Labour: Tories continue to fail commuters as long-suffering rail passengers face yet more prices hikes

To coincide with confirmation of the 2.8% train fares hike this morning, Labour has compared the costs on over 180 train routes between when the Conservatives came to power and the projected new prices that will be implemented this January 2020.

The average commuter will now be paying £3,064 for their season ticket, £870 or 40% more than in 2010. This is the first time that rail fares have gone up by more than £3,000.

New figures released today by Labour show:

• Average fares will rise to 40% more than they were in 2010
• That some commuters will be paying over £3,000 more to travel to work than in 2010
• The highest increase is projected to be on a Virgin Trains season ticket between Birmingham and London Euston which will have risen by £3,188 since 2010 and now costs £11,205
• The biggest percentage increase identified was between Thame Bridge Parkway near Walsall and Nuneaton, where the cost of an annual season ticket will have risen by 59 per cent since 2010
• In Boris Johnson’s constituency the cost of an annual season ticket from West Drayton to London Paddington has risen by £583 since 2010
• Average fares have risen nearly than three times faster than wages.

Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, said:

“Every year, commuters are being asked to pay more money for bad train services.

“The government has sat back and allowed private train companies to cash in while people’s pay has been held back. Continuous fare rises undermine urgent action to tackle the climate emergency by pricing people off the railways.

“Labour will bring our railways into public ownership so they are run in the interests of passengers, not private profit.”

Notes to editors

• The average commuter will be paying £3,067 for their season ticket in 2019, £873 more than in 2010
  
  The average 2017 annual season ticket reportedly costs £2,788.[1] Regulated rail fares rose by 27.1% between 2010 and 2017, which means that the average season ticket in 2010 would have cost £2,194. A 40% (from 2010-2019) increase on £2,194 is £3,067
  

Top 5 highest rises in cash terms

Top 5 highest rises in percentage terms

Fare rises in Cabinet Ministers’ constituencies

Season ticket data for 2010 has been taken from the Avantix Traveller (National Fares Manual) database. http://data.atoc.org/fares-data

2020 are based on a 2.8% increase on 2019 prices which have been taken from the National Rail season ticket calculator. http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/seasonticket/search

• Regulated rail fares, which include season tickets and most other commuter tickets, will have risen by 40% on average between 2010 and 2020.

• Regulated fares have risen by more than the average on some routes because Ministers decided to restore ‘flex,’ the train companies’ right to vary prices by up to 5 per cent, between 2011 and 2014
• In September 2014 the Department for Transport introduced a new evening peak period in metropolitan areas on the Northern franchise, which raised the cost of travel by up to 162%
  
• Median weekly wages grew by 14% between 2010 and 2018
  
  

ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2018, 25 October 2018, https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/annualsurveyofhoursandearnings/2018