About time. Now slash everything else, please
Train tickets are set to be slashed by up to half price as the UK government looks to take steps to help combat some areas contributing to the cost of living crisis.
Announced by the Department for Transport on Tuesday, the government’s “Great British Rail Sale” scheme will see many off-peak prices slashed by as much as half between April 25 and May 27.
An estimated one million tickets will see their prices reduced this spring, with the aim of not only helping the British public make savings when other costs are going up but also to boost domestic tourism, which is yet to fully recover from the pandemic.
We’re really through the looking glass when a green screen advert for rail travel is the least embarrassing recent thing a Tory minister has done pic.twitter.com/B25Gky0BeU
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) April 19, 2022
For example, the sale – which officially began on Tuesday at 10am – will bring some off-peak Manchester to Newcastle journeys down to a little over £10, while seats on some London to Edinburgh services will be slashed from £44 to just £22.
However, despite the dip in select off-peak tickets, the Campaign for Better Transport told the BBC that wider price increases are “driving people off the railway”, with rail travel numbers still yet to return to pre-covid levels – down by around 48 per cent, according to the Office of Rail and Road.
The ticket price reduction window has also been criticised in terms of timing, with the offer ending before many schools have broken up for the May half term, as well as concluding before the long four-day bank holiday weekend planned for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Meanwhile, as everything from your energy bills, to the cost of a pint and your everyday essentials continue to rise, MPs were given a £2,000 pay rise earlier this month and UK households are now holding weekly blackouts to protest the increased cost of living.
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In adjacent travel news, a projected 34 new train stations are due to be opened across the UK, with numerous locations including multiple HS2 interchanges due to debut between 2023 and 2025. Exeter’s £16m Marsh Barton Railway Station is even on schedule to open by the end of this year.
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