Commuters pay price as season tickets soar

As increased rail fares come into force today, analysis of ticket costs has shown the rising price of travelling to work including an increase of up to 30 per cent on many the region’s routes.

The Labour party looked at prices on nearly 200 routes and found that some commuters are even paying more than £2,000 more to travel to work than in 2010.

Nationally the highest increase was a season ticket on Virgin Trains between Birmingham and London Euston, which will cost passengers £2,172 more in 2017 than 2010.

In Yorkshire, a season ticket for Leeds to Yorkshire has gone up from £1,756 to £2,232 and from Hull to Leeds from £3,328 to £4,224, Sheffield Meadowhall to Leeds is up from £1,940 to £2,452.

Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald said: “Passengers have faced truly staggering fare rises of over £2,000 since 2010. In some cases, commuters are paying 43 per cent as a direct consequence of decisions made by ministers.

“Fares have risen more than three times faster than wages and passengers on some routes have also been hit by ‘stealth fare rises’ of up to 162 per cent.

“Passengers were always told that higher fares were necessary to fund investment, but vital projects have been delayed by years and essential maintenance works have been put on hold.

“The truth is that our heavily fragmented railways mean that it takes years longer and costs much more than it should.”

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