Rail fares have risen again today

Hello Supporter

How do you feel about today's rise in the price of train tickets? Next time you renew your season ticket or buy an off-peak return to visit family, will you feel that the 3.2 per cent increase is justified?

Bill certainly doesn't.

The annual rail fare rise has become an unwelcome start to each new year as millions of us return to work after the Christmas break. But today's average fare rise of 3.1 per cent (3.2 per cent for season tickets and standard returns) will have left many passengers wondering what on earth they are paying for after a record year for delays, cancellations and overcrowding. 

Whilst this year's rise was expected, many people, including Campaign for Better Transport and some MPs, felt that the Government should have used this opportunity to freeze fares and forgo the annual rise in recognition of the atrocious service experienced by passengers across the network last year. Thousands of trains were cancelled or delayed for weeks on end after the botched introduction of a new timetable.

Rail fares increase in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI), despite RPI being obsolete and no longer an official measure of inflation. Back in 2013 Campaign for Better Transport called for the Government to use the lower Consumer Price Index (CPI) to set fare increases instead. Despite having now indicated it will do so, the Government has yet to make the change. 

Today's rise is yet more evidence of why the review of the railways currently underway must prioritise passengers' needs and recommend a fundamental reform of the fares system and how fares are set. It's about time the Government recognised the most important part of the railway is its passengers.

If you would like to tell us how rising rail fares affect you, as Bill, David and James did, please do get in touch.

Thank you - goodbye till next time

Darren