Train fares rise almost twice as fast as wage growth under reign of SNP
RAIL fares have risen nearly twice as fast as wages since the SNP came to power.
Figures show commuters have been hit with massive bills to buy peak-travel train tickets and season tickets since 2007.
Scottish Labour is now calling for SNP ministers to end the ‘rip-off’ fares amid continued anger at services in Scotland.
The party has published analysis showing that the cost of a season ticket has increased by 54 per cent under the SNP, while wages have risen only 30.6 per cent.
It comes as peak-time regulated rail fares increased again across Scotland, with commuters hit with a 2.8 per cent rise last week.
Scottish Labour transport spokesman Colin Smyth said: ‘Under the SNP, rail fares have skyrocketed, increasing almost twice as fast as wages.
‘Passengers are forking out hundreds of pounds more every month, and getting worse and worse services in return.’
ScotRail has been heavily criticised for continued delays, cancellations and overcrowding. In December, Transport Secre
‘Impacted by performance issues’
tary Michael Matheson announced that Dutch firm Abellio will be stripped of the contract to run Scotland’s train services in 2022 – ahead of schedule.
The company has been running the franchise since 2015. The contract, worth more than £7billion over ten years, had been due to end in 2025.
But Mr Matheson said a ‘break clause’ would be used to end the franchise three years early. He told MSPs he was looking at other options, including the franchise being run by the public sector.
Abellio claimed services had been ‘impacted by operational performance issues’. This came just weeks before a fresh rise in ticket prices for commuters was implemented last Thursday. The price of a season ticket between Glasgow and Edinburgh has gone up by £116 to £4,200.
Last night, the Scottish Government said it was committed to ‘ensuring rail fares are affordable for passengers and taxpayers’ and officials are ‘capping increases where we have influence, making fares 20 per cent cheaper on average than in the rest of Great Britain’.