Rail season tickets between Bath Spa and London are set to rise by an inflation-busting £274 next year.
The government has changed the rules on regulated rail fare rises, putting them up by July’s inflation figure plus 1% – a total of 2.6%.
For several years, rises have been linked directly to the inflation rate.
This would put £274 on an annual ticket from Bath Spa to Paddington – pushing it up from £10,520 to £10,794.
The 2.6% figure announced by the department for transport includes regulated fares, which make up around half of fares and include all season tickets on most commuter routes. It also includes “walk on” fares for both peak and off-peak journeys.
Labour Metro Mayor candidate Dan Norris said:
“Passengers will rightly be disappointed about the fares hike, especially since the number of season ticket journeys has fallen dramatically since the start of the pandemic in March. As Metro Mayor I would want to do what I can to encourage people onto trains but part and parcel of this is to make sure the price is right.”