Conservatives will cap rail fares: Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin writes

Extract from an article in The Daily Telegraph

"I know passengers pay a king's ransom to get to work"

by Patrick McLoughlin, Transport Secretary


"In my job I spend a lot of time travelling on trains and talking to the people who use them. Whether it’s on my regular journey home on East Midland Trains to Derby, out to East Anglia or joining commuters at London Bridge I’ve seen the rail renaissance in action - a transformation of a system that’s carrying more than twice as many people each year as British Rail did.

It’s a plan for growth that’s going to bring massive benefits over the next few years, like Crossrail and faster, electric services to the west country - both using new, British-built trains.

But alongside this investment passengers need something else: good value fares so that everyone can afford to use these new services. It’s no use having a great railway system if you have to pay a king’s ransom to get on board and I know that the cost of travel can often seem high. While there are great deals out there if you are able to get them, it’s also true that not everyone can. If you are commuting to work you don’t have a choice when you can travel, yet at times it can seem as if season tickets are going up far faster than inflation. You might end up standing. You might be late.

But you can’t do anything about the bill if you need to get to work.

That’s simply wrong. And as a country, we face a choice about how to fix it. Labour’s answer was to throw more and more of the cost onto hard-working people who didn’t have a choice about paying up. In 2004 Labour brought in a policy which meant year-on-year above-inflation increases in key fares like season tickets which are regulated by the government. They also created the ‘flex’ rule which allowed some fares to go up by even more on the quiet.

In 2009, when Labour was in control, some season tickets were allowed to increase by 11%.

My answer - the Conservative answer - is different. Because we’re turning around the economy and getting the deficit down we can afford to invest in our railways and give passengers a fair deal.

That’s why for the last two years I’ve insisted that regulated fares rise by no more than inflation. It’s also why I scrapped ‘flex’ this year. That means no tricks. No backdoor increases. The lowest increases in a decade. A plan for a growing economy and a record number of jobs.

That plan is working - and we need to keep it working. That’s why today I’m announcing a five year fair deal for passengers. Under a Conservative government, we’ll make sure that the price of season tickets and key fares like Savers never goes up by more than inflation. We’ll end ‘flex’ so the fare you are promised is the fare you will get. And we’re including London’s tubes and buses in the deal, too.

"It will save the average passenger £400 - a saving that comes alongside, not instead of, £38 billion of investment so journeys are a quicker, easier and more reliable. It’s all part of a huge modernisation which puts passengers first with things like free-wifi on trains and a guarantee that all new franchises will have simple, generous compensation schemes when things go wrong.

"I’ve also set out plans for a transformation in the way tickets are sold which will allow things like part-time season tickets so you don’t need to pay on days you don’t travel. Anyone who has caught the tube in London with an Oyster card knows how easy they are to use - and there is no reason things should be different anywhere else.

"This government has been a good one for transport. It has seen serious political commitment to major projects like the Northern Powerhouse, Crossrail and HS2. These commitments have been supported by serious investment which is possible because our long term economic plan is working.

"Thanks to this economic stability we can today commit to further helping people get on with their daily business.

"Britain was made great by its railways. The Victorians left us with a magnificent system we still use today.

"Over the last 20 years government working with private operators has turned around the legacy of decline left by British Rail. I know the best way forward: to back that growth, keep up that investment and back a strong economy with a transport system people can afford to use.

"Train tickets should not be a tax on hard work and under the Conservatives they won’t be"

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