Fare rises hit the United Kingdom

As the new year begins, the only real certainty in life – will be increase in rail and bus prices today.

• UK National Rail Companies will have their own prices rises depending on the route, with an average increase of 4.2% in England, 3.9% in Scotland for season tickets. Some routes will be going up a lot more than this. It pays to look at the National Rail Web site to see how you’re going to be hit and where.
• Transport for London have raised their prices. See http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/26385.aspx which lists the major price increases
• A big price rise that has gone slightly unnoticed is the Cycle Hire Scheme in London which in a lot of cases have had the access prices doubled. See http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/14811.aspx
• Regional Transport prices have also shot up too in some areas (for example, tickets in the West Midlands conurbation have shot up) . Check with the local bus operator

The main reason for the rail price rises is the UK Government shifting the responsibility of paying for the railways away from the tax payer to the rail user. The above inflation price rises have been hitting the rail network for the past 10 years (with no sign on them abating).

For a lot of us who rely on the railways or the bus networks, there is but one thing to do – suck it up and pay out.