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New rail fares to penalise many long distance commuters?

Rail campaigners are disappointed by plans for a new ticket for part time commuters which would give an across-the-board 15% discount for regular travellers.

 “A 15% discount sounds good, but it means that many longer distance travellers who only commute a few days a week won’t save any money at all” said Railfuture director Neil Middleton, who is leading the campaign for better fares for part time commuters. “Traditional season tickets give larger discounts for longer distance commuting and it could still work out cheaper to get a five-days-a-week season ticket and use it only for three, than to buy these new tickets.”

"If the government wants people to be in the workplace more often, it needs to price rail travel to encourage this.  Instead, these inadequate proposals will make it much more difficult for the government to achieve its targets for carbon reduction when commuters switch to car use, as rail is a much greener way to travel.”

“It seems very contrary that on the one hand, Rishi Sunak talks about benefits an organisation gets from people actually spending physical time together, and on the other, the Treasury puts cost as a centrepiece of their objections.  This seems to do nothing for growth and workplace efficiency, nor, it seems, recognise that by providing fair fares, part time commuters are encouraged to travel to their workplace more often.”

“What we’re calling for is a system of carnet tickets to better bridge the gap between the cost of the traditional day ticket and the season ticket.”

Notes to editors:

Railfuture is the UK's leading independent organisation campaigning for better rail services for both passengers and freight.

Railfuture's ideas are set out at https://railfuture.org.uk/article1872-Creating-a-flexible-season-ticket-for-2021; we also have a FAQ at https://railfuture.org.uk/Flexi+Season+Tickets+2021+-+FAQ; this includes a downloadable example.

Railfuture has previously called for carnet tickets to better bridge the gap between the cost of the traditional day ticket and the season ticket; our press release has all the information: https://railfuture.org.uk/Press+release+9th+February+2021.

Links:
Telegraph Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/04/16/flexible-rail-season-ticket-proposals-come-fire/. 
Rishi Sunak quote: Multiple sources: https://bit.ly/3geHaE8.

Carbon efficiency of the Railway: https://www.iea.org/reports/the-future-of-rail & https://www.carbonbrief.org/eight-charts-show-how-aggressive-railway-expansion-could-cut-emissions

Observations:
It is important to remember that some workplace attenders will still need to travel in peak hours every day, and so the traditional season ticket needs to be retained.

Railfuture's website can be found at: www.railfuture.org.uk.

Follow Railfuture on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Railfuture.