Commuters with rail season tickets will get a refund as part of the Government’s rescue package.
Hundreds of thousands of passengers holding monthly or annual passes will get their money back for ‘time unused on their tickets,’ the Department for Transport (DfT) said.
Ministers also announced that passengers with advance tickets for travel over the coming months will be able to claim a refund.
Rail passengers will receive refunds on their season tickets after the government said commuters working from home would not lose out financially. According to official figures, more than 600 million journeys were made last year with a season ticket
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, pictured, said he wanted to ‘ensure no-one is unfairly out of pocket for doing the right thing’
Almost one in 20 journeys were taken using tickets brought in advance. Commuters with advanced tickets aren’t usually able to claim refunds
The rail network has seen passenger numbers fall by 70 per cent since the beginning of the crisis. Pictured here is Bristol Temple Meads this morning which would normally be packed with commuters
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the move will help commuters working from home and ‘ensure no-one is unfairly out of pocket for doing the right thing’.
More than 600million journeys were taken with a season ticket last year, according to official figures. Some season ticket holders could be in line for refunds worth thousands of pounds each.
Almost one in 20 journeys were taken using tickets brought in advance. Commuters with advanced tickets aren’t usually able to claim refunds.
Ticket holders are being told to contact their operator for details of how to claim a refund.
The government has suspended franchise agreements with rail companies for six months, which will be then reviewed depending on the coronavirus situation.
Rail operators will continue to operate a limited day-to-day service for a small management fee. The services are necessary to ensure key workers can continue to operate.
According to the Department of Transport, use of the railway network has fallen by 70 per cent.
Season ticket holders will be able to reclaim a refund for the unused time on their tickets.
Mr Shapps said: ‘We are taking this action to protect the key workers who depend on our railways to carry on their vital roles, the hardworking commuters who have radically altered their lives to combat the spread of coronavirus, and the frontline rail staff who are keeping the country moving.
‘People deserve certainty that the services they need will run or that their job is not at risk in these unprecedented times. We are also helping passengers get refunds on advance tickets to ensure no-one is unfairly out of pocket for doing the right thing.
‘These offers will give operators the confidence and certainty so they can play their part in the national interest.’
Paul Plummer, Chief Executive of the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators and Network Rail, said:
‘The rail industry is working together so that people and goods can keep making essential journeys during this unprecedented national challenge, getting key workers to hospitals, food to shops and fuel to power stations.
‘The industry strongly welcomes the Department for Transport’s offer of temporary support and while we need to finalise the details, this will ensure that train companies can focus all their efforts on delivering a vital service at a time of national need.
‘We would like to thank our people, who continue to do an incredible job in difficult circumstances.’
Tube trains were packed again today despite the Government’s unprecedented lockdown that started just hours earlier to save lives and take pressure off the NHS
NHS sonographer Nicola Smith tweeted: ‘This is my tube this morning. I live in zone 4 and work in a zone 1 hospital. I love my job, but now I’m risking my health just on the journey in?!
This comes as London’s Tube network was packed during rush hour again today despite Boris Johnson’s historic decision to shut down Britain because of coronavirus with NHS workers saying their lives are being put at risk as they head out to treat patients.
Travellers in the capital were certainly not able to stick to social distancing on their Tube journey to work this morning, hours after the Prime Minister warned all but essential workers to stay at home.
Many people were nose-to-nose with people on the Tube, trains and buses as well as platforms despite being told to be two metres apart to avoid catching coronavirus, which has claimed 335 lives so far.
Sharing a horrifying picture, NHS sonographer Nicola Smith tweeted: ‘This is my tube this morning. I live in zone 4 and work in a zone 1 hospital. I love my job, but now I’m risking my health just on the journey in?! @SadiqKhan put the tube service back to normal so we can all spread out, or @BorisJohnson start policing who’s getting on. Help me!’.
After completing her journey to the Imperial College NHS Trust in west London, she said: ‘Seats on the train all had at least one person so people needed to stand. I worry for my health more on my commute than actually being in the hospital.’
Ms Harris said the reduction in Transport for London services meant ‘you now have more people waiting and piling onto the tubes and trains. The issue is key workers aren’t just health professionals – I think we under-estimated how many people are needed to keep things running.’
Robert Tay, from Romford, took a picture of a packed London bus this morning and said: ‘@BorisJohnson @TfL @MayorofLondon @SadiqKhan Are you seriously telling me this is a bus full of ‘key workers’?’
Chris Kaye-York filmed scores of people rushing through a London Tube station’s ticket barriers and said: ‘Still? Really? Get a grip’.
Aslef union organiser Finn Brennan wrote: ‘Getting lots of reports of early trains being full on the Underground. If the Government doesn’t shut construction sites and pay self employment, people will die’.
But Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said today that 20 per cent of Transport for London staff are now off work because they are either unwell or self-isolating, and said: ‘It is simply not possible for us to increase train and bus services’. He added: ‘I cannot say this more strongly: we must stop all non-essential use of public transport now. Employers: please support your staff to work from home unless it’s absolutely necessary. Ignoring these rules means more lives lost’.
Packed London Underground tube train and platforms this morning as commuters still use public transport despite Boris Johnson’s message to stay at home
This CCTV on the westbound Jubilee Line showed just how busy platforms are as workers kept commuting
The PM has said only key workers whose jobs are crucial to fighting coronavirus must go to work but ‘vague’ definitions and reduced train services has led to packed trains
Travellers on the Jubilee Line were in eachother’s faces and armpits despite being warned to stay two metres apart
Robert Tay, from Romford, took a picture of a packed London bus with people stood on the bottom and top decks this morning and said: ‘@BorisJohnson @TfL @MayorofLondon @SadiqKhan Are you seriously telling me this is a bus full of ‘key workers’?’
Concerned passengers have shared the shocking images of carriages as cramped as in a normal rush hour and many called for ministers and London Mayor Sadiq Khan to act.
Platforms were also crowded and there were long queues, with similar scenes on many rail and bus services.
Transport bosses accused commuters of putting lives at risk by ignoring government advice against all but essential travel.
But passengers said the drastically reduced timetable was to blame, causing overcrowding that makes it more likely the virus will spread. Many said they had no choice but to travel as they had to work.
Fred Scott, a commuter on the Hammersmith and City line, wrote on Twitter: ‘On a 6.40 train from Upton Park going to Hammersmith. If one person on here has the virus then that will affect others, who will take that elsewhere. Lockdown needed.’
Fin Brennan, of the Aslef train drivers’ union, said: ‘This is endangering the health of the vital workers who have to use the system.
‘I’m being sent pictures of crush-loaded platforms at some Jubilee line platforms this morning. Drivers and other frontline staff are furious.’
One Tory MP told the Mail: ‘This is exactly the reason why we will have to take additional powers to force people to stay home… It exposes a complete contradiction in the Government’s approach. On the one hand, people are being told to avoid all travel, on the other hand they have no choice but to go into work as normal as their offices are still open.’
Labour transport spokesman Andy McDonald said the images were alarming, adding: ‘The Government must help keep transport workers and the public safe by urgently extending financial assistance to the self-employed and other workers so nobody risks losing their income by staying at home, and make it clear that workers in all non-key sectors of the economy must not travel to work.’
The Government has set out its key worker definition to battle coronavirus – but many believe it is too vague and is leaving many schools and parents confused about who is eligible
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he would speak to Mr Khan about increasing the frequency of trains on the London Underground, where 40 stations have been closed by TfL and some main routes have trains running only once every 18 minutes.
Rail services which had been slashed by up to 50 per cent, with some axed, may be partly restored as ministers fear the reduced service is worsening the spread of the virus.
The Government had said the changes would discourage unnecessary journeys, allowing key workers to commute safely.
But in a U-turn yesterday, Mr Shapps said he was ‘concerned’ by the images of crowded trains and added: ‘We are working with train operators to introduce a small number of trains for key workers to have space to be safe.’
The Department for Transport is identifying those lines that need more trains. It said: ‘We are aware of some instances of overcrowding on certain train services this morning, and are working with operators regarding capacity on specific lines as needed to make sure there is space to be safe.’
C2C, which runs commuter services between Essex and London, is thought to have been identified as a line in need of increased capacity.
Passenger watchdog Transport Focus said: ‘The Government should continue to review what measures are needed to make sure social distancing on trains services is safe.’
The RMT union said: ‘We know that many people who are not traditionally employed, whether they are self-employed, on zero-hour contracts or in the gig economy, feel they have no choice but to go to work because of their financial situation. We therefore call on the Government to do far more to help these workers.’
Vernon Everitt of TfL said: ‘To save lives, everyone must follow the Government and Mayor’s instructions to stay at home and only travel if absolutely essential. Only critical workers should be using public transport, and no one else.’