Reform of fares structure long overdue

TSSA has said that "reform of our fares structures is long overdue" and criticises the approach of using commuters as "cash cows". The union was responding to Transport Focus's "Travel During Covid-19" survey. 

The transport watchdog discovered that a whopping half of people in the survey of 2,000 people expect to work from home more often in the future and more than a third (36 per cent) think their job will be homebased with limited travel to their workplace.

TSSA has called for a rethink of rail which puts tackling climate change at the heart of the government’s approach to the “strategically important” transport sector.

Manuel Cortes, TSSA General Secretary, said: 

"Reform of our fares structures is long overdue. We have over-relied on commuters to generate revenue for our railways and they have been treated as cash cows by greedy private train operators and the government.

"We need to rethink the role of our railways as we conquer the challenge of climate change. Freight needs to be shifted from road to rail and we need many more people to travel by rail for leisure and shopping rather than jumping in their cars.

"Rail travel is strategically important to the success of our economy, communities and in tackling climate change. We need a publicly-owned rail system which works for everyone and a funding system which fully supports the network."