West Midlands Trains says season ticket holders 'will not pay national fares increase' - The Droitwich Standard

West Midlands Trains says season ticket holders 'will not pay national fares increase'

Droitwich Editorial 27th Dec, 2019 Updated: 27th Dec, 2019   0

SEASON ticket holders using West Midlands Trains (WMT) will not pay the national fares increase.

West Midlands Trains made the announcement earlier today (December 27) following intense public pressure and a huge drop in performance since the company’s timetable change in May.

There will be a three per cent reduction in the cost of weekly, monthly and annual season tickets to help offset the 2.7 per cent fare rise on January 2, 2020.

London Northwestern Railway (LNR) season ticket holders will also receive the same benefits.




Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde, managing director of WMT said: “In recognition of our poor performance, this compensation package is for our regular customers when they renew their season tickets.

“We have said for some time now that performance and timekeeping since the timetable change has not been good enough.


“It added too much complexity which resulted in delays throughout the network.

“Changes were also made this December to remove the complexity and to add capacity, but the most significant changes to reintroduce simplicity will be implemented in the May 2020 timetable.

“I apologise again to customers for our poor performance and cancellations.”

Recognising the service has affected more than just season ticket holders, WMT says a ‘summer ticket promotion’ will be announced for other customers soon.

These compensation packages are in addition to the £2.5million WMT has already paid out for delays this year.

New trains are also set to be on the tracks in May.

Subscribe

Receive a weekly update to your inbox by signing up to our weekly newsletter.

Buy Photos

Buy photos online from the Droitwich Standard newspaper.

Public Notices

View and download all of the public notices in the Droitwich Standard.

Online Editions

Catch up on your local news by reading our e-editions on the Droitwich Standard.