"Another kick in the teeth for Greater Manchester’s long-suffering rail commuters"

Rail users will be hit by a further rise in ticket prices, due to take effect from next year.

The increase is based on the Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation measure for July of 2.8%.

Bev Hughes, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: "This is another kick in the teeth for Greater Manchester’s long-suffering rail commuters. After another year of delays, cancellations and overcrowded trains, the travelling public will find it hard to understand how another fare increase can possibly be justified.

"Many people have given up travelling on our trains because they can’t guarantee getting to work on time, or getting home before their children are in bed. Putting up fares is not going to help win those people back.  

"Greater Manchester is calling on the government to give us more control of our railways so we can deliver a better service that puts people first and that is integrated with the rest of our public transport."

Greater Manchester was one of the areas most severely affected by the timetable chaos that impacted on train travellers in the summer of 2018, described by last month's Blake Jones Review as "a massive failure" of of the rail industry.

In June, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, launched Our Network, a ten-year plan to create an integrated, modern and accessible public transport system in the city-region.

Public transport connections across the city-region will grow and develop in four phases over the next decade - more information is available here.

Article Published: 14/08/2019 10:20 AM