As expected Transport for Greater Manchester have announced that fares on Manchester Metrolink will rise from January with the usual excuses of having to meet operating costs and support ongoing investment in stop improvements, new trams and expanding the network given as to why this is happening in the current economic climate.
Metrolink tickets will increase by an average of 4% from January 2013 but child fares will either stay as they are or, in some cases, reduce and 51% of individual fares will also not be changed.
This year members of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee have considered the network’s annual ticketing review in light of the introduction of smartcards on the network in 2014 and this will see a move to a simpler, fairer, more affordable transparent fare structure – as reported on British Trams Online last week.
Justifying the fare increases Cllr Andrew Fender, Chair of the TfGM Committee, said: “I can assure passengers that all the money we raise from fares goes back into the network in some way, which means fares will only ever increase to meet the growing costs of running, improving or expanding the network. The Retail Price Index is the benchmark for the annual fare review because it indicates how much costs and prices have changed in the past year – so, for example, what cost £100 last year now costs £103 – and we have to address that difference. This year’s review achieves this, but it also takes a step towards achieving two important, intertwined objectives: a simpler and more consistent fare
structure, and the introduction of smart ticketing.”