Ministers have pledged to spare passengers a double-digit rise in rail fares and are devising a more competitive flexible season ticket to soften the impact of soaring prices.
Grant Shapps has intervened ahead of Wednesday’s announcement of the July retail prices index (RPI) measure of inflation, which could exceed 12 per cent after it hit 11.8 per cent in June. Fares are raised each January by a formula based on the RPI rate of the previous July.
If prices went ahead based on RPI this year, it would lead to the biggest increase for regulated fares since privatisation in 1993, far beyond the previous peak of 5.9 per cent in 2009.
Almost half of all fares are regulated, including commuter season tickets, some off-peak return
