Commuters were today facing inflation-busting rail fare rises on services still blighted by delays, cancellations and overcrowding.
Increases of about 2.7 per cent are due in January under the controversial ticket-pricing policy for Britain's rail network.
Such a rise, which is significantly higher than the rate of CPI inflation, would add more than £100 to the season tickets of hundreds of thousands of workers from London's commuter belt. For travellers from Guildford, Crawley and St Albans it would jump by £103, from Stevenage £104, Chelmsford £110, Farnham £112, and Horsham, £113, according to figures from the Campaign for Better Transport.
From Basingstoke, Reading, Bracknell or Maidstone, a season ticket would go up by £124, Tunbridge Wells £129, from Brighton £131, Cambridge £138, Oxford and Colchester £142, Milton Keynes £145, Canterbury £151 and Southampton Central £159.
“Next year's fare rise will come as a blow to passengers already paying thousands of pounds to endure overcrowding, delays and trains that fail to stop at stations as scheduled,”
said Darren Shirley, chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport.
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