Swindon to London season ticket hits £7,000

Commuters face travel misery when they return to work tomorrow with a double whammy of rising rail fares and petrol pump prices.

Swindon rail passengers heading for London will feel the pinch more than most, faced with the prospect of coughing up more than £7,000 for a season ticket to the capital.

And those wanting to escape the price hike by switching to the road, are still going to be hit. Motorists, already paying record prices for petrol at the pumps, will see further hikes from tomorrow due to VAT increases.

The train fare increase which came into force yesterday means thousands of commuters will have to pay £7,024 for an annual season ticket from Swindon to London Paddington, an increase of £384 on last year’s ticket which cost £6,640.

At a Swindon Borough Council scrutiny committee meeting held in November, 2010, managing director of First Great Western, Mark Hopwood, defended rail fares at the time saying that Swindon commuters were getting value for money.

Mr Hopwood said: “Swindon to London has probably one of the best train services in terms of distance from London, with 71 trains a day most taking about an hour through the key parts of the day with a minimum of four trains an hour.

“There are very few places with trains that frequent, usually only one an hour. The success of rail in this area has been quite phenomenal.”

Councillor Peter Greenhalgh told the committee then: “The cost of travelling by train from Swindon to anywhere is having a massive impact on the economy of Swindon. It deters businesses and deters commuters living in Swindon. It is having a detrimental effect.”

Swindon commuters face some of the highest prices in the region, even though rail passengers travelling to London from Didcot in Oxfordshire, which is only 30 miles away, will pay almost £3,000 less for a season ticket for a Swindon ticket, which will cost £4104. Robert Buckland, MP for Swindon South, said: “I would hope the train operators would make the fares fairer from Swindon because they have been consistently more expensive than surrounding areas such as Didcot.

“I share the commuters’ concerns with regards to the increases. While I accept that there must be increases, I would like to see an increased capacity in the service.

“I think season ticket holders should have their own space where they know they have a seat given they have paid £7,000 each for their tickets. These are people who have no choice but to travel to work and there’s a case for giving them special treatment.”

It was announced last year that rail fares between Swindon and London have risen to the highest in Europe, according to a Parliamentary report. The report by the South West regional committee said the cost of a standard-class Anytime Single on a First Great Western train was the highest per mile in Europe.

Rail fares are set to continue rising with the cost of season ticket from Swindon to Paddington expected to cost £8,783.29 by 2015.