Professor John Robertson OBA, Travel Correspondent
BBC Scotland this morning, on various cost-of-living increases in the next few days felt the need to remind us that Scotrail fares had gone up ‘nearly 4%.’ That was 3.8% on 31 January 2025.
Back then, they had also felt the need to tell us all this:
Opposition parties said the price rise would “hammer” passengers who would be “dismayed” at having to pay more despite regular disruption to rail services. Scottish Labour’s transport spokeswoman Claire Baker said the price increase would “hammer” rail passengers and “consign ScotRail to a spiral of decline”. She added: “The SNP should be making rail more affordable, but instead it has hit passengers with painful fare hikes time and time again.
“This increase is bad for Scotland’s rail passengers, bad for our economy and bad for the environment.”
Sue Webber, transport spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: “Nicola Sturgeon promised a bright new future for Scotland’s railways when nationalising it almost three years ago, but the exact opposite has happened.
“Passengers will be dismayed they will have to fork out even more in the coming months for services that are frequently cancelled and delayed.”
The Scottish Liberal Democrats urged the government to keep costs down and give passengers more flexibility. The party’s transport spokesman Daniel O’Malley called for more railway lines in areas with poor transport links.
“Scotland needs a cheap, reliable and frequent rail service – it’s a win-win for passengers and the planet,” he said.
All three Unionist parties platformed, even the 5th biggest, to attack the SNP.
For the kind of context they were all taught was essential in any news story, BBC Scotland did NOT tell us:
Regulated train fares in England are to increase by 4.6% next year, while the price of most railcards will rise by £5, the government has announced. The increases were not mentioned by the chancellor in her Budget speech to the House of Commons earlier on Wednesday, but it was instead noted in the Treasury’s Budget document. The changes will come into force on 2 March 2025.
BBC England did platform the opposition, in October 2024, but only in the 21st and 22nd paras:
Conservative leader Rishi Sunak said that “never in the history of our country will taxes be higher than they are under this Labour government”. He also said it was “nonsense” to suggest Labour inherited difficult circumstances, after Reeves accused the Tories of leaving a £22bn “black hole” in the public finances.
Just the one party and no mention of ‘passengers’ suffering in this. Five mentions in the BBC Scotland piece.
Finally, 3.8% and 4.6%, a whopping 21%. That’d be a great attention-grabbing headline but was never sued.
Talking-up Scotland 
So a 3.8% fare increase in Scotland will lead to this ‘calamity’: ‘Scottish Labour’s transport spokeswoman Claire Baker said the price increase would “hammer” rail passengers and “consign ScotRail to a spiral of decline”.’
Meanwhile in Wales where Ms Baker’s British Labour Party governs in Cardiff and operates the national publicly-owned railway, Transport for Wales:
Cabinet Statement (February 6, 2025) Written Statement: Rail Fares in Wales 2025. (https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-rail-fares-wales-2025)
‘Each year we have to make decisions on changes to regulated rail fares in Wales, balancing the need to keep cost increases as low as possible for passengers whilst also ensuring that Transport for Wales are able to collect enough revenue to meet their rising costs and reduce subsidy.
‘This year we have agreed to an overall increase in regulated rail fares of 4.6% with the increase to take place on 2 March 2025. This is in line with the increase already announced for fares controlled by the UK Government. However, Transport for Wales will be applying different increases to each regulated product. Anytime Day Single fares will increase by 3%, 7-Day Season ticket fares will increase by 3.5% and Anytime Day Return fares and Off Peak Return fares will both increase by 6%.‘
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