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Written question asked by Rachael Maskell (Labour) on Wednesday, 1 June 2022, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 7 June 2022. It was answered by Wendy Morton (Conservative) on Thursday, 9 June 2022 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Railways: Fares

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the impact of the cost of rail travel on people's choice of transport; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing the cost of tickets to make rail a cheaper and more accessible travel option.

Answer

The Department takes guidance from the Passenger Demand Forecasting Handbook on the effects of changes to fares on rail demand. There are a number of factors which impact passenger demand, including most notably in recent times the pandemic’s impact on passenger travel.

Whilst rail fares affect each passenger slightly differently, we have a number of railcards in place that offer discounts against most rail fares. We have saved a generation of passengers at least a third off their fares through the 16-17 and 26-30 ‘millennial’ railcard and went even further in November 2020 by extending these savings to former servicemen and women through a new Veterans Railcard.

More recently, we launched the Great British Rail Sale, the first ever nationwide rail sale. Over 1.3 million tickets were sold, offering around £7million worth of savings for passengers.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
11750
Session
2022-23
Subjects
Costs Fares Railways Tickets
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk