FLEXI SEASON TICKETS... BUT THEY’LL COST YOU MORE

TRAIN fares rose today after passenger numbers plummeted in the pandemic – with commuters now paying 43 per cent more than in 2010, said Labour.

The 2.6 per cent rise in England and Wales, and 1.6 per cent rise in Scotland, mean the average traveller will have to cough up £3,144 for a season ticket – £950 more than 11 years ago – according to the party.

Some will be paying £3,450 more, and prices have grown two-and-a-half times faster than wages, it added.

‘This fare hike will make rail unaffordable for many and discourage people from getting back on to the network when lockdown restrictions ease in the coming months,’ warned shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon.

Without travelcards, routes from Brighton to London are set to cost £129 more, while passengers from Gloucester to Birmingham will be £113 out of pocket and those going from Liverpool to Manchester will pay an extra £70.

Neath to Cardiff commuters will have to pay £47 more, while those travelling from Edinburgh to Glasgow will be charged an extra £67. Mick Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, condemned the move as ‘pandemic profiteering’.

Calling for an end to privatisation, he said: ‘Rather than lining the pockets of big business, this money would be far better spent being reinvested in improving the rail network.’

And Manuel Cortes, of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, said fare rises ‘will do nothing to encourage the much-needed return of passengers’.

Meanwhile, the Department for Transport has said ‘flexitime’ tickets, for use two or three days a week, should be available when restrictions are eased in June. ‘These new tickets, reflecting modern working lives, will be introduced across England, available to all operators overseen by DfT,’ a source told The Sunday Telegraph.