News

Southeastern today announced the fares due to come into effect on 2 January 2010. While some fares will increase many will remain unchanged. The changes to the regulated fares are set out by the Department for Transport as part of the Southeastern franchise agreement.*

The fare changes will come into effect as of 2 January and are available to buy online and at stations. What this will mean for passengers is:

• Commuter fares from outside of the Travelcard area will see a 1.6% increase
  
• However, for the great majority of the 65% of Southeastern passenger journeys, which are made within the Travelcard area, there will be no fare increase
  
• Some unregulated off-peak tickets will increase by 7.3% and others by 2.8%: these are bought by approximately 10% of passengers

For those travelling in London the changes will also include the introduction of Oyster Pay As You Go (OPAYG) on the national rail network which will make journeys within the Travelcard area more convenient. Fares for OPAYG will also be cheaper than the equivalent daily cash fare. 

Charles Horton, managing director, Southeastern said, “The majority of our passengers are commuters who travel into London on a daily basis. Most of these are season ticket holders and any changes to their fares are regulated by the Department for Transport. The government’s stated policy is to reduce the subsidy paid to the transport industry and for passengers to pay more towards the cost of using rail services.”

Below are examples of fares from some Southeastern stations. There are also changes to car parking rates across the network which will come into effect on the 4 January.

Regulated fares from January 2010 

		2009			January 2010
Station	Return		Monthly	Annual	Return	Monthly	Annual
Orpington	£9.80		£139	£1,448	£9.80	£138.60	£1,444
Tonbridge	£22.90		£288	£3,000	£23.30	£292.60	£3,048
Hastings	£46.30		£368.60	£3,840	£47.10	£368.60	£3,840
Ashford Int	£40.60		£362.90	£3,780	£41.30	£368.60	£3,840
Ashford Int High Speed	£48.70		£435.50	£4,536	£49.50	£442.40	£4,608
Ramsgate	£47.00		£366.70	£3,820	£47.80	£372.50	£3,880
Ramsgate High Speed	£55.10		£439.30	£4,576	£56.00	£446.20	£4,648
Faversham	£35.90		£345.60	£3,600	£36.50	£351	£3,656
Faversham High Speed	£41.30		£415.90	£4,332	£41.90	£422	£4,396

Off peak (unregulated) day return fares from January 2010

	Off-peak Return		Super Off-peak Return
Station	2009	Jan 2010	2009	Jan 2010
Lewisham	£3.50	PAYG	n/a	n/a
Sevenoaks	£8.80	£9.40	n/a	n/a
Margate (not HS)	£25.30	£27.10	£18.10	£18.60
Hastings	£24.20	£26.00	£18.10	£18.60
Sittingbourne	£16.00	£17.20	£14.10	£14.50
Sittingbourne high speed	£18.70	£20.10	n/a	n/a
Folkestone Central	£24.60	£26.40	£18.10	£18.60
Folkestone Central high speed	£28.70	£30.80	n/a	n/a

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