Midweek Money: Taking a train is a strain as fares soar

Any fare increase which is higher than inflation will hit your pocket

One reader got in touch this week after the fare for his regular train trip from Manchester to London climbed by 20 per cent (PA)

Have you been hit by the January money blues yet? They’ll come, mainly when you’re faced with the Christmas bills. Hopefully, you didn’t overdo it too much and can afford to pay off the cash rather than run up a debt. But many of you have also been hit by huge rises in travel costs. One reader got in touch this week after the fare for his regular train trip from Manchester to London climbed by 20 per cent. That sounds unacceptable, and I’m investigating the rail company’s response before publishing details.

What about you? Have you been hit by an unacceptable ticket price rise? Anything higher than inflation will hit your pocket and, with the official inflation figure currently standing at 1 per cent, the majority of passengers are likely to have faced above-inflation fare increases.

Interestingly enough, the issue has become a bit of a political hot potato in this general election year. Labour has accused the Tories of sitting back and allowing train companies to hit passengers with massive fare rises that have climbed three times faster than wages. The party has committed to a programme of simplified tickets and said it would enforce a strict cap on fares.

Meanwhile, the Green Party has called for a 10 per cent cut in train and bus fares to be paid by a £1.8bn increase in public investment in fares. The cost of that would in turn be met by scrapping most of the Government’s £15bn new road-building programme.

Natalie Bennett, the leader of the Green Party, said: “The privatisation of the railways has been a huge disservice to passengers - driving up prices while creating a race to the bottom in service provision. It’s left us with a rail network that is fragmented, costly, understaffed, and under-invested.”

I agree. Public transport should be for the benefit of the public, not just a massive profit-making machine for the rail and bus companies. Have you been hit by unfair fare increases this month? Do tell me about them.