Rail fare rise cancelled or simply delayed?

Hello

Today is the day we usually find out how much extra we'll be paying for our rail fares next year as July's RPI figure is announced. This year however, the Government has deferred the decision until later in the year, hinting that it may be about to change the way the annual fare rise is calculated. 

We think the Government should freeze fares for 2022 in a bid to encourage people back to public transport and to help stimulate the economy, as we told the Independent and the Daily Mail today. It makes no sense to hike fares if you want people to use trains, especially when the Government has identified public transport and active travel as key to tackling climate change. The Government has also acknowledged that in order to reduce carbon emissions from transport we need to be making fewer car journeys overall. We think that the greenest modes of transport - and rail is the greenest of all the major modes - should be the cheapest. That's why a rail freeze for 2022 should be a key component of the Government's plans to improve the railway, along with more long-term investment to connect all communities to the network and the root and branch reform of the fares system we've been promised.

With ambiguity surrounding next year's rise we'll keep calling for a fare freeze. In the face of a climate emergency the Government should be doing everything it can to encourage people to choose low-carbon public transport by making it the cheapest option.

If the Government can freeze fuel duty for ten years, it can freeze rail fares next year to help encourage more people to use the trains and get commuters back spending in our towns and cities.