‘More people will be priced off trains, so put passengers first’

MORE passengers will be priced off the railways if fares rise again, the UK Government is being warned.

Ministers were told there should not be any price rise, especially as the industry continues to suffer from a huge fall in the number of people travelling by train because of the ongoing virus crisis.

Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, said: “There should be no planned increase in rail fares. Doing so in the middle of a health emergency and emerging economic crisis will help no-one.

“Since the pandemic, our railways have kept key workers and vital supplies moving. There can be no doubt how vital our rail infrastructure is for the wellbeing of our nation and for our efforts to decarbonise our economy.

“With that in mind, our industry needs a new start which puts passengers, not profits, first.

“This is the moment for Government to come clean and tell us that not only will there be no increase in fares, but that they are taking our railways back into public ownership.

“We simply must get more people to use our railways for leisure travel as there is very likely to be a drop in commuter numbers as we feel the bite of what is expected to be a very deep recession and also increased homeworking taking hold.

“This means putting in place a new affordable and more flexible fare structure which serves the needs of changing working patterns and which strongly promotes people using our railways for leisure purposes.”

Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) assistant general secretary Mick Lynch said: “The fact that this Government appears to be pushing ahead with yet another extortionate fare rise in January shows just how out of touch they are.

“This regressive fare increase hits the low-paid hardest and will only serve to price more passengers off our railways and push even more people into their cars at a time when rail is in crisis.

“What we urgently need to see is bold and innovative leadership to give passengers what they want – a publicly-owned railway with affordable and flexible ticketing that’s good value and suits their needs as part of the Covid-19 recovery.”

The RMT is calling for new flexible rail tickets to be launched in response to the changing nature of work, with many people continuing to work from home or splitting their week between home and office.

Labour compared the costs on more than 180 train routes between when the Conservatives came to power and the projected new prices, saying the average commuter will now be paying £3,113 for their season ticket, which is £919 or 42% more than in 2010.

Some commuters will be paying over £3,350 more to travel to work than in 2010, said Labour.

Average fares have risen two and a half times faster than wages, it was suggested.

Shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon said: “Decisions taken by Government ministers are making rail travel unaffordable and discouraging people [from getting] back on to the network, which will be vital for getting the rail sector on a stable footing.

“Our fragmented, privatised railway drives up costs and leaves passengers paying more for less.

“Labour has long argued that public ownership of the rail network will provide better value for the taxpayer and for passengers. The Government must stop paying the profit of the private rail companies and bring the network inhouse.”

Mick Whelan, leader of the train drivers’ union Aslef, said the increase was “entirely inappropriate” and should be waived because of the pandemic.

“Now is not the time to put prices up. I am calling on the Government to do the right thing and announce that there will be no price rise next year.”