Campaigners call for unlimited ‘climate card’ UK rail pass
Renationalising the railways does not go far enough – Labour should spur a rail renaissance by allowing people around the UK unlimited train travel for a flat fee, campaigners have said.
Under a “climate card” system, passengers could pay a simple subscription to gain access to train travel across all services. This could be effective if set at £49 a month, according to research published on Thursday, though travellers on fast long-distance trains and those on routes in and through London would need to pay a top-up to reflect the greater demand on those services.
If such a system were implemented across the UK, it would be likely to result in a loss of revenues to the railways of between £45m and £637m, depending on the uptake, the report found. This would have to be subsidised by the government, but transport is already subsidised in various less effective forms, and the report found the climate card would generate economic growth and improvements to health from lower air pollution.
Introducing a flat fare in this way would have the benefit of bypassing the UK’s byzantine system of fare structures, in which potential fares currently number about 50m, and would make life easier for both season ticket holders who travel frequently by the same routes, and less frequent travellers who take a variety of journeys.
