Commuters angry at big hike in rail fares from Bicester and Banbury to London

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Witney Gazette:

Rail commuters from Bicester and Banbury to London reacted with anger to 9.1 per cent rises in their season tickets.

The average increase in England is 3.9 per cent, with a cap set at an average of 4.2 per cent.

A season ticket from Oxford to London will rise 4.2 per cent to ^4,532 from January 2, according to an announcement by the Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc).

But Chiltern Railways has hiked some fares to almost the maximum allowed by Government regulations, achieving the average with lower rises elsewhere.

Travellers from Banbury to London Marylebone will see annual tickets rise from ^4,774 to ^5,180, and Bicester North passengers from ^4,060 to ^4,432.

Chris Bates, of the Cherwell Rail Users Group, said: ^Some people just won^t be able to afford it.^

Thomas Ableman, commercial director of Chiltern Railways, said: ^We understand that fares increases are hard. The price changes for Bicester are linked directly to the launch of our new service from Oxford to London in a few years.^

James Davis, a spokesman for First Great Western, which runs services from Oxford, Didcot and the Cotswolds, said the company^s rises were either 4.2 per cent or just below.

[gwr2006]

To Moderator, can this topic be moved to the 'Chiltern Railways Services' thread where it is more relevant. Thank you.

[grahame]

To Moderator, can this topic be moved to the 'Chiltern Railways Services' thread where it is more relevant. Thank you.

Hmmm ... although the headline says "Bicester and Banbury",  the text is Oxford -> London (FGW^▸ (First Great Western)) and Banbury -> London (both Chiltern and FGW) and it's hard to know where to post this.   As we're primarily a GW^▸ (Great Western) board and it applies to GW, I'm inclined on this occasion to leave the thread where it is.  Oxford -> London users wouldn't expect to look under "Chiltern", after all.

[ChrisB]

This belongs in the Chiltern thread - it's all about Bicester (North) and Banbury faresto LOndon - priced only by Chiltern!