Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of recent trends in the cost of bus and rail travel.

Trends in the cost of rail travel

The rail fares index is available from Office of Rail and Road, available here: http://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/browsereports/1. In respect of regulated rail fares, I would note that we have capped regulated fare increases at RPI for the past two years and will continue to do so for the lifetime of this Parliament. This has resulted in wages rising faster than fares for the first time since 2002. We have also reduced the non-cumulative flex from 5 per cent introduced by Labour to 0 per cent in 2015. We will continue this policy for the lifetime of this Parliament.

In respect of unregulated rail fares, from 1997 to 2010 unregulated fares grew more quickly than regulated fares every year, but since 2010 the average rise in unregulated fares has dropped to a similar level as regulated fares. Unregulated fares increased in real terms between 2005 and 2010 by 14.4% compared to 4.7% between 2010 and 2015.

Trends in the cost of bus travel

The local bus fares index is published in table BUS0415, available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/387116/bus0415.xls

I would note that bus fares in England increased in real terms between March 2005 and March 2010 by 11.2% compared to 7.0% between March 2010 and March 2015.