To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the percentage change in real terms of the average cost to the individual of travelling by (a) private car, (b) bus, (c) train and (d) domestic aeroplane since (i) 1980, (ii) 1997, (iii) 2010 and (iv) 2015.
Answered on
27 April 2017
The Department for Transport publishes statistics on travel costs, based on data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in the Transport Statistics Great Britain compendium, table 1308.
Real terms change in cost of transport | Motoring, including the purchase of a vehicle | Bus and coach fares | Rail fares |
(1) Between 1980 and 2016 | -20% | +64% | +63% |
(2) Between 1997 and 2016 | -16% | +33% | +23% |
(3) Between 2010 and 2016 | -10% | +7% | +5% |
(4) Between 2015 and 2016 | -0.3% | +2% | -1% |
(d) The costs of travelling by air are not available from ONS data. However estimates are available based on fare data from the Civil Aviation Authority passenger survey from 2000. The real cost of the average UK one-way air fare, including taxes and charges, covering domestic flights from 2010 to 2015 decreased by 16%. Estimates for 2016 are not yet available.