Some good news has just arrived on my
desk - fares for London Transport
services have been frozen for four years!
From TfL
The following are frozen until 2020:
- All fares on buses and trams
- All single pay as you go fares and paper single tickets on Tube and DLR services
- All Santander Cycles hire and access charges
- All fares on Emirates Air Line
Certain fares are also frozen until
2020 on:
- London Overground and TfL Rail
- River Bus
Travelcard
prices and daily and weekly caps are set with the train operating companies and
not solely by the Mayor.
These
tables show a selection of frozen fares. (All fares shown are adult-rate.)
Frozen
bus and tram fares
Single journeys
|
Daily cap
|
One Day Bus &
Tram Pass
|
|
£1.50
|
£4.50
|
£5.00
|
|
7 Day Bus & Tram
Pass
|
Weekly Cap
|
Monthly Bus &
Tram Pass
|
Annual Bus & Tram
Pass
|
£21.20
|
£21.20
|
£81.50
|
£848
|
Frozen
Tube, DLR and London Overground fares*
Zones
|
Peak
|
Off-peak
|
Zone 1 only
|
£2.40
|
£2.40
|
Zones 1-2
|
£2.90
|
£2.40
|
Zones 1-3
|
£3.30
|
£2.80
|
Zones 1-4
|
£3.90
|
£2.80
|
Zones 1-5
|
£4.70
|
£3.10
|
Zones 1-6
|
£5.10
|
£3.10
|
*Separate
fares apply for journeys that include travel on London Overground between
Liverpool Street and Enfield Town, Cheshunt, Chingford and Emerson Park and all
intermediate stations
The bad news is that
Travelcards, along with daily and weekly caps will continue to rise by 1.8%
because they have been set and agreed upon by the private train operating
companies. National Rail fares will also continue to rise.
On
the Tube and other rail services where Tube fares apply, PAYG single fares are frozen.
Where fares are set by the Train
Operating Companies (TOCs), i.e. on most rail services not devolved to the Mayor, PAYG fares increase
by 10p.
Travelcard
fares and the associated PAYG caps will increase from January 2017 in line with
the 1.9% annual increase in the Retail
Prices Index (RPI) in the benchmark month of July 2016. These increases reflect national government rail fares policy over which the Mayor has no
control.
The
Mayor has called on the Government to
join with him in freezing fares.
However, increases in the cost of London
Travelcards and the associated caps in line with the RPI have been mandated by
the TOCs.
As
a result, Travelcard season ticket
prices increase by 1.8% on average.
This is close to the maximum
permitted by the guidance from the Secretary of State for Transport to the
TOCs that no regulated fare should rise by more than the percentage increase in
the RPI. The all day PAYG Travelcard
caps, which are set at 20% of the relevant 7 Day Travelcard prices, increase
proportionally in line with the increases in London Travelcard season tickets
being mandated by the TOCs.
Here’s
a table of the new Travelcard prices and caps:
7
day Travelcard prices
Number
of zones
|
2016
|
2017
|
Increase
|
Including
Zone 1
|
|||
2
|
£32.40
|
£33.00
|
1.85%
|
3
|
£38.00
|
£38.70
|
1.84%
|
4
|
£46.50
|
£47.30
|
1.72%
|
5
|
£55.20
|
£56.20
|
1.81%
|
6
|
£59.10
|
£60.20
|
1.86%
|
Excluding
Zone 1
|
|||
2
|
£24.30
|
£24.70
|
1.65%
|
3
|
£26.80
|
£27.30
|
1.87%
|
4
|
£32.20
|
£32.80
|
1.86%
|
5
|
£40.50
|
£41.20
|
1.73%
|
All
Day PAYG (Pay-As-You-Go) Travelcard caps
All
day caps
|
|||
Zones
|
2016
|
2017
|
Change
|
1-2
|
£6.50
|
£6.60
|
1.54%
|
1-3
|
£7.60
|
£7.70
|
1.32%
|
1-4
|
£9.30
|
£9.50
|
2.15%
|
1-5
|
£11.00
|
£11.20
|
1.82%
|
1-6
|
£11.80
|
£12.00
|
1.69%
|
Day
Travelcard prices
Day
Travelcards
|
|||
2016
|
2017
|
Change
|
|
All
day 1-4
|
£12.10
|
£12.30
|
1.65%
|
All
day 1-6
|
£17.20
|
£17.50
|
1.74%
|
Off-peak
1-6
|
£12.10
|
£12.30
|
1.65%
|
And who regulates the railway fares?
Fare increases
We are not the regulator
for passenger fares.
Train operators employ a
commercial strategy in setting fares. If you wish to complain about an increase in the
price of your train fare, you should first contact the train operator direct to allow it the opportunity to
address your concerns. Contact details for individual train companies can
be found on the national rail website.
Ultimately,
if a train operator's commercial
strategy runs contrary to the broader public interest, it is for the
government to consider as part of its fares policy.
Certain standard class
rail tickets are regulated by Government:
Transport
Scotland (for Abellio ScotRail)
Welsh
Assembly Government (for Arriva Trains Wales)
the
Department for Transport (for all other train companies)
As
such, the amount by which an individual regulated fare can rise is capped at
the Retail Prices Index (RPI) plus a maximum of 6%, within a basket of fares that cannot rise by more
than RPI plus 1%. RPI was 3.2% (in July 2012) when the limits were set for
this year, so the maximum average increase for the basket is 4.2%, and the maximum increase for an individual fare is
9.2%.
There are three
exceptions to this:
Merseyrail's
concession agreement with the local Passenger Transport Executive (PTE) limits regulated fares to an average increase
of RPI (no plus addition).
Northern
Rail's agreement with West Yorkshire PTE limits the amount by which an
individual regulated fare can rise at the RPI
plus a maximum of 8%, within a basket of fares that cannot rise by more than RPI plus 3%. So the maximum
average increase for the basket is 6.2% and the maximum increase for an individual fare is 11.2%.
Southern's
franchise agreement limits the amount by which an individual regulated fare can rise at the RPI plus a maximum of 3%, within a basket of fares
that cannot rise by more than RPI plus
1%. So the maximum average increase for the basket is 4.2% and the maximum increase for an individual fare is 6.2%.
Where does the money
from my rail fare go?
From National Rail
On
average, 97p in every pound of your fare goes back into the railway.
The
vast majority of revenue from fares
covers the costs of services, for example paying for trains, fuel, staff and
other day-to-day running costs, and helps
to sustain investment in more trains, better stations and faster journeys.
Data and graph released by the Office of Rail & Road in March 2016 for
financial year 2014-15.
The
rail industry works hard to get more out of every pound we spend and to make
passengers’ and taxpayers’ money go further to help to build a better railway.
Hopefully we will see more rail
services in London taken over by TfL, which would mean that fares will be the
same as any other TfL services.
As always, I invite you to follow me
on Twitter and Google Plus which is @CLondoner92