “People on low incomes will be affected by this increase and the government has also frozen benefits for many people. Therefore, obviosuly a 3.5% increase will affect many people on benefits. We don’t want an exclusive rail service.”
The rail industry has pledged to remove jargon from tickets and journey information for half a million train routes next month.
A DfT spokesman said: “Any fare increase is unwelcome, but it is not fair to ask people who do not use trains to pay more for those who do.
“Taxpayers already subsidise the network by more than £4bn a year – meaning that 38% of our transport budget is spent on the 2% of journeys that the railway accounts for.”
He added that fare increases are Taxpayers subsidise the rail network by £4bn each year
helping to pay for extra carriages and services, as well as upgrades on the Great Western Main Line and the Transpennine route.
Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, representing train companies, said: “Of every pound spent on train fares, 98p is invested back into the railway.”
Mick Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, said: “This is another kick in the teeth for passengers who are being robbed by greedy train operators for travelling in rammed out and unreliable services while the shareholders are laughing all the way to the bank.”