The rail industry has announced that rail fares are to rise by 2.3 percent on the 2nd of January.
This will be a blow to commuters and passengers who have already seen train prices rise 23.5 percent in the period between 1995 and 2016, according to figures from the Campaign for Better Transport.
Paul Plummer, the chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group which represents National Rail, said:
“We understand how passengers feel when fares go up, and we know that in some places they haven’t always got the service they pay for.
“Around 97p in every pound passengers pay goes back into running and improving services. Fares are influenced by government policy, either through government-regulated fares such as season tickets or as a result of the payments train companies make to government.
“This money helps government to support the biggest investment in our railway since Victorian times.”
Whilst the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement placed a specific emphasis upon the development of infrastructure and transportation links, rising prices and persistent delays have left customers increasingly dissatisfied with railway operators.
The government blamed chronic delays upon “Network Rail track failures, engineering works, unacceptably poor performance by the operator and the actions of the RMT union.”
General secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, Mick Cash said that the price hike represented “another kick in the teeth for British passengers”, considering that UK railway passengers were subject to some of the steepest fares in Europe “to travel on rammed out and unreliable trains”.
Conversely, in the capital, Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced that he plans to guarantee the freeze of tube fares until 2020. City Hall has anticipated that the measure will save the average household around £200. In addition, Mr Khan has introduced ‘hopper’ fares across London bus services. Under this provision, passengers are permitted to make a second bus journey for free within the hour.
Over 84,000 passengers on Southern Rail are to set to receive compensation for the disruption to services that occurred over the course of 2016.