Getting a sense of proportion over rail fares: the overwhelming majority of voters not affected
Map by Ian Warren of @Election_data
The big return to work and the hardy annual – rail fare increases
If ever there was a political issue that highlights the London-centric nature of Britain’s media it is rail fares. Today’s the big return to work after the holidays and the annual price rise come into effect with the usual annual rail fares stories in much of the MSM.
Yet thanks to Ian Warren for his excellent map showing the proportion of the population who travel to work by rail we can see this is concentrated mostly in one part of the country – the south east.
For an excellent explanation on how rail pricing works check the City Metric site.
A problem for rail commuters is that government subsidies have been reduced to almost nothing yet increasing numbers of people still want to travel.
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The political issue is the level of money from tax-payers, the vast majority of whom don’t travel to work by train, should be allocated to subsidising the fares of those that do.
Outside the London commuter belt I have long argued that the cost of petrol is much more politically sensitive than rail fares. Using their own car is how people get to work and when a litre was up to £1.35 and more it really eat into households budgets.