Railways: Fares

(asked on 16th December 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of increasing rail fares on encouraging passengers to return to rail travel, once covid-19 restrictions are lifted.


Answered by
Chris Heaton-Harris Portrait
Chris Heaton-Harris
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
This question was answered on 11th January 2021

We understand concerns about the cost of some rail fares and the impact that this can have on budgets. We have carefully considered the needs of passengers and the cost of operating a safe railway before arriving at a decision. This will be the lowest increase in four years. We have also temporarily frozen fares, enabling passengers to purchase tickets at current prices, including annual season tickets during January and February.

Taxpayers have been very generous in their support to keep trains running throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognising the scale of taxpayer support, it is vital that farepayers make a fair contribution. Ultimately, a small rise is necessary to ensure we are fair to taxpayers and can sustain investment on maintaining services, to enable social distancing and support our economic recovery.

The Government recognises the change in travel patterns, the impact of COVID-19 and therefore the need to accommodate a more flexible style of working and travelling. We are therefore continuing to work closely with industry to develop a solution that offers better value and convenience for those who work flexibly, which we will provide further details on in due course.

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