Protests as rail passengers hit with biggest fare rise in five years
Commuters travelling from Shropshire to major towns and cities further afield were today forced to see in the New Year with a hike in rail fares.
Rail fares have risen by an average 3.6 per cent – the largest increase in five years. The rises in our region are slightly lower but still represent significant increases at a time that wage increases are flat.
The price of an annual season ticket between Shrewsbury and Birmingham will jump from today £2,200 to £2,276.
A season ticket between Shrewsbury and Chester with Arriva Trains Wales did cost £2,308 but commuters will now pay £2,388 annually while those travelling each day from Telford to Birmingham pay £1,820 annually up from £1,760.
An annual season ticket between Ludlow and Shrewsbury now costs £2,756. If bought yesterday it would have cost £2,664.
On Virgin Trains, people travelling each day between Telford and Birmingham now pay £1,820 instead of £1,760 and a season ticket from Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton is now £2,048, up from £1,980.
Stephen Joseph, chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport, accused the Government of choosing to “snub rail passengers” by continuing to raise fares while fuel duty is frozen for a seventh consecutive year.
Mr Joseph said: “The extra money that season ticket holders will have to fork out this year is almost as much as drivers will save.
“That doesn’t seem fair to us or the millions of people who commute by train, especially as wages continue to stagnate.
“What’s good enough for motorists should be good enough for rail passengers.”
Politicians in the region today criticised the increases, with the Shrewsbury and Atcham Labour Party campaigning outside the town's railway station.
Spokeswoman Frankie Rickford said the fare increases were deeply unfair on people who had no choice but to use the train to get to work every day, including public sector workers whose pay has been capped or frozen for several years.
“The privatised rail companies have been allowed by the government to hike fares while providing a poor service on many routes.
“And now, as former transport secretary Lord Adonis has pointed out in his resignation letter this week, the Government has decided to spend millions of pounds of taxpayers money bailing out one loss-making rail company, Stagecoach.”
South Shropshire Green Party also used today’s increase to repeat its call call for railways to be brought back into public ownership as train fares go up.
Hilary Wendt, the co-ordinator of the South Shropshire Green party said: “We’re facing the biggest rail fare jump in five years, a staggering jump of 3.6 per cent, while wages stay stagnant.
“Rail fares have risen twice as much as pay in the last eight years. Getting to work, college and hospital appointments costs more and more, while services get worse and worse. Arriva Trains Wales has made a profit of more than £100 million in the last 10 years and this has been sent to its owners, the German Government.
"We need a publicly owned railway system, with cheap, accessible, reliable transport for all.”
Nationally, commuters are paying almost £700 more a year for season tickets than when the Tories came to power.
The average traveller will be paying £2,888 for their season ticket, £694 a year more than in 2010, according to Labour’s analysis.
A Department for Transport spokesman said: “We are investing record amounts in delivering the biggest rail improvement plan since Victorian times to improve services for passengers – providing faster, better and more comfortable trains with extra seats. Passengers all over the UK will be travelling on brand new trains within the next 18 months.
“We have introduced new trains on routes across the country, upgrading trains on other routes, and removing the outdated Pacer trains from the North.”
