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.
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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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