Fares freeze

RAIL’s verdict: The first in a trio of tweets about the latest round of fares rises comes from London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has confirmed that Transport for London fares will not rise at all in 2019 as part of his four-year fares freeze election pledge.

This will apply to London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, London Overground, Tramlink and bus fares in the capital, plus some National Rail fares that run parallel to Tube routes.

It’s bad news for users of London Travelcards, however, as RAIL’s fares & services expert Barry Doe explains: “The Mayor cannot freeze the fares required by most National Rail operators within London’s travel zones, so fares for journeys like Waterloo to Surbiton will have risen. These form part of the London Travelcard, and so Travelcard prices have had to rise to give the National Rail operators their higher cut.”