28.11.12
Season tickets to rise 6.5% in 2013
Some rail fares are to rise to 6.5% for season ticket holders in England, Scotland and Wales in January. Last month Prime Minister David Cameron intervened to limit average rises to 1% above inflation for the next two years but the average rise in 2013 will still be 4.2%.
TOCs will be able to raise some season tickets above 4.2% as long as the average is no more than this figure.
Rail minister Norman Baker said: “This decision puts an average of £45 per year back into the pockets of over a quarter of a million annual season ticket holder.”
A spokesman for the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) said: “It is the Government, not train companies, that decides how much season tickets should rise on average each year. Successive governments have instructed train companies every year to increase these regulated fares on average by more than inflation.
“In doing so, ministers have been seeking to cut the contribution from taxpayers towards the running costs of the railway and increase the share that comes from passengers.”
Passenger Focus chief executive Anthony Smith said: “Passengers will feel this pain. After years of above-inflation fare rises, fresh increases are piling pressure on already high fares. Government and the rail industry must now work together to deliver on the welcome promise to get fare rises in line with inflation.”
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