DRIVERS regularly complain about the increasing costs of keeping a car on the road, but latest figures suggest a different story. Frank Elson investigates.

RUNNING a car today costs less than it did in 1975 - while rail fares are now 70 per cent higher than they were 30 years ago.

This may come as a surprise to those of us who feel that simply keeping a car on the road today takes up most of our salary.

Department of Transport figures reveal that the cost of owning a car for Britain's 24.5 million motorists has fallen by 11 per cent in real terms since 1975, but rail and bus fares have rocketed by 70 per cent and 66 per cent respectively.

Ignoring inflation, the information takes into account the cost of buying a car, maintenance, petrol and diesel, tax and insurance.

And in the eight years since Labour came to power, motoring is six per cent cheaper, while bus fares have risen by almost 16 per cent and a rail ticket is seven per cent more than in 1997.

These figures have caused anti-motoring organisations to question the Government's commitment to discouraging car use while encouraging the use of public transport.

Road traffic rose again last year and is now nearly ten per cent higher than in 1997.

The latest figures were revealed in a Parliamentary answer to the Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, Norman Baker.

"It's perverse that a government wanting people to use their cars a bit less and public transport more is letting motoring costs fall, particularly when public transport costs are rising," said Tony Bosworth, transport campaigner at Friends of the Earth.

The Government is also blamed for abolishing above-inflation fuel duty rises after protests in the summer of 2000, and for raising duty below inflation in the past two years.

Mr Baker said: "It shows motorists complaining about fuel prices have got nothing to complain about.

"The people who should be complaining should be those on the bus and train.

"It's potentially bad if you've got one-third of the country who haven't got access to a car and are forced to use public transport and they are facing the worst increases. This goes against the Government's social exclusion agenda."

Professor Stephen Glaister, of Imperial College London, said because driving was already more convenient and attractive, fuel prices needed to rise about six per cent a year above inflation to stop traffic rising.

"You have to run to stand still in this game because people's standard of living going up causes them to choose to use cars," he said.

But motoring organisations have hit back. The RAC Foundation said that drivers on low incomes were already putting nearly a quarter of their household expenditure into their cars.

Director Edmund King said "Because public transport is expensive, I don't think you should automatically make motoring more expensive."

Mike Bradley, a partner in Apollo Motor Sales in Farnworth, said: "The Government has all the figures at its fingertips, such as the cost of a Cortina in those days and the average annual wage.

"We don't, but I can say that it certainly doesn't feel as though motoring is any cheaper today.

"And so much is different. Today's Mondeo, the equivalent of that Cortina has so much more, technology and extras that comparing them is difficult."

Meanwhile, cheaper or not in "real terms", running a car costs UK motorists £5,335 a year on average according to RAC research.

And when asked how much they spend on motoring in a year, most drivers underestimate by more than £3,000.

Car running costs are increasing because of increases in the price of fuel and greater depreciation, although running costs can vary by up to £250 a week between car models.

Larger cars cost more, with the RAC saying that factoring in depreciation, fuel, insurance, maintenance, road tax, recovery services and loan costs make a new BMW 7 Series cost an average of £16,352 to run a year.

Despite these figures, the RAC found that up to three-quarters of motorists would not change their motoring habits to save money.

Most motorists told researchers that they would be prepared to pay up to £1,400 a year more before moving to a more fuel-efficient car.

Mr Bradley said: "Actually, everything in motoring is cheap - if it wasn't for the taxes.

"You buy a car and you have to add VAT to that, buy petrol and the tax is huge on that, buy your insurance and you even have to pay tax on that."