Thanks to the government this years fare revision is not as far reaching as usual. They proudly announced that they were freezing most fares on National Rail services until March 2027, but somehow they forgot that they’d agreed a funding settlement with TfL which required their fares to be increased by RPI+1. It wouldn’t be so awkward if this only applied to Underground and DLR fares, but it also applies to Overground, Elizabeth line and a few National Rail lines that charge Underground fares because of the close proximity of Underground lines to their services. The end result is that commuters using C2C, Chiltern, Greater Anglia and GWR within the London zones will see their fares rise. Of course all these lines benefitted from the four year fares freeze at the start of Khan’s time as Mayor, so perhaps this should be viewed as a bit of a catch up.
It’s not all bad news though. The government has made funds available to freeze all travelcard and fare caps, so a lot of commuters will still see their overall fares frozen. The Mayor has also funded a freeze on bus and tram fares until at least 5th July 2026. And a late decision not linked to the fares changes sees the free travel on the bus routes through the Silvertown tunnel extended from April 7th until May 26th. The same also applies to the automatic refunds when passengers travel on the DLR between Greenwich/Cutty Sark and Island Gardens, or Woolwich Arsenal and King George V.
The overall fares increase on TfL services is 3.2%, but single fares outside zone 1 are rising considerably more than that, up to 10% in the case of a single zone. At the time of writing TfL have not made available the new single fares on the fare finder which is hampering my efforts to update tables on this site. It could be a long night next weekend when the new fares come into force on March 1st.