RAIL users will find themselves paying close to £200 more a year to travel to London when the Government introduces its planned fare increases in January.
The cost of an annual season ticket to Victoria from Redhill, including a Travelcard for London zones 1-6, currently costs £3,068 and south east commuters already pay some of the highest travel costs in the country.
But that is set to rise even more by £188 – or 6 per cent – to £3,256 on January 2, when the proposed increases take effect.
Those opposing the plans say the sharp increase goes against the Prime Minister's statement in October, that rail fares for the next two years would be capped at RPI, which was 3.2 per cent, plus 1 per cent.
Passengers said they are tired of seeing a constant rise in prices, without any improvements in service to show for it.
"If you think about it, the price of everything has increased but nothing's improved with the service, everything is always delayed." said 27-year-old carpenter Reese Gill.
"If you're going to charge people more there has to be a visible benefit out of it."
Recruitment company director Mark Lawrence, who takes the train to work every day, said: "I'd rather it didn't happen but you're stuck between a rock and a hard place really. You need to use the train so you need to pay for it."
Bryn Truscott, Green Party councillor for Redhill East, and a commuter, described the fare rises as "shocking" and added: "People in Redhill are already being badly hurt by the Government's disastrous economic mismanagement, council cuts and soaring energy bills."
The Mirror contacted Southern Railway for a statement but was referred to The Association of Train Operating Companies, who said: "It is the Government, not train companies, that decides how much season tickets should rise on average each year. Successive governments have instructed train companies every year to increase these regulated fares on average by more than inflation."
Will you be affected by the rail fares hike? E-mail your views to editor@surreymirror.co.uk
