An average 2.8 per cent increase in rail fares has come into effect this morning, pushing the cost of some commuter travel to well over £5,000 a year.
The 3.1 per cent rise taking effect today is for regulated fares which include season tickets. The increase on unregulated fares, typically off-peak leisure tickets, is not capped.
But a number of these fares, including some on the East Coast route, are going up by much less than 3.1 per cent, with the overall rise in tickets – regulated and unregulated – being 2.8 per cent.
The regulated fare increase pushes some commuters into the £5,000-a-year “club”, with annual season tickets to London from Deal and Dover Priory costing £5,012.
The increase is the smallest rise in four years, according to the pan-industry Rail Delivery Group. But it has sparked an angry backlash among campaigners who say that say fares are rising three times faster than inflation.
The rise also means some annual season tickets will break the £4,000 mark, with a Basingstoke-London annual fare now costing £4,076.
The Department for Transport said the Government understood concerns rail passengers had about the costs of fares and their impact on household budgets, which was why fares had been limited to the rate of inflation.
The department added that the fares passengers paid would “continue to drive forward the biggest programme of rail modernisation ever, with £38 billion being invested over the next five years”.
Shadow transport secretary Mary Creagh said the fare rise was “a continuation of David Cameron’s cost-of-living crisis”, while Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT transport union, said 2014 was “all set to be another year of racketeering and greed on Britain’s privatised railways”.
In the cold and dark at King’s Cross station in London this morning, commuters spoke of their anger at the annual rise and their view that rail travel offered poor value for money.
“It’s a lot of money for a poor service,” said teacher Simon Jones, 30, as he waited to board a train to Newcastle upon Tyne with his friend Ben James, 33.
Mr Jones was on a leisure trip today but he and Mr James normally commute to work in London from Wandsworth in south west London.
Mr Jones said: “Fares are pretty high. My salary has just gone up 1% but fares are rising around 3 per cent. There are delays on practically every day.”
Mr James said: “We’re not really getting value for money. At Clapham Junction (in south London) you can hardly get on a train.”
Also leaving from King’s Cross today, on a trip to Edinburgh, were Derek Petrie and his wife Kim. Mr Petrie said: “I think rail travel is expensive.”
Mrs Petries said: “Our son-in-law was a regular rail traveller but tends to cycle these days due to the expense.”