Post by timelesstable on Feb 8, 2016 20:48:00 GMT 1
YORKSHIRE RAIL commuters are suffering a raw deal because of the slow rollout of smart ticketing in the North, Labour claimed today.
Labour produced figures showing just five stations in the region are equipped with the technology needed for smart cards similar to the Oyster cards used on the London underground.
Read more: www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/another-train-delay-now-even-the-tickets-are-late-1-7720610#ixzz3zbjTMB4G
Of the 710 stations nationwide fitted with smart card technology more than 600 are in southern areas of England.
Lilian Greenwood, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, said: “For all the Government’s talk about leading a smart ticketing revolution, these figures demonstrate the huge regional disparities that expose George Osborne’s ‘Northern Powerhouse’ and ‘Midlands Engine’ rhetoric for the sham it really is.
“There is no good reason why commuters in the Midlands and the North shouldn’t have access to the same facilities as passengers in the South. Ministers have had six years to address this problem, but they have made shockingly poor progress.