Responding to the announcement of a 12.3 per cent RPI rate for July, Paul Tuohy, chief executive of Campaign for Better Transport, said:
“Even a minus RPI rail fare rise next year will hit passengers hard and could mean people stay away from the trains altogether. The Government must go further and commit to a fare freeze for 2023 now so that commuters are not left with the uncertainly of whether they’ll be able to afford to get to work next year.”
Campaign for Better Transport has previously called for a tax on aviation fuel on domestic flights to help fund a rail freeze and boost rail passenger numbers. The transport charity says that taxing kerosene on domestic flights at the same rate as it taxes petrol and diesel for car drivers would raise £1.53 billion, enough to fund a rail fare freeze.
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