Tories say £40 hike is brutal kick in the teeth for West Dunbartonshire train users
By Bill Heaney
SNP ministers are being urged to scrap their planned reintroduction of peak fares on ScotRail, which will take the cost of travelling from West Dunbartonshire stations via Queen Street to Edinburgh, to around £40 because it represents a “kick in the teeth to long-suffering train users”.
The Scottish Conservatives are leading a debate in parliament tomorrow (Wednsday) on the controversial plan – which will see the price of some routes at the busiest times of day almost doubling come the end of this month.
Holyrood’s main opposition party say the ScotRail fares hike will undermine the SNP Government’s stated aim of getting commuters out of their cars and on to public transport as part of the drive to net zero.
They also believe it can’t be justified at a time when the nationalised rail provider is operating a reduced timetable due to an ongoing pay dispute with unions representing train drivers.
Reintroducing peak fares will see prices soar from £16.20 to £31.40 for commuters travelling between Glasgow and Edinburgh. With fares from local stations, including Dumbarton, Balloch and Helensburgh, added that will take the cost to around £40.
Despite the reduction in scheduled services, ScotRail also cancelled over 5,000 trains between April 6 and August 20 this year. This has cost them more than £250,000 in compensation payments, and raises the total paid out in compensation to passengers since ScotRail was nationalised in 2022 to over £1.9million.
Scottish Conservative shadow transport minister Graham Simpson MSP, pictured right, said: “SNP ministers need to ditch this brutal and unjustified hike in ticket prices.
“Reintroducing peak fares represents a kick in the teeth to long-suffering train users.
“Rail passengers are being forced to make do with a woefully inadequate skeleton service, and yet they are now to be asked to pay double the price for it if they have to travel at rush hour.
“The SNP Government say they are desperate to get commuters out of their cars and on to public transport as part of the push to net zero – but doubling the cost of train tickets actively discourages that.
“The SNP promised us that nationalisation would improve ScotRail, but instead it’s got worse on their watch.
“I’m urging MSPs of all parties to back the Scottish Conservatives on this issue in the hope that ministers see sense and reverse their latest betrayal of train users.”
Fiona Hyslop, left, admitted the SNP decision to re-introduce peak fares will cost hard-working Scots ‘thousands of pounds’. Fiona Hyslop said: ‘The pilot will have been welcome in saving many passengers hundreds and in some cases thousands of pounds during the cost of living crisis but this level of subsidy cannot continue in the current financial climate on that measure alone.’ (BBC News, 20 August 2024, link).
Almost 6,000 ScotRail trains have been cancelled in the first four months of the 2024-25 financial year. Scottish Conservative research reveals that 5,774 ScotRail trains have been cancelled between the 6th April and 20th August 2024. This is made up of 3,874 trains fully cancelled and 1,927 part cancelled. (STV News, 25 August 2024, link)
ScotRail has been running a temporary service over the summer due to strike action. Between 9th July 2024 and 29th September 2024, ScotRail ran a reduced timetable. ‘While the times of first or last trains on more than half of all routes will remain unchanged, there will be changes in the number of services provided during the morning and evening peak times – for example, where there are normally four trains per hour in the peak, this will reduce to a half hourly service, which is the same as the off-peak.’ (ScotRail, 9 July 2024, link).
Over a quarter of a million pounds has been paid out in compensation to rail passengers since April. Data reveals that £254,083.54 has been paid out from ScotRail to passengers due to delayed or cancelled trains. Broken down by month this was; £47,343.68 (1-27 April), £57,868.20 (28 April – 25 May), £66,607.49 (26 May -22 June), £82,264.17 (23 June -22 July). (ScotRail, 20 August 2024, link).
Two million pounds has been paid out in compensation to rail passengers since April 2022. Data reveals that £1,959,429.87 has been paid out from ScotRail to passengers due to delayed or cancelled trains. (ScotRail, 20 August 2024, link).
The price of a return journey between Glasgow and Edinburgh will double to £31.40. During the pilot scheme, in which peak fares were scrapped, a return journey between Glasgow and Edinburgh would cost £16.20. However, following the scrapping of the pilot, a standard peak price return journey between Edinburgh and Glasgow will now cost £31.40. An increase of 93.8%.
Quite frankly I cannot see how doubling the peak time fare from £16.20 to £31.40 makes any sense.
As this article says it drives a stake through the heart of getting people out of polluting and road congesting fuel guzzling cars and onto green electric trains.
And for anyone having to travel to Edinburgh it utterly destroys their earnings.
A £40.00 fare is actually a £60 to £70.00 fare since that is what you need to earn before tax to pay the fare.
Maybe there are season tickets that could save some money but this is a brutal policy targetted at working people.
With winter fuel heating payment cut for the pensioners, a food cost of living crisis, gas and electricity prices set to rise, and with taxes set to rise, folks truly are rats in a trap.
Where oh where did the fabled Brexit Bonanza go that we didn’t vote for. Our economy and living standards are going down the pan.
And locally the Council want to get rid of something like 300 staff. But here’s the rub, do they have the money to pay the redundancy packages and the de rigeur pension package top ups.
There were huge efficiency saving departure packages given out only a few years ago.
One example being a certain director who said he was retiring but actually was getting a redundancy top up deal only for his job to be replaced by a head of service.
It also begs the question if you need to make folk redundant at big cost why do you need to take folk on to replace them.
So, how much in this latest plan to make 300 redundant with packages will then need to be replaced? Or were they surplus just surplus?
But back to the train fare increases they are just another facet of a country with its living standards and incomes in decline whilst the elites and corporate wide boys and girls, like Michelle Mone, fill their boots.
Oh, and there’s a war to be paid for too but we don’t talk about that.
Or am I missing something in making these comments.