Price of car travel and domestic flights fell in past decade – cost of bus, coach and rail travel rose

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton, Pavilion, asked Robert Goodwill, the Secretary of State for Transport , about the costs of different modes of transport within the UK.  She asked, in a Parliamentary question, about the % change in real terms of the cost to the traveller of travelling by (a) private car, (b) bus, (c) train and (d) domestic aeroplane since (i) 1980, (ii) 1997 and (iii) 2010. Mr Goodwill’s response was that between 1980 and 2013 the real cost of motoring, including the purchase of a vehicle, fell by 12%.  In that time, the price of bus and coach fares rose by 59%.  Between 1980 and 2013 the price of rail fares rose by 62% in real terms. Between 1997 and 2013 the cost of motoring fell by 9%. The cost of bus and coach travel rose by 28%. The cost or rail travel rose by 22% in real terms between 1997 and 2013.  But by contrast, though not all the figures were available, the cost of domestic flights fell by 43% between 2000 and 2013. It has to be asked how the “greenest government ever” has done little to promote or encourage lower carbon forms of travel against higher carbon options.
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From They Work For You

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2014-06-30b.201766.h

 

Photo of Caroline LucasCaroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion, Green)
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the percentage change in real terms of the cost to the traveller of travelling by
(a) private car,
(b) bus, 
(c) train and
 (d) domestic aeroplane
since
(i) 1980,
(ii) 1997 and

(iii) 2010.

Photo of Robert Goodwill

Robert Goodwill (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport); Scarborough and Whitby, Conservative)

The Department for Transport published statistics on travel costs based on data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the Transport Statistics Great Britain compendium.

Data from the independent ONS suggests that:

(i)  Car, bus and coach – 1980 – 2013

Between 1980 and 2013 the real cost of motoring, including the purchase of a vehicle, declined by 12%, bus and coach fares increased by 59% and rail fares increased by 62% in real terms.

(ii)  Car, bus and coach – 1997 – 2013

Between 1997 and 2013 the real cost of motoring, including the purchase of a vehicle, declined by 9%, bus and coach fares increased by 28% and rail fares increased by 22% in real terms.

(iii) Car, bus and coach  2010 – 2013

Between 2010 and 2013 the real cost of motoring, including the purchase of a vehicle, decreased by 2%, bus and coach fares increased by 3% and rail fares increased by 5% in real terms.

(iv) Domestic flight

The costs of travelling by air are not available from ONS data. However information is available based on fare data from the Civil Aviation Authority.

The real cost of the average UK one-way air fare, including taxes and charges, covering domestic flights from 2000 to 2013 declined by 43% and from 2010 to 2013 declined by 3%. Estimates are not available on a comparable basis before 2000.

 

Annotations

John Byng
Posted on 1 Jul 2014 

Caroline Lucas is right to draw attention to the way in which the less polluting transport options have been discouraged whereas car ownership and use has been encouraged in recent years. And this by the “greenest government ever”!!
We need policies that favour public transport and discourage car use. We shall then reduce pollution and global warming and enjoy a better quality of life.

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