Campaigners say fares income will exceed operating costs by 2018, and call for increases to be calculated in line with CPI

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Rail fares are rising so quickly that the government will soon be making a profit from the commuting public, campaigners claimed as the new year ushered in higher annual season ticket prices.

According to a report from the consultants Credo, for the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT), by 2018 the fares collected from passengers will cover 103% of railways' operating costs, compared with 80% in 2009.

This means the government will make "a profit from passengers", the campaigners said.

The analysis comes on the day passengers are facing hikes in the cost of commuting, with annual season tickets rising on average by 3.1%. This means passengers going from Basingstoke to London, for example, now face a £4,076 annual season ticket bill.

The chancellor, George Osborne, announced in the autumn statement that average regulated fares, which include season tickets, would rise at the rate of RPI inflation, currently 3.1%, rather than the planned RPI + 1%.

But according to the CBT research, even if fares remained frozen in line with RPI from now until 2018-19, they would still be significantly ahead of the growth in average earnings since 2009.

The campaigners want to see fares calculated in line with CPI inflation, a measure, they say, which better reflects affordability for commuters.

If fares were frozen in line with the CPI rate from 2015, average earnings would nearly catch up with growth in fares by 2018-19, they say.

According to the report, between 2008-2013 the cost of a weekly season ticket from Reading in Berkshire to London (including a Travelcard, which allows for bus and Tube travel in London) increased by 25% while average take-home pay rose by just 9%.

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said: "The most recent forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility are that by around 2015 fares will be rising in line with wages and salaries." He said fares were being used "to drive forward the biggest programme of rail modernisation ever, with £38bn being invested over the next five years".

Separate research, also released on Thursday, suggests British commuters pay much more for tickets than their counterparts across Europe.

Action for Rail, a trade union-backed campaign, said workers on an average UK salary would spend nearly 14% of their wages on a monthly season ticket commute from St Albans to London, whereas a commuter making comparable journeys in Germany and France would spend about 4%. The figures in Spain and Italy were 3% and 1% respectively, said the group.

Which? said its analysis showed that the average household now spent 14% of its income on transport.

Jason Torrance, the policy director of the sustainable transport organisation Sustrans, said: "The chancellor's move to bring an end to the inflation-busting fare rises we've seen over the last decade shows a recognition that rising transport costs are a barrier to economic recovery.

"But commuters will still feel the pinch this new year because salaries aren't increasing by anywhere near the level of inflation. If transport remains so prohibitively expensive, we will continue to restrict travel choices and opportunities to access essential services and employment."