Translink fare hike of 7% will 'punish the worst off in society' warns SDLP after Chris Heaton-Harris announcement

He was speaking after it was announced that the fare hike would impact travel on Metro, Glider, NI Railways, Enterprise, Goldliner and Ulsterbus services from 6 March.

Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris said in November that fares would need to rise to improve the sustainability of public transport corporation Translink.

The Department of Infrastructure said it fully recognises the challenges facing many people in the current cost of living crisis.

"However, significant budget pressures mean the below inflation uplift is needed to maintain and improve public transport services," it added.

Translink’s Chris Conway, Group Chief Executive said he understood this will add to the cost-of-living pressures passengers are already facing, but that "we have worked very hard to keep fare adjustments low and indeed having had no fare increase in four years, in real terms our fares still offer good value".

“We also recognise the need to support the many young people who have been particularly impacted by the pandemic and cost of living crisis. yLink card discounts have been increased to 50% off from a third off while maintaining free access to the card for all 16–23-year-olds to help support them at this difficult time.

“Most cash single fares across the network will increase by around 7%, however we continue to offer a range of good value fares, for example, day tickets and Smartlink on Metro, Smartlink on Ulsterbus and weekly and monthly discounts on NI Railways. Discounts on day return fares after 9.30am for rail and Ulsterbus journeys will change to offer around 25% off in most cases."

But SDLP Infrastructure Spokesperson Mark H Durkan has said that the fare increase from Translink will "punish the worst off in society".

He said: “This is a Tory government that allows energy companies to make huge profits while the public pays the price and it’s ridiculous that they would rather impose additional costs on people here than make these companies pay their fair share.”

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll added: “These proposals are a short-sighted attempt to address the failure to promote and improve the use of public transport. The bottom line is that low-paid and unemployed people will struggle to afford these new fares."

DUP Infrastructure spokesman Phillip Brett MLA said public transport is vital to the future of Northern Ireland yet the public is “utterly dependent on our vehicles”.

He added: “Whilst greater Belfast has decent bus and rail infrastructure, outside of that, travel from the west to Belfast or from Londonderry to Belfast needs to modernise. If there were more people using our public transport fares could be lower but people will not leave their cars until they have a regular and affordable service.”