Sadiq Khan confirms TfL fares will go up in March as national rail increase kicks in

Sadiq Khan has confirmed that Transport for London (TfL) fares will rise to coincide with the National Rail ticket price increase.

Speaking to London Assembly members on Tuesday morning (January 9) Mr Khan said the fare increase will kick in on March 3, the same date that National rail fares will go up by 4.9%.

The national hike applies to regulated fares which include most season tickets, travelcards, some off-peak returns, and anytime tickets around major cities.

He responded to questions on the possibility of “dynamic pricing” where prices fall or rise with demand - and hinted at the possibility of a peak/off peak ticketing system being introduced.

Mr Khan did not confirm how much TfL fares would increase by in March but said he would make a final decision in the next few weeks.

In November TfL said its planning assumption, as set out in their funding agreement with the government, was that national fares would increase by 4% in March 2024. The government announced at the end of December that the fare cap would increase by 4.9%.

Responding to a question from London Assembly's transport committee chair Caroline Pidgeon, the mayor said: "We now decide the fares much later than we did in the past by a number of weeks. Working backwards, we've got to make sure any increase goes live the same day as the national increase."

He added: "So, working backwards, I think we've got six weeks in advance of that to get the systems to go. So in the next few weeks, I'll be making the decision final."

The mayor hinted that bus fares would remain the cheapest in the country saying more poor Londoners use the bus as opposed to the Tube.

“Bus fares across the country have been frozen to £2. In London bus fares are £1.75 and we have the Hopper fare as well so we have the cheapest bus fares in the country," he said.

“We can also look at buses differently to Tubes so we have more options than previous years. More poor Londoners use buses versus Tube and so forth.”

Mr Khan suggested that, previously, he has tried not to impose a "one size fits all approach" to the way customers are charged to use the capital's various networks. All will be guided by "what's doable in the short period of time that we've got".

“We’re also looking into peak/off-peak options and dynamic pricing being determined by times of day, parts of London and so forth,” he said.

Dynamic pricing is used by airlines where lower fares are available the earlier they are booked, but increasing as the date of travel approaches.

In December TfL commissioner Andy Lord said TfL said he was examining the use of dynamic pricing by other world cities – but warned that the Oyster and Contactless ticketing system is getting dated and may not have the capacity or be flexible enough – without an upgrade - to cope with surge ticketing.