Passengers outside London face bigger fare rises Now passengers in the South East are paying an average of 23p a mile, compared with only 17p in the regions. Somebody commuting between London and Brighton, a journey of 52.4 miles, pays £4,020 a year. However, the cost of an annual season ticket between Northallerton and Newcastle, a 50-mile trip, is only £3,160, and a 53.3-mile commute between Todmorden and Liverpool means an annual travel bill of £3,232. While the Government has ruled out reverting to the old British Rail cost system, ministers are ready to take action to tackle the anomaly. "We do believe that there is a case for reducing any significant imbalance in fares levels," the consultation report says. The Department for Transport (DfT) ruled out reducing London commuter fares to bring them in line with those outside the capital, as this would only increase the bill faced by the taxpayer. It has also decided against massive increases in provincial fares because it fears this would add to road congestion. But using the annual rise in the cost of season tickets, which is controlled by the Government, to reduce the gap is a distinct possibility. This has been done in the past. For example, passengers travelling into London from Kent and parts of East Sussex on Southeastern trains were hit with increases two per cent above the rest of the country for several years. This was to take into account the investment on a high-speed rail line from St Pancras to the Channel Tunnel which also slashed journey times from a number of Kent towns to the capital. The prospect of rural rail passengers facing higher fare rises was condemned by Sarah Lee, head of policy for the Countryside Alliance. "People living in rural areas live much further from essential services like schools and supermarkets and therefore rely on transport," she said. With the price of petrol spiralling upwards, cars are increasingly unaffordable and trains are an important mode of travel in the countryside. The Association of Train Operating Companies said that "decisions on overall levels of fares and subsidy are a matter for the Government." A DfT spokesman said: "Regional and local rail travel is generally more heavily subsidised than busier services around London. We are not proposing to eliminate the difference in fares levels between London and other regions but we do think there is a case for reducing the gap between fares levels in different parts of the country. We will explore this issue further as part of our Rail Fares and Ticketing Review and no decisions will be taken before all the impacts are fully considered, including income differences between north and south.