fares | Common News Update

Aug132020 by adminNo Comments

National Express to use jobs bonus to cut bus fares

Business

National Express has said it will use £4m from the government's Job Retention Bonus scheme to cut fares on its West Midlands and Dundee bus routes. It said the move, which will not affect coaches fares, would help boost demand and support the local economies.The bonus scheme will pay firms £1,000 for each employee brought back from furlough and employed until January.A Treasury spokesman told the BBC: "There's no restrictions on how firms can use the bonus payments."Rishi Sunak defends furlough bonus schemeNational Express said it would claim £4m from the Job Retention Bonus scheme for staff on its West Midlands and Dundee bus services, suggesting 4,000 workers will be brought back from furlough and employed until at least January. It said a "sizeable pro...

Dec262019 by adminNo Comments

Fares, freight rates to be rationalised: Railway Board chairman

Finance

NEW DELHI: The railways is in the process of "rationalising" its passengers and freight fares, Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav said on Thursday. He, however, refused to say if the prices will be increased. In a media briefing, Yadav said although the railways had initiated a number of measures to counter its dwindling revenues, increasing fares was a "sensitive" issue and it had to be discussed at length before a final decision was taken. "We are going to rationalise the fares and freight rates. Something is being thought about. I cannot divulge more, this is a sensitive subject. While the freight fares are already high, our target is to draw more traffic from road to railways in this regard," he said. The Indian Railway has been hit hard by the economic slowdown, with the earnings of the ...

Dec62019 by adminNo Comments

West Coast Rail: Preston-to-Scotland rail fares to be capped

Business

The UK's competition watchdog has accepted a proposal to cap rail fares on certain routes between Preston in Lancashire and Scotland.The agreement is part of a deal with FirstGroup and Trenitalia, who now run the West Coast Rail franchise.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had raised concerns that train ticket prices could rise.It found that on 21 routes, passengers would have little or no option but to choose a service run by FirstGroup.After the first phase of an investigation into the new contract, the CMA discovered that on 17 routes between Preston and Scotland, passengers could only choose from West Coast Rail, operated by the joint venture between FirstGroup and Trenitalia, or from TransPennine Express, which is operated solely by FirstGro...

Nov302019 by adminNo Comments

Rail fares to rise by 2.7% in January

Business

Millions of commuters will have to pay an average of 2.7% more for rail tickets from 2 January. The rise, announced by industry body the Rail Delivery Group, is lower than the 3.1% increase at the start of 2019.Train companies say this is the third year in a row that average fares have been held below the benchmark inflation measure on which rises are based.But many commuters will still face an increase of more than £100 in the annual cost of getting to work.Independent watchdog Transport Focus said a majority of rail users did not feel they were getting value for money.The news comes as commuters on South Western Railway services are steeling themselves for a 27-day rail strike next month.Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union members will walk out in ...

Aug142019 by adminNo Comments

Rail fares set to rise again by up to 2.8%

Business

Rail users in the UK will be hit by a further rise in ticket prices which will come into effect next year.The increase will be based on the Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation measure for July of 2.8%. The figure is likely to lead to an increase of more than £100 in the annual cost of getting to work for many commuters.Passenger groups urged a change in the way ticket prices are calculated, as RPI is no longer a national statistic. The cost of most train fares are set by train companies themselves, but about 40% of fares in England, Scotland and Wales are regulated so that they are only allowed to rise by an amount pegged to the RPI rate of inflation in July the previous year.These regulated fares include annual season ti...