Rail passengers hit by fare rises
Rail passengers will have to fork out for fare rises well above the inflation level, with some tickets going up by more than 11%.
Customer watchdog body Passenger Focus said rail travellers would "shudder and shiver" when they saw the new fares.
But the Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc) said some fares were staying the same or going down and commuting by rail was "considerably less expensive than commuting by car".
From Friday, regulated fares, which include annual season tickets, will be going up by an average of 6% and unregulated fares, which include off-peak tickets, will be rising even more - by an average of 7%.
Some passengers will face double-digit percentage increases. For example the annual season ticket on Southeastern for the Gillingham-London route will go up 10.2% to £3,020. Also, there will be 10% rises on unregulated day return fares on London-Weymouth, Woking-London and Farnborough-London routes on South West Trains.
The Kings Lynn-London unregulated day return fare on First Capital Connect (FCC) goes up 11.5%, while FCC's unregulated St Neots-London day return fare rises 11.1%.
Some fares are staying the same, including FCC's Huntingdon-London regulated season ticket which remains at £3,920 and Southern's Hove-London regulated season ticket which is unchanged at £3,280.
Passengers have been particularly hard hit this year, as the new year price rise is based on whatever the retail price index (RPI) inflation is in the previous July.
The July 2008 RPI was as high as 5%, which meant regulated fares (subject to annual rises of RPI plus 1%) now have to rise by 6%.
Since July the rate of inflation has fallen fast, with the latest RPI being only 3%. Commuters getting the shortest straw are those on Southeastern services which run into London from Kent and Sussex.
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