Fare rises for rail commuters

Passengers have been paying less towards investment

Rail commuters face a 4% rise in the cost of tickets under a new pricing system.

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling told the Commons that the Strategic Rail Authority is to abandon its price cap which kept increases in season tickets at 1% less than inflation.

He said regulated fares for London commuter routes, saver fares and standard weekly tickets would be allowed to increase by inflation plus 1% for three years from 2004.

At the current inflation rate, this will mean fares on these regulated routes, such as in the South East of England, will rise by 4% in the New Year.

Mr Darling told MPs that the government was spending £73m every week to improve the railways and all this "had to be paid for".

He pledged that every extra pound raised as a result of the rises "will go back into the railway network".

It is essential to strike the right balance between the contribution from the fare payer and the contribution from the taxpayer

Alistair Darling
Transport Secretary

"This was a difficult decision but it is essential to strike the right balance between the contribution from the fare payer and the contribution from the taxpayer," he said.

"We are sorting out the problems we inherited, we are making the change we need to improve reliability and we are putting in place the investment vital to passengers and the future of the railway."

In all, around 44% of fares are regulated, including long-distance turn-up-and-go off-peak saver tickets which will continue to be regulated until 2006 before being replaced.

The rises mean commuters will be paying a higher share in the billions of pounds being spent on new trains and power supplies.

Simpler system

Mr Darling said the SRA was also to work with train operators to restructure the ticket regime with the aim of introducing a simpler system by 2004.

Rail watchdogs are furious, saying passengers are being forced to pay for the industry's failure to control the soaring costs of modernisation programmes and maintenance work.

Since privatisation in 1995, south-eastern commuter fares have risen only 13% while inflation has gone up 22%.

The Conservative's shadow transport secretary MP Tim Collins said many passengers would be prepared to pay more for a better level of service but the government was delivering "later trains, fewer trains and now vastly more expensive trains".

The SRA said that under the new fares regime, passengers would, on average, pay an extra £45 a year in real terms for their season tickets by January 2006.

Commuters travelling between London and Brighton, for example, currently pay £68 for a weekly season ticket and this may increase to around £70 in real terms in January 2006.

Earlier this week the Strategic Rail Authority report published on Monday showing that rail passengers were facing higher fares and reduced services, despite worsening punctuality revealed in new figures.

It found 20% of trains were still running late and passenger complaints were up by 8% over the past year.