Passengers welcome limit on rail fare increases in January
PASSENGER groups have welcomed the government’s plan to cap rail fare rises at two per cent above inflation, but some have called for prices to be controlled even more tightly.
Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin yesterday lowered the ceiling five per cent in real terms, which train companies could impose as long as its overall average fare rose no more than one per cent above inflation.
“I am calling an end to these double-digit back door rises,” said McLoughlin. Average fares are still set to go up an inflation-busting 4.1 per cent in January, but the change means that individual fare cannot rise more than 6.1 per cent.
London TravelWatch said it is “still concerned that since incomes are not increasing and in some cases they have fallen in real terms, fares are becoming increasingly unaffordable for many people”.