Freeze train fares and take railways in to public ownership, say campaigners
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Campaigners are demanding a freeze on train fares and public ownership of the railways on the day a near 4% increase for next year will be announced.
The rise, which is pegged to inflation, is expected to be around 3.9% making it the highest increase for five years and outstripping wages by double.
The increase applies to regulated rail fares, like season tickets and standard returns, which make up almost half of all fares and have been capped at the previous July’s Retail Price Index (RPI), which is revealed today.
But critics say the RPI should be scrapped as a measure and replaced with the lower Consumer Price Index.
Pressure group, We Own It, the voice for passengers who want public ownership of the railways, says bringing rail franchises into government hands one at a time could see regulated fares cut by 30%.
Cat Hobbs, Director of We Own It said: “Fares have spiralled out of control and this latest increase is beyond a joke.
“It’s time to stop giving train companies the green light to rip off passengers. The government needs to step in, freeze fares and start bringing franchises into public ownership. If we stop wasting money on shareholder profits, we can give passengers a better deal.”
And the Campaign for Better Transport is calling on the government to hold regulated rail fares at their current level and then rethink the way it calculates fares in future to help millions of part-time workers.
Stephen Joseph, Chief Executive of Campaign for Better Transport, said: “This rise will be the highest since 2013 and will leave many commuters struggling to meet the cost of their commute next year.
“That’s why we want the Government to bring in a fares freeze for January; it’s frozen fuel duty for the last seven years and we think rail fares should be given the same treatment.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has promised to take back control of rail into British public ownership as franchises expire.
Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, said:”With rail fares soaring ahead of wage growth, the Government simply can’t justify allowing passengers to be ripped-off under privatised rail.
“It is outrageous that UK commuters pay over the odds in order to subsidise travel in France, Germany, Holland and Italy and generate huge profits for private train companies.
“The Tories ought to be standing up for the interests of the travelling public rather than the private and foreign state-owned companies who run our railways.
Last night Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the TSSA rail union, said:”Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask when he fleeced his passengers.
“Today train companies, with the government’s blessing, hide behind the Retail Price Index to flush ever more money out of hard-pressed passengers to swell their own profit margins.
“I’m yet to hear of the privatised company that says fares shouldn’t go up because their services - as most regular commuters will tell you - have declined under privatisation.
“When the Tories passed legislation which allowed rail fare hikes year in year out, they made legal one of the greatest train robberies in railway history.”
A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents Network Rail and train companies, said:”Money from fares is supporting one of the biggest programmes of investment in the railway since Victorian times."