Fares rise won’t encourage rail travel

Rail union TSSA has today blasted the government for “seeming hell bent on discouraging rail travel” as it confirms that rail fares will increase by 3.8% from March 2021.

TSSA says that increasing rail fares at a time when more is needed to encourage passengers back onto the rail network is “staggeringly counter-productive”.

Manuel Cortes, TSSA General Secretary, said: “This government seems hell bent on discouraging rail travel. This latest fares hike will put yet more people off and price many out of rail travel completely.

“The Tories are happy to incentivise aviation by cutting domestic air duty, but when it comes to rail it’s one failure after another. They messed up flexible season tickets in the summer, coming up with tickets that were actually MORE expensive, and have spent years clobbering commuters and whacking up fares by over inflation while paying out to private company shareholders.

“This has to stop. Fares rises are staggeringly counter-productive. Rail should be incentivised and the government should look at free travel – as many other countries do – as a positive way to change travel behaviour and cut emissions in our efforts to meet climate commitments.”