Croydon commuters face massive fare hike
Steve Reed has called on the Government to act after train companies announced rail fares for Croydon commuters will rocket by 3.4% in January.
The rise is the biggest since 2013, and means an annual season ticket from Thornton Heath to Victoria will cost an extra £44. The same season ticket will now cost £312 more than it did in 2010 when the Conservatives came to power.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has frozen bus, overground and underground fares – but Conservative Government ministers have refused to hand him control of train services. Instead, passengers in Croydon have to put up with delays and overcrowding on services run by failing Southern Rail.
Steve Reed said:
If the Conservatives cared about commuters they would scrap this fare hike.
It’s unacceptable that the Conservatives let Southern Rail charge passengers more and more for such a dreadful service.
Croydon commuters will have to fork out over £300 more a year because of the Tory Government’s failure to get a grip on fare hikes and failing train operators.
Steven Reed is Labour MP for Croydon North and Shadow Minister for Children and Families. In 2018 his private member’s bill on reducing violent mental health restraint became law. In June 2019 he launched Labour’s civil society strategy outlining radical plans to empower citizens and communities.
Steve chairs the Cooperative Councils Innovation Network, co-chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for London, was Leader of Lambeth Council 2006-12 where he led the council’s children’s services to become best-rated in the country and pioneered the public-health approach to tackling violent youth crime. He worked in publishing for 16 years and was an elected trade union branch secretary.