Ever been sitting (or standing because you couldn’t get a seat) on a train that may or may not have been on time and thought to yourself, ‘yeah, I’m getting my money’s worth here’? Only you know the true answer to that question.
If there’s one thing that unites modern Britons, it’s complaining about our railways. You’ve probably heard people lamenting about the high prices and low reliability, but often hailed as the one and only saving grace is the railcard. For £30 you can get 30 percent off every journey, provided that you fit criteria such as being under 25, or always travelling in a pair.
Despite the fact that most people are less than satisfied with the current state of train travel, some fares in England are set to go up by 4.6 percent next year. Those affected will be regulated tickets, which include season tickets, certain long distance off-peak returns, and flexible tickets used in major cities.
All other train fares are unregulated and therefore companies are free to charge what they want to, but historically they’ve increased all costs by a similar amount.
On top of that, most railcards are expected to go up by £5, meaning that they’ll cost around £35. The disabled person’s railcard will not be impacted by this increase.
The government has said that this is the ‘lowest absolute increase in three years,’ but the move has been criticised by the Campaign for Better Transport, which said: ‘Raising rail fares above inflation and hiking the cost of railcards is a kick in the teeth for people who rely on public transport.
‘To tackle air pollution, congestion and climate change, we need to make public transport the attractive, affordable choice.’
These changes will come into effect on March 2 2025, so really make the most of your cheap(er) public transport before then. If you fancy grabbing a railcard before they increase in cost, you can get one here.
In other UK news on Time Out...
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