Another new year, another rail price hike.
Price rises at twice the rate of inflation are bad enough, but the BBC table doesn’t give the full story. I bought a one-day Travelcard today (for non-London readers, a ticket giving unlimited travel on all Greater London public transport for a day) which cost me £6.
Now, if used properly, a Travelcard can be excellent value, so I’m loathe to complain about the price (back in the early days of privatisation, there were rumours that it would be withdrawn completely) but this gave me quite a shock. The 2004 price of a standard zone 1-6 Travelcard was £5.40… in other words, they’ve put the price up by a fraction over 11%. ELEVEN PER CENT!?
As I understand it, the Travelcard is a regulated fare, and none of the train operators (not even Silverlink, currently media villains of the moment) are admitting to anything more than a 4% increase on regulated fares. So does that mean the massive increase on the Travelcard price is the work of London Transport? I shall report back when I know more…