Campaign for Better Transport staged a demonstration at Waterloo Station this morning as part of their Fair Fares Now campaign on the day commuters found out they’ll be paying on average 8% more for their train tickets next year.
The Government announced in the Spending Review that regulated fares will increase by inflation plus 3% for three years from 2012 with July’s retail price index (RPI) inflation figure used to calculate the following January’s rise.
Today’s announcement from the Office of National Statistics of 5% RPI means ‘regulated fares will increase by 8% in January, making them 28% higher by 2015’.
Commuters at this morning’s demonstration wrote messages to the Government on over-sized rail tickets and campaigners popped giant balloons to show that it’s time to ‘burst the bubble on inflation-busting fare hikes’.
Demonstrators also listened to the concerns of Shadow Transport Secretary, Maria Eagle, and speakers from Friends of the Earth and the TSSA union.
Alexandra Woodsworth, Campaign for Better Transport’s public transport campaigner, said:
“These punitive fare rises deal a fresh blow to commuters already facing the financial crunch of rising costs combined with frozen wages. We need affordable rail travel – not only to give passengers a fair deal, but to protect the economic health of our major cities, and to address the urgent imperative to cut carbon emissions.
” Today, hundreds of angry commuters outside Waterloo Station sent a clear message to Government: it’s time to burst the bubble on inflation-busting fare hikes.”
Fair Fares Now has launched a national petition which calls on the Government to reverse its above inflation fare hikes.
